Ship it yourself or outsource? Here's how to calculate when fulfillment pays off
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by Verpakkingdeals.nl
6 min reading time
Outsource or keep packing yourself? First, calculate your cost per package, identify the hidden costs in a fulfillment quote, and explore the intermediate options that often work better.
On Friday evening, forty packages are ready and you spend two hours picking, packing, and attaching labels. That feels like work you do on the side, not work you get paid for. On such an evening, the question naturally arises: can't someone else do this? Fulfilment — storing your inventory in an external warehouse that handles picking, packing, and shipping — then sounds appealing. Whether it's also wise depends on figures you need to know yourself first.
First, write down what you currently do
Outsourcing only works if you know what you are outsourcing. Review your process step by step and write down how much time each step takes:
Picking: collecting order, checking for completeness.
Packing: choosing a box or envelope, filling, closing, sealing.
Labelling and registering: printing label, attaching, registering shipment.
Dropping off: to the drop-off point or waiting for the collection round.
Returns: opening package, assessing, crediting, making re-sellable.
Customer inquiries: answering 'where is my package?'.
Clock yourself for a week. Most webshops doing this for the first time are particularly surprised by the last three lines: these often take more time together than the packing itself.
Tape and void fill are divided by the number of packages you close with them. Count it accurately just once: how many boxes do you close with one roll? Six rolls of tape of 48 x 66 mm cost € 21.00, a box of 36 rolls € 108.00 — that saves € 0.50 per roll. A roll of bubble wrap 500 mm wide and 500 meters long costs € 12.95; cut off what you normally use once, measure the length, and you'll know your cost per package.
Item
How to calculate it
Packaging
Bundle price divided by the number of pieces
Tape, film, seals
Roll price divided by the number of packages per roll
Labor
Minutes per package multiplied by the hourly rate you assign yourself
Transport
Carrier's rate plus your trip to the drop-off point
Returns
Cost per return multiplied by your return percentage
Space
Rent or lost living space, divided by your monthly volume
At the bottom of that sum is one number: what a package costs you if you do it yourself. Without that number, you cannot assess a quote.
When outsourcing starts to pay off
There isn't a magic number of packages per day above which fulfillment is always smart. However, there are signals that more often coincide with a sensible transition:
Your volume is stable and growing. A fulfillment partner often charges fixed monthly costs. For fluctuating, low volumes, you pay those for nothing.
Your warehouse is your living room. If inventory has taken over the hallway, attic, and guest room, outsourcing also buys you peace of mind.
You are the bottleneck yourself. Packing every day means no time for purchasing, product pages, or customer contact — the work that does generate revenue.
Your peak is extreme. If November is three times your normal volume, the question is whether you want to handle those weeks yourself.
There is no backup. If you get sick, shipping stops. That risk has a price.
The costs you don't immediately see in a quote
Don't just compare a quote based on the rate per order. Ask about these points:
Inbound costs: what does it cost to receive and book your inventory, per pallet or per piece?
Storage: is it calculated per pallet, per shelf location, or per cubic meter per month?
Additional lines: what does a second item in the same order cost?
Packaging: do you use their standard box, or can you supply your own material — and what do they charge for storing it?
Returns: what does it cost to open, assess, and make a returned item re-sellable?
Minimum purchase: is there a minimum monthly fee, and how long does the contract run?
Outbound upon departure: what does it cost to retrieve your inventory?
Convert those costs to the same number as above: cost per package. Only then are you comparing apples to apples.
What you give up — and how you compensate for it
Outsourcing means giving up some control. The package that arrives at your customer is filled by someone else. If you want a handwritten note, a VOID security seal of € 9.95 per 60 pieces, or colored boxes instead of brown cardboard, it must be in the work instruction document — and usually every action costs extra. Make a list in advance of what truly belongs to your brand and what is a habit you can let go of without damage.
The margin of error also shifts. A picking error was previously your mistake and your solution; soon you'll have to report it, prove it, and wait. Ask about error agreements before you sign, not after.
The middle ground solutions that often work better
It's rarely all or nothing. Three variants that work well in practice:
Only outsource your bestsellers. Twenty percent of your items often account for eighty percent of your orders. You outsource those, and keep the rest yourself.
Only outsource the peak. External from October to January, yourself for the rest of the year. Do ask if this is contractually allowed.
First, speed up your own process. A tape dispenser with two rolls for € 9.95, one less fixed box size, and a fixed place for tape, film, and labels often save more minutes per package than you think. If that still takes too much time, you'll be sure it's due to volume and not your method.
A short checklist before you decide
I know what a package currently costs me, including my own hours.
I know my return percentage and the costs per return.
I have calculated at least two quotes based on cost per package.
I know what happens in case of errors, peaks, and termination.
I have determined which brand elements must be included and what that costs extra.
If you can check all five, it has become a business decision instead of a feeling on a Friday evening.
Staying in-house? This is what you need
If you plan to continue shipping yourself for now, buy in bundles — that's the fastest way to reduce your cost per package. Look for boxes and materials in Packaging & Shipping, for letterbox sizes in Letterbox Packaging, for rolls and dispensers in Tape and for bulk packaging in Value Packs for Webshops. Unsure which box size or bundle size suits your volume? Email your quantities and item dimensions to info@verpakkingdeals.nl — we'll help you figure it out.
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