Many businesses do not understand everything there is to know about public warehouse companies, making the choice challenging. So we want to provide you with all the information you need to learn about public warehouse companies. From whether or not it will be helpful for your business to how much it will cost and how to find the best public warehouse companies in your region. Therefore, we’ve created an extensive guide on public warehouse companies to help you navigate this industry easily. Read on to learn everything you need to know about public warehousing! Show
Want to learn more about public warehousing companies and how they can help your business? Keep reading below! What is a Public Warehouse?A public warehouse is an independently-owned warehouse and storage facility that provides short or long-term storage for anyone, including private citizens and SMBs, to house their inventory. Public warehouse companies typically rent space to customers per pallet or per square foot. Public warehouse storage can provide customers with a variety of storage options for their goods, including temperature-controlled storage that manages humidity, refrigeration, or cold storage. Public warehouses are run individually by the public warehouse company themselves so that the client does not have to worry about the maintenance, construction, or management of the storage site. Public warehouse storage companies house and manage inventory from many different clients, which means that available space fluctuates and is provided on a first-come, first-serve basis. While many companies begin using public warehouse storage as a short-term solution, they oftentimes continue to use public warehouses for long-term periods due to the convenience they provide. Public warehouses are not to be confused with private warehouses. Private warehouses are owned and used by a singular company division, while public warehouses house inventory from many different client companies. Private warehouses cost a company significantly more on the front-end since the company must obtain the land, build the storage building, manage and run the facility, and do routine maintenance to ensure that everything is working smoothly. There are many different types of warehouses outside of public warehouses. These include private warehouses, smart warehouses, distribution centers, automated warehouses, bonded warehouses, consolidated warehouses, cooperative warehouses, bonded storage centers, and government warehouses, to name a few. Public Warehouses vs. Fulfillment Centers – What’s the DifferenceAs their name suggests, a fulfillment center is where a company’s orders are filled and shipped to customers as quickly as possible. The connotation behind fulfillment centers is that they only fill and ship orders to customers, and public warehouses only store inventory for a company. However, public warehouses and fulfillment centers can both store and ship products, and you can definitely find a public warehouse that will provide your company with fulfillment services. How Much do Public Warehousing Companies Cost?Public warehousing costs can vary based on different factors. First and foremost, the cost will depend on how the warehouse prices and measures the storage space they rent. Storage costs may be determined by square footage used or by pallet. Per our research for 2021, the price per square foot for storage is between $7-$8 (average is $7.91) and around $15 per pallet (average is $14.79). However, it is important to remember that you are not only paying for the space but also any added benefits and services that the public warehousing company may provide. Picking and packing, inventory tracking and management, shipping services, and climate control can contribute to additional costs in your contract. Benefits of Using Public Warehouses for Storage & ShippingThere are tons of benefits of using a private warehouse as opposed to another storage option to house and ship your inventory:
Along with these benefits, public warehousing companies also utilize state-of-the-art organization software and strategies, are fully staffed with dedicated, trained employees, and provide a secure place to store inventory. Overall, it’s safe to say that the ultimate benefit of using a public warehouse facility to store your products is the added freedom they provide you to focus on your business by taking the weight of storage and management off your shoulders. What Types of Companies Should Use a Public Warehousing Company?Public warehouses are great for any company that doesn’t want to foot the overhead needed to build their own private warehouse. By utilizing the benefits of a public warehouse, your company can save on the resources and manpower that would be used to run and manage a private company warehouse. Public warehouses are great for small to medium-sized businesses since they allow you the flexibility to choose the size of space you need and the ideal location to store your stock. It is not ideal for an SMB to build its own private warehouse, so a public warehouse will be your best bet to store, manage, and ship your inventory. Using a public warehouse helps SMBs stay competitive with larger businesses that can afford their own private company warehouses. With the added benefits of inventory tracking and management technology, SMB’s can flourish by taking advantage of the services provided by a public warehousing company. Other businesses that would benefit from using public warehouse storage are seasonal businesses. Halloween supply stores are a good example of this type of business. These businesses can store their inventory in a public warehouse until it’s time to reopen their physical stores. Since they only have to pay for the public warehouse storage service for the period of time they are actively using it, seasonal businesses can conveniently save on storage costs. Public warehouse storage is also convenient for businesses that have a problem with overflow inventory. They might have run out of space in their own warehouses and need a place to put the extra inventory. Public warehouses offer the perfect solution for this short-term problem. What to Look for in a Public Warehouse SpaceSince there are so many public warehousing companies out there, you’re going to need to first evaluate what you’re looking for in public warehouse storage and shipping and then seek out a public warehouse facility that matches those needs. To begin this process, there are some important things to consider when looking at public warehousing companies:
Like with any purchase, you’re going to want to conduct some research before you commit to a public warehouse space. A smart move would be to tour the facility and see if they have exactly what you want. Talking to team members and management and assessing customer reviews will also help you solidify your decision. It is also highly recommended that you speak with multiple vendors so that you can compare the various options. By looking at multiple companies, you’ll be able to see the differences between various companies and negotiate better pricing due to this knowledge. Of course, we don’t recommend that you make a decision based upon price alone, but rather take into consideration both a company’s capabilities in addition to pricing. How Warehousingandfulfillment.com Can Help You Find the Best Public WarehouseWhile beginning this process may seem daunting, Warehousingandfullfillment.com can help make it much easier on you. We have a very unique approach to finding you the best public warehouse. First and foremost, all our employees come from the warehousing industry, so you know that we have the thorough background and knowledge that will help you make the most informed decision. We also strive to give the most honest assessments of the warehousing companies in our catalog. We assess many components of each public warehousing company: their capabilities and services, financial backgrounds, and their performance metrics. After evaluating each of these elements, we are able to give you well-informed suggestions as to which company will be the best fit for your business. Along with our own assessments, we also carefully consider the feedback of customers who have used the services provided by the public warehousing company. By doing so, we get a better idea of the customer experience provided by the warehouses and can thoroughly assess the warehouses in our network. That being said, if we find that a provider does not meet our high standards of service, we remove them from our network. As you can see, we hold the warehousing companies in our network to a very high standard. We want to confidently connect seekers of public warehouse space to the public warehouse company that best meets their needs. For this reason, it is free for you to get warehouse recommendations. Warehouses pay us a small referral fee so that we can connect them to you, which helps us stay unbiased and allows us to provide this service to you for free. Find the Best Public Warehouse in the USA and CanadaChoose the desired location to find the best public warehouse near me: FAQ’s about Public WarehousingWho owns public warehouses?A public warehouse is a warehouse individually owned by a third-party company and rented out to various clients. Do public warehouses provide shipping and transportation services?Yes, some public warehousing companies do provide shipping and transportation services. If this is a service you are interested in, make sure that the public warehouses you’re looking at provide this service and include it in your SLA. What is an SLA?An SLA, or service level agreement, is the part of a fulfillment agreement contract that states the services the company will be providing and how those services are measured. The SLA should also include what remedies the company will provide if the services are not fulfilled the standards of the contract. What is a 3PL?A 3PL, 3PL warehouse or third-party logistics provider, is a company that can help you get your product from the manufacturing stage all the way to the customer. This process can have many steps, and a 3PL can help you manage this process so that it becomes much easier and smoother to get your product to your customers. Are 3PLs different from public warehouses?Yes, slightly. 3PLs deal with the many stages of the supply chain process, while public warehouses specialize in storage. However, 3PLs and public warehouses can work together to ensure that your business runs smoothly. What are pick & pack services?Pick and pack fulfillment is a means of fulfilling a more complex order that involves pieces of inventory that may be stored in different locations and need to be pulled individually and packed together. This method of order fulfillment requires different strategies to keep it cost-effective and efficient. It may also require multiple employees and intricate computer software programs and tracking systems to complete smoothly. Where are public warehouses located?There are public warehouses located all over the nation and across the globe. A public warehousing company may have a network of public warehouses in various locations across the country that allow you to move your inventory to the location that best suits your needs. What is a contract warehouse?A contract warehouse is similar to a public warehouse in that it fulfills a client’s need for inventory storage. However, the difference between contract warehouses and public warehouses is that a single contract warehouse only serves one client and focuses more on long-term storage. The space and costs are usually fixed with contract warehouses, and they don’t offer the same flexibility that public warehouses provide. |