3PL · Ecommerce Fulfillment Same-day Charlotte fulfillment for Shopify, Amazon FBA, and ecommerce brands. 5 PM ET cutoff, custom-scoped pricing, no annual contract.
Trusted by brands shipping across southeast
Toyota
Pacific Foods
Rad Power
Mystery Ranch
Brooklyn Bicycle
Cobian
BOCCI
Merkury
Written by the Vertex operations team
Marco, Kim, Tom & Sara · Receiving, Pick & Pack, FBA Prep, Account Management
Last reviewed by our team on May 10, 2026 against current CBRE Charlotte + Cushman & Wakefield + NC Ports + Tax Foundation data.
Most brands shopping for a 3PL in Charlotte think the value is "halfway between NYC and Miami" or "I-77/I-85 crossroads." That misses the actual story. Charlotte is the only US metro where Norfolk Southern's Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility (300 acres, 200,000 lifts/year), CSX Pinoca Yard, and the state-run Charlotte Inland Port (Queen City Express overnight to Port of Wilmington) all overlap inside one warehouse cluster.
It sits inside the only state in America with a legislated path to a 0% corporate income tax by 2030 (currently 2.0%, the lowest in the US). Layer on FTZ #57 underutilization, a large intra-MSA rent spread, and CNBC's 2025 #1 State for Business ranking, and Charlotte is a different value proposition from Atlanta or Greenville.
We operate from the Charlotte area as part of our 20+ warehouse US and Canadian network. This page covers what we ship from where, what we charge, where we win, and where we send you to a competitor.
Key takeaways
Charlotte is the only US metro with three intermodal options inside one warehouse cluster: NS Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility (300 ac, 200K lifts), CSX Pinoca Yard, and Charlotte Inland Port (Queen City Express overnight to Port of Wilmington with cutoffs at 5:30 PM and no dwell time at either end).
North Carolina has the lowest corporate income tax in the United States at 2.0% in 2026 and the only legislated path to 0% by 2030 (Tax Foundation 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index). CNBC named NC the #1 State for Business in 2025, the third time in four years.
Cushman & Wakefield Q1 2026 puts the intra-MSA rent spread at a meaningful gap between Gaston W/D and Airport flex in a single quarter. CBRE Q1 2026 reports 1.9M SF Q1 net absorption with vacancy at 7.3 percent (-140 bps YoY). We hold capacity in the Gaston / I-85 corridor at the warehouse-distribution rate, not the Airport-flex premium.
FTZ #57 is underutilized for its metro size at $250-500M merchandise received versus FTZ #93 Raleigh-Durham at $25-50B (Merck-dominated) and Houston FTZ #84 at $50B. Only two warehouse/distribution operators are currently active in the zone, which is the contrarian arbitrage opportunity for DTC importers under the 2025 tariff regime.
Why Charlotte
Charlotte is the only top-30 US metro where Norfolk Southern's Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility (300 acres at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, opened December 2013, 200,000 lifts per year capacity expandable to 250,000), CSX's Pinoca Yard intermodal ramp (24/7 operation, doubled to 160,000 lifts), and a state-operated ocean-port inland terminal (the Charlotte Inland Port at 1301 Exchange Street) all sit inside the same city and serve the same warehouse cluster. NC Ports runs the Queen City Express nightly between the Port of Wilmington and the CSX ramp at Charlotte. The train departs Wilmington at 01:00 and the container is available at the inland port at 08:00 the next day. Cutoffs are 17:30. That is overnight ocean-to-Charlotte transit at marginal cost, owned by the state, with no dwell time at either end. Atlanta does not have this. Greenville does not have this. The "I-77/I-85 crossroads" claim is the boring half of the story. The triple-rail crossroads is the half every Charlotte 3PL marketing page skips.
North Carolina has the lowest corporate income tax in the United States at 2.0% in 2026, scheduled to drop to 0% by 2030. Tax Foundation's 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index puts NC at the top of the corporate-tax table; Site Selection 2026 ranks the state #2 best business-tax climate and #1 for workforce; CNBC named NC the #1 State for Business in 2025 (third time in four years). The corporate stack keeps loading in. Honeywell, Coca-Cola Consolidated, Truist, Brighthouse Financial, LendingTree, Albemarle, Nucor, and Siemens Energy ($421M, 500 jobs in 2025) are all anchored in the region. CBRE's Q1 2026 Charlotte Industrial Report shows 1.9M SF Q1 net absorption and 23.9M SF cumulative absorption since Q1 2023 despite a 112.6% jump in the construction pipeline. The next decade of taxes in Charlotte is mathematically the lowest in the country, and that is the underwriting case behind every new warehouse deal.
The honest local part: "Charlotte" almost never means Charlotte proper. Cushman & Wakefield Q1 2026 puts Airport submarket inventory at 24.9M SF; Southwest (Pineville / Carolina Logistics Park / Beacon Partners belt) at 50.8M SF; North (Huntersville / I-77) at 35.3M SF; Cabarrus County (Concord) at 24.1M SF; Gaston County at 32.0M SF. Amazon's "Charlotte" footprint is mostly CLT3 in Concord (Cabarrus County, non-sort FC) and CLT2 in Charlotte 28214. Two different counties, two different rate bases. There is a meaningful rent spread between Gaston County warehouse-distribution and Airport flex in the same quarterly report. A boutique 3PL pitching "Charlotte" needs to name the submarket because the cost-to-serve math is not the same. Our facility sits in the Concord / Huntersville / I-77 industrial cluster 14 miles from uptown, in the Gaston / I-85 corridor warehouse-distribution band, not the Airport-flex premium.
The honest weakness: Charlotte is not an overnight-air city. FedEx Express's SuperHub is in Memphis, UPS Worldport is in Louisville, and CLT moves 205,700 metric tons of cargo per year (+7.3% YoY 2024, +14.1% in the first seven months of 2025), dominated by Amazon Air (60,000 tons FY25 plus 40+ flights per week), USPS, FedEx, and UPS. That is air-network plumbing for ground-network spillover, not an ocean-import gateway. Labor is tight at 3.9% unemployment (BLS Q4 2025) and Reddit consensus across r/WorkReform and r/NorthCarolina names the temp-agency outsourced-floor-labor reality bluntly: warehouses around Charlotte run thin staffing through temp agencies, workers jump every $1/hour, and a 3PL that does not staff a dedicated DTC labor pool is bluffing. We staff dedicated DTC labor and lock carrier sweep windows in writing. For overnight-air-critical SKUs (pharma cold-chain, life-safety), we refer to Memphis or Louisville operators.
What it unlocks
We operate in the Charlotte area as part of our 20+ warehouse US and Canadian network, positioned for NS Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility, CSX Pinoca Yard, the Charlotte Inland Port Queen City Express overnight lane from Port of Wilmington, and CLT air cargo at regional warehouse-distribution taking rates.
The only US metro where NS Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility (300 ac, 200K lifts), CSX Pinoca Yard, and the state-run Charlotte Inland Port (Queen City Express overnight from Port of Wilmington) all overlap inside one warehouse cluster. NS Crescent Corridor to Norfolk, CSX-BNSF coast-to-coast to Southern California, and overnight Wilmington-to-Charlotte at marginal cost.
NC has the lowest corporate income tax in the US at 2.0% in 2026 (Tax Foundation 2026), the only legislated path to 0% by 2030, and a #1 CNBC State for Business 2025 ranking. The next decade of state taxes in Charlotte is mathematically the lowest in the country.
Cushman & Wakefield Q1 2026 reports a meaningful intra-MSA rent spread between Gaston W/D and Airport flex. We hold capacity in the Gaston / I-85 corridor warehouse-distribution band, not the Airport-flex premium operators lease for the optics.
We route direct to Amazon CLT2 (Charlotte 28214), CLT3 (Concord 28027), CLT4, and CLT5. CLT3 is the Amazon-seller community's default Southeast inbound FC; triple-rail-fed inventory moves to FBA the same week without a cross-country leg first.
For Shopify brands
A Charlotte 3PL is the right call for a Shopify brand when you want triple-rail intermodal optionality, a 2% corporate-tax state, and 2-day ground reach across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic at the Gaston / I-85 corridor warehouse-distribution taking rate rather than the Airport-flex premium. Atlanta is the right call when the Southeast-only ground reach is enough and you already import through Savannah. Charlotte is the right call when you want overnight inland-port access to Port of Wilmington, NS Crescent Corridor to Norfolk, or CSX-BNSF direct to Southern California from one cluster.
Yes if
No if
If "yes" lands on you, the next question is which Shopify-side workflow tests separate ops-grade Charlotte 3PLs from ones that look good on a sales call. Six questions to ask any operator below.
| Workflow | What should happen | What usually breaks | Question to ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| New order arrives | In the pick queue near real time | Polling intervals over 5 minutes; orders missed during peak | How often does your sync run, and what is the worst-case lag? |
| Inventory level changes | Pushes back to Shopify in real time | Daily batch updates → oversells during peak hours | Is inventory sync push or pull, and at what frequency? |
| Tracking number written | Posts to Shopify the moment carrier scans | Manual upload at end of day; customer emails arrive late | When exactly does tracking hit Shopify? |
| Pre-order / backorder | Order holds, ships when stock arrives | Order silently fails or ships partial without notice | How does your WMS handle backorders without losing the customer relationship? |
| Returns refund trigger | Refund triggers on return scan-in (or on inspection pass) | Returns sit unprocessed for days, customer service workload | What event triggers the refund: receipt, inspection, or restock? |
| Subscription orders | Routed separately, with subscription-specific packouts | Sub orders treated as one-time DTC, no recharge protection | How do you tag and prioritize Recharge / Skio subscription orders? |
For Amazon FBA brands
A 3PL in Charlotte alongside Amazon FBA gets specific value when you import through Wilmington, Norfolk, or Charleston and want first-port prep before routing to Amazon's Charlotte fulfillment centers (CLT2 in Charlotte 28214, CLT3 in Concord 28027, CLT4 on Tuckaseegee Rd, CLT5). The Amazon-seller community calls Charlotte the Southeast default Amazon inbound FC (r/FulfillmentByAmazon community framing), and CLT3 in Concord is the operationalization of that.
Yes if
No if
Most multi-channel Amazon sellers importing through Wilmington, Norfolk, or Charleston benefit from a Charlotte 3PL specifically because the triple-rail cluster gives you optionality on which port-rail lane to use per shipment, the 2% NC corporate tax keeps the operating math clean, and CLT3 in Concord is already the Amazon-seller-community default for Southeast inbound.
Scope
A common mistake brands make when scoping a Charlotte 3PL is treating it as a generic warehouse. Warehouses store things. A 3PL is closer to an operations team that happens to live in a warehouse. Knowing the line between what we own and what stays with your team prevents the most common onboarding fights, especially when the call is between NS rail, CSX rail, Queen City Express overnight from Wilmington, and CLT air cargo for the same inbound container.
✓ The 3PL owns
✗ The brand owns
Order flow
Charlotte does not have a deepwater port. Inbound is rail intermodal (NS Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility or CSX Pinoca Yard), the state-run Queen City Express overnight from Port of Wilmington (cutoffs at 17:30, no dwell at either end), or CLT air cargo. From the moment your container clears the rail ramp or inland port, it transfers to truck for the 14-mile leg to our Concord / Huntersville / I-77 industrial cluster facility. Here is the exact path. Ten steps, mapped to who does what and where the typical 3PL drops the ball.
Your supplier or freight forwarder sends an ASN (Advance Shipping Notice) or simple email with PO, expected SKUs, container count, ETA, and routing preference (NS rail vs CSX rail vs Queen City Express overnight from Wilmington vs CLT air). We pre-allocate a receiving dock window.
An ASN is a structured file (EDI 856 or our standard CSV / spreadsheet) that lists every SKU, expected quantity, container or pallet ID, and ETA before the freight arrives. With an ASN, our receiving team pre-prints labels, pre-assigns rack locations, and starts unload the moment the truck or rail intermodal container checks in. Without an ASN, every container takes 2 to 4 extra hours because we have to reverse-engineer the shipment on the dock. We accept both EDI and a simple template if your supplier is small.
Container arrives at our Charlotte-area facility via Norfolk Southern CRIF intermodal, CSX Pinoca Yard, Queen City Express overnight from Port of Wilmington, CLT air cargo trans-load, or domestic LTL pickup. Driver checks in, dock door is assigned, unload begins.
Charlotte does not have a deepwater port. Inbound containers ride rail or air. NS CRIF (300 acres, 200K lifts/year) runs the Crescent Corridor with overnight service to Port of Norfolk and Inland Port Greer to Port of Charleston. CSX Pinoca Yard (24/7, 160K lifts) connects to the new CSX-BNSF coast-to-coast direct lane to Southern California (launched 2025). The state-run Charlotte Inland Port at 1301 Exchange Street runs the Queen City Express nightly to and from Port of Wilmington, with the train departing Wilmington at 01:00 and the container available at the inland port at 08:00 next day, cutoffs at 17:30, no dwell at either end. CLT air cargo (205,700 tons in 2024, dominated by Amazon Air) trans-loads to truck for the 14-mile leg to our facility. Domestic restocks and sample shipments arrive via standard LTL.
Cases are unloaded, scanned, counted against the ASN. Discrepancies (short / over / damaged) are flagged and photo-documented inside 24 hours.
Every case gets a barcode scan against the ASN line item. If the count matches, the SKU moves to putaway. If it does not (short ship, over-ship, damaged outer), our team photo-documents the variance with timestamps and dock-door ID, then logs it in our exception queue. You get an email within 24 hours with the photos, the variance, and our recommended next step (claim with carrier, request supplier credit, accept and adjust on-hand).
SKUs are binned to designated rack or floor locations using our WMS. Lot codes and expiry dates captured at this step for food / supplements / beauty SKUs.
Putaway is the act of moving received cases from the dock to a permanent rack or floor location. Our WMS assigns the location based on velocity (fast-movers near the pack table, slow-movers in deep storage), pallet height, and lot rotation rules. For food, supplements, and beauty SKUs we capture lot code and expiry at putaway so FIFO (First-In-First-Out) picks always grab the earliest-expiring stock first.
A good WMS pulls orders from Shopify, Amazon, BigCommerce, and your ERP near real time. New orders appear in the pick queue automatically. We run Datex Footprint for this.
Order sync is the live link between your sales channels and our pick queue. A good WMS polls Shopify, Amazon Seller Central, BigCommerce, and ERP systems frequently so the order is in the pick queue shortly after checkout. We run Datex Footprint for this. Inventory levels push back to your store when the pick is confirmed, which prevents oversells during traffic spikes.
Orders are batched into pick waves based on carrier cutoff time. DTC same-day orders run first, B2B and retail run second.
A wave is a batch of orders released to the floor as a single pick task. We organize waves by carrier sweep time (UPS at 4 PM, FedEx at 5 PM, USPS at 5:30 PM ET) and by service level. DTC same-day orders run in the first wave because their cutoff is tightest. B2B and retail outbound run in later waves where the carrier sweep is later. This sequencing keeps small fast orders from waiting behind a large pallet pick.
Pickers scan each item against barcode and bin location. A good WMS rejects mispicks before they reach the pack table. That is how an operator holds pick accuracy in the high-nineties consistently.
Picking is the moment a worker grabs the right SKU off the shelf for an order. A good WMS forces a barcode scan at every pick, comparing the scanned SKU against the order line. If they do not match, the system blocks the pick and routes the worker back to the correct bin. That double-check is what keeps a 3PL at high-nineties shipped-correct accuracy across high order volumes.
Packers select carton, add inserts, generate carrier label, weigh, and tape. Each pack table runs a triple-check process before the parcel leaves the station.
At the pack station, the worker selects the right-size carton (we calculate dim weight to keep your shipping costs low), adds any inserts (thank-you cards, samples, marketing flyers you supply), prints the carrier label, weighs the parcel, and tapes. Three checks happen before the parcel leaves: SKU match, label match, and weight sanity check. If any fail, the parcel goes to a re-pack station before it ships.
Parcels stage by carrier (UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, Canada Post). Carrier sweeps happen at fixed daily windows. Tracking pushes back to Shopify and Amazon automatically.
Parcels stage in carrier-specific zones near the loading dock. UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL, and Canada Post each have their own daily sweep window with us. The moment a carrier scans a label at sweep, that scan event pushes back to your Shopify or Amazon order page so the customer sees a tracking number in real time. No manual tracking uploads, no end-of-day batch lag.
Inbound returns are received, inspected against your disposition rules (restock, refurbish, scrap), and the result writes back to inventory. You get a daily returns report.
Returns come back to a dedicated returns dock. Our team inspects each item against your disposition rules (which you set during onboarding): restock if A-grade, refurbish if B-grade and re-label, scrap if damaged. The result writes back to your inventory in real time. Your refund logic can fire on any of three triggers (parcel scan-in, inspection pass, or restock complete) so you control whether the customer gets refunded fast or only after we confirm condition.
Pricing reality
Most 3PL pricing comparisons get hung up on pick-and-pack rates, which are usually within a penny or two between providers. The real difference shows up in receiving, storage, and how exceptions are billed. Here is where to look:
| Cost area | How it's charged | What raises the invoice | What you must define |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receiving | Per pallet or per container | Mixed SKUs per pallet, no ASN, damaged outers, missing routing preference between NS, CSX, Queen City Express, and CLT air | ASN format, palletization standard, damage tolerance, preferred inbound rail or air lane |
| Storage | Per pallet / per cubic foot / month | Long-tail SKUs, slow-movers, packaging that wastes airspace, choice of submarket (Airport-flex vs Gaston W/D) | Storage type (rack vs floor vs bin), long-term tier breakpoints, submarket of the warehouse. Airport-flex trades materially above Gaston / I-85 corridor warehouse-distribution. |
| Pick & pack | Per order, per item, sometimes per SKU | Multi-item orders with kitting, gift wrap, custom inserts | Standard SKU vs kit, included vs add-on packout steps |
| Carrier costs | Pass-through, sometimes with markup | Use of 3PL's carrier account vs your own, dimensional weight pricing | Whose carrier account, who pays surcharges (residential, peak) |
| Rail / inland port intermodal | Per container | NS CRIF or CSX Pinoca booking windows during peak; chassis availability at the destination ramp; Queen City Express cutoff missed (17:30 at Wilmington) | Whose drayage account at the Charlotte ramp, chassis stay program, container detention tolerance, preferred lane (NS Crescent Corridor vs CSX BNSF interchange vs Queen City Express overnight from Wilmington) |
| FBA inbound prep | Per unit prepped | Polybagging, FNSKU labels, bundle requirements | Prep scope, who buys polybags, which Charlotte FBA codes you ship to (CLT2, CLT3, CLT4, CLT5) |
| Returns | Per return + handling | Inspection beyond visual, refurbishment steps, photos required | Disposition rules: restock / refurbish / scrap, photo requirements |
Failure modes
Five failure modes specific to LA-region fulfillment. Not generic 3PL problems. The ones that hit when port congestion stacks with peak-season demand and shared labor goes thin.
| Failure mode | Why it happens | How Vertex handles it |
|---|---|---|
| Container stuck at the rail ramp | NS CRIF or CSX Pinoca booking gaps during peak (Lunar New Year imports, BFCM build-ups); chassis shortages at the Charlotte destination ramp; Queen City Express 17:30 Wilmington cutoff missed by the freight forwarder. | A good Charlotte 3PL pre-books rail slots well ahead of peak across all three lanes (NS Crescent Corridor, CSX BNSF interchange, Queen City Express from Wilmington), holds relationships with multiple drayage carriers at the Charlotte ramps, and flags urgent containers (live shows, FBA peak) so they do not sit at the rail yard. |
| Inbound takes 5+ days to pickable | Receiving team buried under stale POs, no ASN discipline, rail container offload delays, temp-agency floor labor not staffed against forecast volume. | We enforce ASN format upfront, cap unannounced inbound, stage rail containers with chassis-stay programs so we are not waiting at the ramp, and staff a dedicated DTC labor pool rather than running thin through temp agencies. |
| Same-day cutoff slipping | Pickers shared with retail B2B during peak; carrier sweep moved up without notice; Reddit-named Charlotte temp-agency staffing reality (workers jumping every $1/hour, perpetual understaffing if senior leadership is "controlling costs"). | We staff a dedicated DTC labor pool at competitive wages (the operational cost that breaks more boutique 3PLs than rent does, per r/WorkReform Charlotte threads), and lock carrier sweep windows in writing during onboarding. |
| FBA inbound rejected | Polybag or FNSKU spec changed without notice; wrong Charlotte FBA code routed (CLT2 versus CLT3 mix-up between Charlotte 28214 and Concord 28027). | We subscribe to Amazon prep updates, re-validate FNSKUs on a recurring cadence, and route by ZIP to the correct CLT code (Concord 28027 is a different rate base from Charlotte 28214). |
| Submarket pricing surprise | C&W Q1 2026 reports a meaningful intra-MSA rent spread between Gaston W/D and Airport flex; operators leasing Airport-flex addresses for the optics pass the premium through in storage rates. | Our facility sits in the Concord / Huntersville / I-77 cluster in the Gaston / I-85 corridor warehouse-distribution band, not the Airport-flex premium. We send a monthly slow-mover report, flag any SKU approaching the tier breakpoint, and write a clear-out plan into onboarding. |
When this isn't a fit
We are not the right 3PL for everyone shipping from Charlotte. Here is the honest list of cases where you should pick someone else.
You ship under 200 DTC orders per month. Smaller Charlotte-area operators (Sweetwater Logistics, Yoke Fulfillment, both Reddit-recommended for pre-volume founders in r/logistics) and the community-default Bonded Logistics (founded 1972, the reflexive vendor-routing-guide answer across r/smallbusiness and r/Entrepreneur threads) will run cheaper at your volume. We work best at 500 orders per month and up, or B2B and retail programs that justify dedicated handling.
You only want a single fulfillment node, and your demand is heavily West Coast. We can split your inventory across our Charlotte + LA nodes (and we will quote that), but if you want a single-node setup with no inventory rebalancing, an LA operator is cheaper.
You need walk-in retail or B2C drop-off. We do not run customer-facing counters at our facilities.
You require unstable or undefined inbound (no ASNs, surprise containers, ad-hoc SKU labeling). We can onboard this, and we will quote with a higher cost-to-serve to match.
You need cold-chain pharma (frozen or refrigerated, GMP-certified). Our Charlotte facility runs ambient-only.
You need direct admission to a Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ #57). We are not a designated FTZ #57 subzone (only two warehouse/distribution operators are currently active in the zone). For brands where the tariff math justifies direct FTZ admission under the 2025 tariff regime, we point you to FTZ #57 specialists. The contrarian opportunity is real: FTZ #57 received $250-500M in 2024 versus FTZ #93 Raleigh-Durham at $25-50B, so a Charlotte FTZ activator faces very little competition.
You need a CBP-licensed bonded sufferance warehouse for duty-deferred holding. We are not a bonded sufferance facility.
You need overnight-air-critical service. FedEx Express SuperHub is in Memphis and UPS Worldport is in Louisville. For pharma cold-chain and life-safety, we refer.
Your demand is fully Atlanta-proximate (Savannah-import-led, 1-day to GA / AL / FL panhandle). Use our Atlanta page; Mason Mega Rail is the better primary lane for that demand pattern.
Reach from Charlotte
From our Charlotte footprint, your inventory reaches a defined 1-day and 2-day ground zone, plus cross-border to Canada through our Canadian network. No separate Canadian 3PL setup required.
1-day delivery
North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia (Atlanta in 4 hours), West Virginia, Kentucky
2-day delivery
75% of U.S. homes including New York, Chicago, Florida, and most of the Midwest
Cross-border to Canada
1 business day to Toronto and Vancouver via our Canadian network.
5 PM ET
Same-day cutoff
2.8M (Charlotte MSA)
Metro pop served
4+
FBA codes routed
Comparison
A few honest comparisons. We're not the right fit for every brand shipping from LA, and where we're not, here's where we'd send you.
Charlotte-area footprint + 20+ warehouse US/Canadian network
The community-default Charlotte 3PL answer (founded 1972, 12 facilities across Charlotte metro)
Pre-volume DTC pair (Sweetwater Logistics, Yoke Fulfillment)
Inside Cabarrus or North submarket (24.1M and 35.3M SF inventory respectively, C&W Q1 2026)
Charlotte is one of 30-60 fulfillment centers (e.g., ShipBob, GEODIS, FIDELITONE)
Vertex pricing
Pick-and-pack starts at $1.05 per DTC order. Everything else — receiving, storage, FBA prep, kitting, returns — is scoped to your SKU mix, channel set, and packout spec. Show us your current 3PL invoice and we'll tell you where we beat it, line by line.
Pick & pack
Per DTC order, standard SKU
from $1.05 /order
Everything else
Receiving, storage, FBA prep, kitting, returns, multi-channel routing — quoted on a call against your real order volume and SKU profile. We do not publish a per-pallet or per-cu-ft rate sheet because the honest answer depends on what you ship.
Bring your current invoice
Already at another 3PL? Send us your last three invoices. We will reply with a side-by-side and tell you whether we can beat it. If we cannot, we will say so.
What every brand gets
Bring your current invoice. We will reply with a line-by-line comparison.
FAQs about Charlotte fulfillment
We operate in the Charlotte area as part of our 20+ warehouse US and Canadian network. The footprint is positioned for NS Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility, CSX Pinoca Yard, the Charlotte Inland Port Queen City Express overnight lane from Port of Wilmington, and CLT air cargo.
Charlotte is the only US metro where Norfolk Southern's Charlotte Regional Intermodal Facility (300 acres, 200K lifts/year capacity), CSX's Pinoca Yard (24/7, 160K lifts after capacity expansion), and the state-run Charlotte Inland Port (Queen City Express overnight to Port of Wilmington, no dwell at either end, cutoffs at 17:30) all overlap inside one warehouse cluster. That gives you three inbound rail / inland-port lanes from one facility: NS Crescent Corridor to Norfolk, CSX-BNSF coast-to-coast direct to Southern California (launched 2025), and Queen City Express overnight from Wilmington. Atlanta does not have this. Greenville does not have this.
Orders placed before 5 PM ET ship the same business day. Orders after the cutoff ship the next business day. Saturday cutoffs are available on request for high-volume DTC programs.
Yes. We prep and route to CLT2 (Charlotte 28214), CLT3 (Concord 28027, non-sort FC), CLT4 (Tuckaseegee Rd), and CLT5 directly from our Charlotte-area facility. FBA labeling, polybagging, and inbound shipment plans are all included. We re-validate FNSKUs on a recurring cadence so Amazon spec changes do not cause inbound rejections. The Amazon-seller community calls CLT3 in Concord the Southeast default inbound FC; we route accordingly.
Yes. Cross-border to Canada is 2 to 3 business days from our Charlotte footprint via our Canadian network (covering both Toronto and Vancouver). We handle US-to-Canada customs paperwork and the dual-country routing in one workflow.
Yes. We arrange container drayage from Wilmington (or use the state-run Queen City Express overnight intermodal lane: train departs Wilmington at 01:00, container available at the inland port at 08:00 next day, cutoffs at 17:30, no dwell), Norfolk via NS Crescent Corridor through NS CRIF, and Charleston via Inland Port Greer to NS CRIF. For Asia imports, the CSX-BNSF coast-to-coast direct lane (Charlotte to Southern California, launched 2025) is a new option for West Coast port arrivals.
North Carolina has the lowest corporate income tax in the United States at 2.0% in 2026, scheduled to drop to 0% by 2030 under current legislation (Tax Foundation 2026 State Tax Competitiveness Index). For a brand whose 3PL spend is a deductible operating expense in the state where the inventory sits, the math compounds. Site Selection 2026 also ranks NC #2 best business-tax climate and #1 for workforce, and CNBC named NC the #1 State for Business in 2025 (third time in four years). The corporate stack keeps loading in: Honeywell, Coca-Cola Consolidated, Truist, LendingTree, Albemarle, Nucor, and Siemens Energy are anchored in the region.
No. Our facility is not a designated FTZ #57 subzone. Only two warehouse/distribution operators are currently active in FTZ #57 plus DNP Imagingcomm America (subzone 57C, $50-75M merchandise received 2024). For brands where direct FTZ admission is the right answer under the 2025 tariff regime, we point you to FTZ #57 specialists. The contrarian opportunity is genuine: FTZ #57 received $250-500M in 2024 versus FTZ #93 Raleigh-Durham at $25-50B (Merck-dominated) and Houston FTZ #84 at roughly $50B (FTZ Board 86th Annual Report 2024). A Charlotte FTZ activator faces almost no competition.
Cushman & Wakefield Q1 2026 puts a meaningful rent spread between Gaston County warehouse-distribution and Airport flex in the same quarterly report. A 3PL pitching "Charlotte" without naming the submarket is hiding which rate it pays. Our facility sits in the Concord / Huntersville / I-77 cluster in the Gaston / I-85 corridor warehouse-distribution band, not the Airport-flex premium.
We work best with brands shipping 500+ DTC orders per month or running B2B and retail replenishment programs. Below 200 orders per month, smaller Charlotte boutiques (Sweetwater Logistics, Yoke Fulfillment, both Reddit-recommended for pre-volume founders) and the community-default Bonded Logistics (founded 1972) will beat us on cost. We say so on the discovery call.
Standard onboarding runs 1 to 2 weeks: discovery call, integration setup (Shopify, Amazon, your ERP), SOP design, and first inbound receiving. Brands with clean SKU data and a single sales channel can be live in under a week.
No. We use service agreements, not contracts. You can pause, scale up or down, or move volume across our nodes (Charlotte, Atlanta, LA, US, Canada) without penalty. Termination is 60 days written notice.
Datex Footprint paired with TechDynamics. The combination gives us near-real-time inventory sync to Shopify and Amazon, barcode scanning at every pick, and EDI-compliant retail outbound for B2B programs.
Returns are received and inspected against your written disposition rules (restock, refurbish, scrap). The result writes back to your inventory in real time. You get a daily returns report. Refunds can trigger on receipt, on inspection, or on restock. You pick during onboarding.
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FL
3PL Miami
Miami's 3PL moat is air, not sea
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Get a custom quote in 24 hours, based on your SKU mix, order volume, and Southeast delivery needs. 5 PM ET cutoff. 24-hour receipt-to-pickable. No annual contract.
5 PM ET cutoff · 24h receipt-to-pickable · No annual contract
