First come. First served. Simple and predictable Most warehouses default to first-come, first-served allocation because it's the path of least resistance. Order comes in, it gets the next available inventory. No arguments, no exceptions, no one second-guessing the system. And honestly, for a lot of operations, that's fine. Simple rules are underrated. But here's where first-come starts to hurt you. Imagine you're running a mixed SKU DC — say, consumables and seasonal gear shi

Everyone talks about the per-pallet storage rate when they're shopping a 3PL. The pick fee, the receiving fee, the monthly minimum. That stuff is on the rate card, it's negotiable, and experienced ops people know how to read it. What doesn't show up on the rate card is the stuff that costs you real money over a two-year relationship. The first one is inventory accuracy drift. Most 3PL contracts include a cycle count clause, but what it usually means in practice is that some