Same-Day Fulfillment
Same-Day Fulfillment: How Top 3PLs Actually Pull It Off
Same-day means an order placed before a hard cutoff ships that same day — nothing more, nothing less. Here's the actual mechanism behind that promise at our Houston warehouse: the cutoff, the cost, and how to tell if any 3PL can really deliver it.
Free quote · Reply within one business day · No sales call
Get a fulfillment quote in 24 hours
Tell us what you sell and your monthly volume. A real person replies within one business day with exact numbers.
Before you request a quote
Know the cost. Check the fit. Plan your first shipment.
Start with a small shipment or an established operation. There is no minimum volume. Tell us what you sell so we can confirm the handling, space and shipping you actually need.
What will my first month cost?
Example: 500 single-item orders under 5 lb × $2.00 full-service handling = $1,000. At $0.25 per mailer add $125; two full billable pallet-months add $50 and one inbound pallet adds $20. Total: $1,195 BEFORE postage, returns or extra work.
Examples use standard storage in the first three months. Long-stay pallet rates are $28/month in months 3–6 and $32/month after six months. Your written quote separates receiving, storage, handling, materials and shipping. Build your own estimate.
Why are there two handling prices?
Under 5 lb, Lean FBA is $0.50/unit and Lean FBM is $1.75/order when goods arrive pre-packed and ready to label. Full-service handling is $0.75/FBA unit or $2.00/FBM order; materials and postage are separate. These are service tiers, not automatic volume discounts.
Heavier items use different weight bands; over 15 lb or bulky items need a written quote. See the complete rate card.
Can you handle my products and platform?
Share your product type, packed dimensions and weight, sales platform and expected volume. Small batches and returns-only enquiries are welcome. Batteries, liquids, food, supplements, temperature-sensitive, hazardous or oversized items need acceptance and handling requirements confirmed before you ship.
For Shopify, Amazon, Walmart or another platform such as Amboras, tell us how orders and inventory are exchanged. The team confirms the connection or file workflow before onboarding; a platform name alone does not guarantee a supported integration.
How do I send inventory?
- Send your SKU list, dimensions, weights and carton/pallet count.
- Receive the written scope, rates and product-acceptance confirmation.
- Confirm account setup, labeling and receiving instructions with the team before dispatch.
- Send shipment details and tracking; agree the first prep job or order workflow.
Receiving location: 6117 Long Dr, Houston, TX 77087. Confirm inbound instructions before sending goods.
What about shipping and storage dimensions?
For a shipping estimate, send origin and destination ZIP codes, packed dimensions, weight, parcel count and desired delivery speed. Handling prices do not include carrier postage. Storage is charged only by carton or pallet. Bin and shelf storage is included in our standard pick-and-pack rate, with no separate charge. Send product dimensions and quantities so the team can confirm usable space, availability and the applicable carton or pallet storage rate in writing.
After you enquire: a real person from our Houston team replies within one business day, confirms any missing details and sends itemized pricing. You can ask for a written quote without booking a sales call. Unsure of volume? Select “Not sure yet” in the quote form.
What "same-day fulfillment" actually means
Same-day fulfillment means one specific thing: an order placed before a fixed cutoff time ships out the same calendar day. That's it. It isn't a speed rating or a marketing tagline — it's a hard line. Before the cutoff, the order goes out today. After it, the order goes out the next business day.
At our Houston warehouse, that line is 2pm CT, Monday through Saturday. An order that syncs to our inventory dashboard before 2pm — a single unit or a full pallet's worth of SKUs — gets picked, packed, and handed to the carrier before we close for the day. Anything after 2pm rolls into the next business day's queue. No exceptions, because we'd rather tell you the real cutoff than blow it and lose your trust.
Most of what gets marketed as "same-day fulfillment" online is actually next-business-day fulfillment with a faster-sounding name attached. The tell is whether the 3PL publishes an exact cutoff time. If they can't give you the hour an order needs to land to ship today, they don't have a same-day process — they have a same-day slogan.
What has to happen inside that window
A 2pm cutoff sounds simple from the outside. Inside the warehouse, it means several things have to happen correctly, in sequence, for every order that lands in the queue — often within a few hours.
- Order syncs to the warehouse management system in real time. No manual entry, no batch upload that runs once an hour. If an order sits in an inbox instead of the WMS, the clock is already running against you.
- Inventory gets allocated the moment the order lands. The system has to know, instantly, that the SKU is actually on the shelf and not double-booked against another channel.
- A pick wave releases to the floor before the cutoff, not at it. Waiting until 1:55pm to start picking orders that came in at 9am is how warehouses miss same-day promises while technically "trying."
- Packing happens with the right materials already at the station. Packaging is built into our $2.00-per-order rate, so pickers aren't waiting on a supply run mid-shift.
- A shipping label generates against a real carrier rate. We pass through discounted USPS, UPS, and FedEx rates at cost — no markup added at the label stage.
- The manifest closes before the carrier's pickup window. This is the step most 3PLs skip talking about. A packed box that misses the truck didn't ship same-day — it just sat ready overnight.
Every one of those steps has to hold on a normal Tuesday and on the Monday after a holiday weekend with triple the volume. That consistency, not any single step, is what "same-day" is actually promising.
What can blow the cutoff — and what we do about it
Some orders can't move at cutoff speed, and pretending otherwise is how 3PLs make promises they can't keep. Address corrections that arrive after an order is already released, backordered SKUs, and anything needing custom kitting or a branded insert all take longer than a standard pick-pack-ship.
We handle it by routing those orders differently instead of forcing them through the same-day lane and letting them fail. A standard order — pick it, pack it in included packaging, ship it — moves through the 2pm cutoff without exception. Custom work doesn't, because we won't guess at a timeline we can't guarantee.
What same-day fulfillment costs
Same-day isn't a premium tier we charge extra for — it's the standard turnaround on every order that clears the cutoff, at our published per-order rate. There's no rush fee and no separate "same-day" line item on the invoice.
| Order weight | Per-order rate |
|---|---|
| Up to 5 lb | $2.00 |
| 5–8 lb | $2.75 |
| 8–15 lb | $4.00 |
| over 15 lb | Custom quote |
Full-service FBA handling for units under 5 lb is $0.75/unit, including FNSKU labeling and prep labor. Materials are separate: polybag $0.20/unit and bubble wrap $0.20/unit when needed. Receiving, storage and outbound freight are separate. Lean label-ready units start at $0.50; heavier units use the published weight bands.
What a month of same-day orders actually costs
Here's the arithmetic at three order volumes, assuming standard orders under 5 lb and 10 pallets of stored inventory, before packaging materials and postage. Storage runs $25 per pallet per month, which works out to $250 a month for 10 pallets:
| Orders/month | Fulfillment (@ $2.00) | Storage (10 pallets) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | $100.00 | $250 | $350.00 |
| 100 | $200.00 | $250 | $450.00 |
| 300 | $600.00 | $250 | $850.00 |
No minimums, no setup fees, and no contract — you can run 50 orders one month and 300 the next without renegotiating anything. Compare this against a full warehouse setup on /3pl-warehouse-service/ or the storage math on /storage/.
Questions buyers ask before they trust a same-day claim
Same-day fulfillment only works if the operational basics behind it are solid. These are the questions we get most from brands vetting a 3PL for speed, not just price.
How fast does inbound inventory become available to ship?
Receiving is $20 per pallet ($5 per carton). Once inventory is checked in and logged in our warehouse management system, it's visible and allocatable — that's what makes it eligible for the same 2pm cutoff on outbound orders. If inventory sits in receiving limbo for days, no cutoff time matters.
Does a return in process block same-day shipping?
No. Returns run through a separate workflow at $1.50 per return, with inspection included. It doesn't touch the outbound pick-pack-ship lane.
Can we track lot numbers and expiration dates?
Yes. Lot-number and expiration-date tracking is available for brands that need it — supplements, cosmetics, anything shelf-life sensitive.
What happens if something is lost or damaged on our end?
We carry insurance coverage up to $500,000 per occurrence and we're fully liable for our own handling errors.
How to check a 3PL's same-day claim before you sign
Before you take any 3PL's word for "same-day," ask for specifics:
- Ask for the exact cutoff time and which days it applies to — not "usually" or "most days."
- Ask what happens to an order that misses the cutoff by ten minutes.
- Ask whether same-day applies to every order type or only standard, non-custom SKUs.
- Ask how fast inbound inventory becomes sellable — a same-day promise means nothing if receiving takes a week.
- Ask for the per-order rate in writing, and whether same-day carries a surcharge.
If a 3PL can answer all five without hedging, they've actually built the process. Our full rate card is at /pricing/, or you can walk the floor yourself — Houston walk-ins are welcome with 24 hours' notice, Monday–Saturday, 9am–6pm CT. Get in touch or start with a quote.
Frequently asked questions
What time is the same-day cutoff?
Does same-day cost extra?
What happens if my order arrives after the cutoff?
Does same-day apply to Amazon FBA prep too?
Do custom orders like kitting or bundles qualify for same-day?
Is there a minimum order volume to get same-day service?
What carriers do you use, and are the rates marked up?
How is storage billed alongside same-day fulfillment?
Do you offer real-time inventory visibility?
Can I visit the facility before committing?
Ready when you are
Get a fulfillment quote in 24 hours
Lean handling under 5 lb: FBA $0.50/unit or FBM $1.75/order for pre-packed goods. Full service: $0.75/FBA unit or $2.00/FBM order. Materials and postage are separate; storage is $25/pallet/month.