What Is Dunnage? Meaning, the 8 Types, and How to Choose

Warehouse packer placing a product into a corrugated box cushioned with kraft paper, beside corrugated inserts, air pillows and corner protectors

Dunnage is the loose material packed around goods so they cannot move in transit. Federal motor carrier rules put it plainly: 49 CFR 393.5 defines dunnage as all loose materials used to support and protect cargo. The word covers far more than bubble wrap. It runs from an air pillow in a parcel to timber […]

White Glove Delivery: The 6 Levels, What Is Included, and Costs

Two-person white glove delivery crew placing an armchair in a living room while packaging is carried out

White glove delivery is the top delivery tier. A crew brings the item inside, unpacks it, sets it up in the room you choose and leaves with the packaging. Costco, which publishes every level it offers, calls its white glove option the “best of the best”. The tier you pick decides who carries a 200-pound […]

What Is a Packing Slip? The 7 Fields It Needs, and a Free Template

A warehouse worker in a navy polo places a printed packing slip on top of the goods in an open shipping box at a packing bench, beside a label printer and tape dispenser.

A packing slip is the document that travels with a shipment and lists what is inside it. It names the items and quantities, and it carries no prices. The receiver uses it to check the delivery before signing. Your warehouse uses it to prove what left the building, which is what settles a short-shipment argument […]

What Is a Distribution Center? How It Works and How It Differs From a Warehouse

The outbound dock of a distribution center, with trailers backed into six doors, shrink-wrapped pallets staged in marked lanes, a forklift moving a pallet and a worker in a navy polo scanning a label.

A distribution center is a building designed around throughput: freight in, sorted, and back out the door. Stock arrives, gets grouped by destination, and leaves again within days. The building is judged on how fast it turns orders around, not on how much it can store. This guide covers what a distribution center does and […]

Drayage Services: The 6 Types, What They Cost and When You Need One

A day-cab truck hauls a sealed 40-foot shipping container on a chassis out of a marine terminal gate, with stacked containers and a gantry crane behind it.

Drayage is the short truck move that takes a shipping container from a port or rail ramp to its next stop. That stop is a warehouse, a customer’s door or another terminal. It is the shortest leg of an import journey and the one most likely to bill you twice. This guide covers the 6 […]

Pallet Storage Cost: 4 Pricing Models and What Warehouse Storage Costs per Month

A warehouse worker in a navy polo checks a tablet beside tall blue pallet racking with orange beams, holding shrink-wrapped pallets of cartons several levels high, with some pallet positions empty.

Pallet storage is warehouse space rented by the pallet position and billed by the month, with the warehouse receiving and releasing your goods. It averaged $20.17 per pallet per month in 2025, in a survey of more than 600 North American warehouses by The Fulfillment Advisor. Warehouse storage is the same service under a broader […]

Outbound Logistics: The 5 Stages From Order to Delivery

Truck driver signing a bill of lading beside a dock worker at a half-loaded trailer

Outbound logistics is the work of storing finished goods and moving them out to the customers who ordered them. The Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) includes order fulfillment, packing, shipping, delivery and returns handling in its definition of outbound logistics. This guide covers the 5 stages of an outbound shipment, its paperwork, KPIs, common […]

Warehousing and Distribution: The 5 Stages From Dock to Delivery (2026 Guide)

A distribution warehouse with blue pallet racking and orange beams on one side and an outbound dock on the other, where a forklift loads a wrapped pallet into a trailer and a worker in a navy polo scans a label in the staging lane.

Warehousing and distribution is the work of storing goods and then moving them to the stores, businesses or homes that ordered them. Warehousing keeps inventory safe and counted until it is needed. Distribution turns that inventory into shipments that arrive complete and on time. Both halves run on labor, and an hour of warehouse labor […]

Dedicated Warehousing: The 3 Models From Shared Aisle To Own Building (2026)

A wire mesh partition divides a warehouse interior. On one side, identical shrink-wrapped pallets sit in neat rows on blue racking with orange beams, reserved for a single client. On the other, mixed cartons from several clients share the space. A supervisor in a navy polo shirt stands beside the partition holding a tablet.

Dedicated warehousing is an arrangement where the space, the staff and the equipment handling your goods are used only by you. Nobody else’s pallets share the aisle. The word is used loosely, though: it can describe a fenced-off corner of a busy building or an entire site running one product line, and both are sold […]

Contract Warehousing: What It Is and When It Pays (2026 Guide)

A warehouse operations manager in a navy polo shirt stands at the end of a long aisle of blue pallet racking with orange beams, holding a clipboard, with neatly aligned identical shrink-wrapped pallets reserved for a single client on both sides.

Contract warehousing is a long-term agreement in which a provider stores and handles your goods in space reserved for you. You commit to a term and usually to a minimum volume. In exchange you get fixed rates, dedicated warehousing space and staff who only handle your product. The choice matters because warehousing is mostly a […]