Oversize items storage / fulfilment

[Guy Incognito]

Hi guys,

We started a business a few months ago and the items we ship are not particularly heavy, but they are very bulky. Business has been relatively brisk, and as demand increases I need to get the storage and fulfilment outsourced, but am having difficulties finding companies who can meet our demands. We currently ship between 7 and 10 orders a week, which I realise is not a particularly big number, but the trend is upwards and I believe will continue that way.

Our items range in size from 1.2m x 0.3m x 0.03m (weight 1 kg) to 1.8m x 0.9m x 0.03m (weight 7 kg).

Currently I use either UPS or TNT and the respective cost for shipping is approx £13 - £24 per item. Obviously I would like to get this down.

Storage is another issue due to the size of the items.

Anyone with experience able to recommend companies who specialise in oversize storage / fulfilment?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MartinCivil]

How much storage space are you looking for, and do you mind whereabouts in the country

 

[Guy Incognito]

Good question - we need to carry stock to fulfil orders, and I currently have an approx 300 sq ft warehouse room that I use. I suspect next year I will need to carry approx 100 of the larger products (so 1.8m x 0.9m x 3m) and maybe more of the smaller sized products (1.2m x 0.6m x 3m). It may be more than this when I do the business plan as we tend to take shipments at various points in the year.

I don't mind where in the country it's based as we ship nationwide. Items are delivered on a pallet individually boxed / barcoded but I basically want the whole process to be removed from me having to be involved in the storage / shipping!

 

[Mr D]

Have a look at these

http://www.tradecounter.co.uk/

Was looking at them yesterday, have not decided yet whether to use them. May pop in and see them first.

 

[GraemeL]

Our items range in size from 1.2m x 0.3m x 0.03m (weight 1 kg) to 1.8m x 0.9m x 0.03m (weight 7 kg). !

Something like curtain rails and very wide curtain rails!

Beware of trying to get lower prices for freight. The problem is that these have to be manually handled by couriers at hubs as wrong size for conveyor. So you are depending hugely on quality of workforce, not the automation.

 

[Guy Incognito]

Something like curtain rails and very wide curtain rails!

Beware of trying to get lower prices for freight. The problem is that these have to be manually handled by couriers at hubs as wrong size for conveyor. So you are depending hugely on quality of workforce, not the automation.

There's definitely a happy medium. We ship our items well packaged, but have had a very small number of breakages through either TNT or UPS - but I don't know how careful they are meant to be.

I'm just looking for the best overall value combination of storage and fulfilment.