Contract warehousing allows you, the owner, to absorb some of the cost risks involved with goods storage by committing to pay fees whether or not the space is utilized. You share the risks with the owner of the warehouse company, and in turn your costs will be less than public warehousing.

Contract warehousing can give you many advantages including an increase in your supply-chain performance, as well as lower distribution costs. You can also inquire if your contract warehousing solutions company offers any of the following additional services: transloading, inventory management, cross docking, labeling, inventory control, palletizing, trucking and drayage, packaging or quality control.

To find the right contract warehouse for you:

1. Determine where you want your warehousing contracts services to be located and what size location you'll need.

2. Begin your search online to find a suitable company in that area.

3. Either visit that location before committing to the facilities, or seek out additional reference information from current clients of the facility.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Look through contract warehouse search engines

Skip Google and Yahoo. Start with industry specific sites for your contract warehousing needs.

I recommend: Team Logistics Corporation and Corporate Distribution Centers both offer search by state capabilities to find the right warehousing contract location for you.

Find your domestic contract warehouse or international warehouse online

The web is the best place to quickly and easily locate contract warehousing services.

I recommend: Holman Distribution has contract warehouse facilities on both the East and West Coast. Their contract warehousing solutions buildings range from 300,000-1,200,000 square feet. Fresh Warehousing is suited to warehousing general products, Haz-Mat items as well as food grade goods. They also offer additional packing and stacking services. JFD Distribution Solutions is another warehousing contract company that can help you reduce your logistics expenses through improved process management.

Use your contract warehouse to create a distribution center

Don't just store your goods. Create a whole other level of supply chain operations from your business. Utilize your new contract warehousing location as a new distribution center base of operations.

I recommend: Nexus Distribution is a great choice if you are looking to set up a distribution center in a particular area. Saddle Creek Corporation is also more than happy to help you set up a forward distribution center.

Split the cost of your domestic contract warehouse

Sharing contract warehouse space helps you commit only to the space you need, especially for businesses that are seasonally based.

I recommend: Ozburn-Hessey Logistics can offer you both contract warehouse services and transportation logistics solutions. Defined Logistics can help you fill your seasonal need.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Be sure and thoroughly look through your warehousing contracts. Make sure that the terms of the agreement are suitable to both parties, and that any outside responsibilities outside of them just storing your product are spelled out clearly.