--- title: "Pick, pack, ship and cost-to-serve" description: "Know what each order actually costs to fulfill, not just what your 3PL bills. Fulfillment and cost-to-serve visibility for growth-stage brands." canonical: "https://www.pollyester.com/services/pick-pack-ship" --- [Pollyester](https://www.pollyester.com/index.md) › [Services](https://www.pollyester.com/services.md) › Pick, pack, ship and cost-to-serve Services we provide Pick, pack & ship Deliver without leaks # Your 3PL knows what your orders cost. You should too. Somewhere between the warehouse, the carrier, and the doorstep, every order gives a little margin away. We read your own invoices and order data, show you exactly where it goes, and build the routing that gets it back, so the shipping keeps running while the decisions come home to you. [Get the cost-to-serve teardown →](https://www.pollyester.com/contact.md) [See all services →](https://www.pollyester.com/services.md) ![Your 3PL knows what your orders cost. You should too.](https://www.pollyester.com/services/pick-pack-ship/banner.dark.webp) How it runs today One provider, one monthly invoice What breaks Nobody reads that invoice line by line What you get Your true cost per order, and control of it The shift ## Fulfillment stopped being the boring part. The old way For years the decision was simple. Pick a 3PL, sign the carrier contract, plan the rest in a spreadsheet, and get back to marketing. Fulfillment was a cost line you glanced at once a quarter, and that was fine. The AI-era shift Now the routing is where the money is. Which warehouse holds what, which carrier takes which box, what happens when a return comes back. Those choices can be made fresh on every single order, and made well they add up fast. Hand all of it to one provider and you hand over the decisions too. Our view is simpler: let the warehouse people do the warehouse work, and keep the decisions yourself. Most of the leak sits in decisions nobody is making. What we actually do ## The work, made concrete. 01 ### Cost-to-serve teardown We start with your own invoices and order data and work out what each order costs you, by product, warehouse, carrier, and channel. Everything we do after this gets measured against that read. 02 ### 3PL selection, on your terms If the numbers say your provider is part of the leak, we run the search and the negotiation for you, with names like Stord, ShipBob, and Cart.com on the table, and contracts written so you can move again when the math changes. 03 ### Inventory where it should be Then we build the model that says where to hold stock and how much, from your own demand, so orders ship from somewhere close instead of crossing the country in a box. 04 ### Carrier routing that shops around Every shipment gets its rate compared across your carriers automatically, and rerouted when one of them has a bad day. The logic runs on your own systems, where you can see it. 05 ### Returns, redesigned And we rework the trip back: exchanges offered before refunds, and low-risk customers told to keep the item when shipping it back costs more than it's worth. A dashboard shows cost per order and how many orders land complete, on time, intact. Proof ## The number the work carries. Trifecta · Health & Wellness DTC Food Cold-chain meal delivery where every leaked dollar is refrigerated. Fixed carrier contracts, spreadsheet forecasting, and a cost per order nobody could state to the cent. A cost-to-serve teardown by SKU, node, and carrier, then multi-carrier rate shopping and a demand forecast they own instead of a black box. Cost per order, to the cent. Fulfillment cost per order, known by SKU, node, and carrier against a baseline the brand owns. The first step We take your own invoices and order data and work out what each order actually costs you, by product, warehouse, carrier, and channel. You leave with the number to the cent, and a clear picture of where it leaks. [Get the cost-to-serve teardown →](https://www.pollyester.com/contact.md) What we move ## What we watch on fulfillment. To the cent Cost per order by product, warehouse, carrier, and channel, so the leak has nowhere to hide Complete and on time The perfect order right items, one box, the date you promised Closer to the buyer Where inventory sits placed from your own demand signal, so fewer stockouts on less stock Shopped, every shipment Carrier spend rates compared automatically instead of one contract taking every box Coming down The fulfillment line read monthly against the baseline we set on day one Benchmarks and targets, not guarantees. We baseline yours first. How we work ## How the engagement runs. 3. 01 ### Diagnose We baseline your numbers and map the operation end to end, so the work targets a real leak, not a hunch. 4. 02 ### Prioritize We rank the opportunities by dollars of impact and effort, and agree on what to do first. 5. 03 ### Build We build the real thing in production (for you, or alongside your team) against a measured baseline. 6. 04 ### Prove We hold the work against a holdout or benchmark, so the lift is proven, not asserted. 7. 05 ### Hand over Documentation, dashboards, and an accountable owner on your team, so the work keeps running without us. ## Where this connects [Deliver without leaks Order orchestration The teardown shows where each order leaks. Orchestration is the system that routes every order so it stops. →](https://www.pollyester.com/services/order-orchestration.md) [Deliver without leaks Cost optimization Fulfillment savings only count when they show up in margin, and a live margin model is how you watch them land. →](https://www.pollyester.com/services/cost-optimization.md) ## Start with the teardown. Send us the invoices and the order data, and we'll show you what an order actually costs you and where it leaks. Once you can see that, the fixes rank themselves, and you'll know exactly what to do first. [Book a working session →](https://www.pollyester.com/contact.md) [See how we work →](https://www.pollyester.com/engagement.md) ## Related services - [Order orchestration](https://www.pollyester.com/services/order-orchestration.md) - [Cost optimization](https://www.pollyester.com/services/cost-optimization.md) - [All services](https://www.pollyester.com/services.md) --- ## Pollyester — site navigation Primary: [Services](https://www.pollyester.com/services.md) · [Work](https://www.pollyester.com/work.md) · [Partners](https://www.pollyester.com/partners.md) · [About](https://www.pollyester.com/about.md) · [Ideas](https://www.pollyester.com/blog.md) Company: [About](https://www.pollyester.com/about.md) · [Careers](https://www.pollyester.com/careers.md) · [Contact](https://www.pollyester.com/contact.md) · [How a project runs](https://www.pollyester.com/process.md) · [Engagement](https://www.pollyester.com/engagement.md) Services: [Get found](https://www.pollyester.com/services/get-found.md) · [Get chosen](https://www.pollyester.com/services/get-chosen.md) · [Grow the customer](https://www.pollyester.com/services/grow-the-customer.md) · [Earn advocacy](https://www.pollyester.com/services/earn-advocacy.md) · [Pick, pack & ship](https://www.pollyester.com/services/pick-pack-ship.md) · [Order orchestration](https://www.pollyester.com/services/order-orchestration.md) · [Cost optimization](https://www.pollyester.com/services/cost-optimization.md) · [Build the agent-ready core](https://www.pollyester.com/services/build-the-agent-ready-core.md) · [Brand & identity](https://www.pollyester.com/services/brand-identity.md) · [Creative & art direction](https://www.pollyester.com/services/creative-art-direction.md) · [Content & campaigns](https://www.pollyester.com/services/content-campaigns.md) · [Video & media](https://www.pollyester.com/services/video-media.md) · [Storefront & product](https://www.pollyester.com/services/storefront-product.md) · [Experiential & activations](https://www.pollyester.com/services/experiential-activations.md) · [Events & retail](https://www.pollyester.com/services/events-retail.md) · [Design & build](https://www.pollyester.com/services/design-build.md) Legal: [Privacy](https://www.pollyester.com/privacy.md) · [Terms](https://www.pollyester.com/terms.md) Full index: [llms.txt](https://www.pollyester.com/llms.txt) — the markdown map of the site.