Warehousing · Checklist
Ten questions to ask
before signing a warehouse
The checklist we wish every 3PL customer brought on a tour — the questions that reveal whether a warehouse is run well or just photographed well.
Every warehouse looks impressive on a tour — high bays, clean floor, a forklift gliding past on cue. What you can't see in twenty minutes is whether the stock count will be right in six months. So ask these instead.
1. How do you count on arrival? If the answer is "we count pallets", your carton-level stock is a guess from day one. 2. Can I see a stock report from last Friday? Anyone can generate a clean report; ask for the most recent one, unpolished. 3. Who picks my orders? A named person is a good answer. "The team" is not.
4. What's the in/out handling charge? Storage rates get quoted; handling fees get discovered. 5. How are discrepancies reported? Same-day with photos is the right answer.
Aisle check
Reading the detail
Written by Priya Nair, warehouse lead — the checklist is the one printed on the depot wall.
A warehouse is a promise-keeping machine. The racking is furniture — the questions that matter are all about counting and telling the truth.
Questions six through ten
6. What happens when my stock gets damaged? You want a process, not a shrug. 7. Who owns the relationship — a manager you can call, or a ticket queue? 8. Can stock leave same-day if I need it to? Storage that can't dispatch is just expensive parking.
9. How is billing calculated — real locations or estimated? Paying for pallet-weeks you actually occupy is very different from paying for "up to" a footprint. 10. Can I talk to a current client? The hesitation in this answer tells you everything the racking doesn't.
We run this checklist on our own Hamilton shed too — you're welcome to tour it and ask all ten. The Friday stock report is genuinely on the wall.
The short version
- Ask for last Friday's real stock report
- Handling fees hide under storage rates
- A named picker beats "the team"
- Same-day dispatch-out is the real test
The pick faces at Hamilton — same racking, same checklist.
The checklist in numbers
What 'a pallet in storage' really means at this depot.
More from the dispatch desk
Want to walk our racks?
Tours during depot hours — bring the checklist, we'll bring the stock reports.