How to choose a 3PL in Calgary.

Check what the building lets you store

Ask for the clear height, the usable distance from the floor to the lowest overhead obstruction, and whether the sprinkler system is ESFR. Together they decide how high your product can be stacked, and that decides how many pallet positions or how much floor you pay for. Then ask for the column grid: wider bays mean fewer obstructions and better rack layouts.

If your pallets are heavy, ask for the floor's load rating, and check that the racking already installed suits your pallet size.

Count the dock doors and ask how they are scheduled

Dock doors decide how fast trucks turn. A building with few doors and many customers queues trucks, and a queue shows up as detention from your carrier and missed delivery windows. Ask how many doors there are, whether receiving and shipping share them, and how appointments are booked.

If anything you ship has to be driven or rolled in, ask about grade-level access too, since some buildings have docks only.

Look at the location and who runs the trucks

Check where the building sits relative to Stoney Trail, your main customers and, if you import by container, the CN and CPKC intermodal terminals. Drive time on those runs shows up in every drayage and delivery charge.

Ask whether the provider runs its own trucks or arranges them. A provider with its own fleet controls pickup and delivery times directly, and storage and freight can sit on one invoice. Either way, find out who you call when a delivery date moves.

Ask to see the inventory system working

Ask for a demonstration before you sign: stock levels by SKU, order status, receiving records, and how counts are reconciled against your own numbers. Ask whether the system connects to your ERP or store platform, and whether it handles EDI with your retail customers.

Read how storage and handling are billed

Storage is usually billed per pallet position per month or per square foot, and handling per pallet, once on the way in and once on the way out. On an active account, handling can be as large a line as storage, so compare the two together.

• Handling in and out, and what counts as one handling move
• Value-added work such as carton picking, labelling or re-palletising
• After-hours or weekend receiving
• Long-term storage surcharges on slow stock, and the age thresholds that trigger them
• Minimums, and what happens if your volume drops below them

Ask for every one of these lines in writing on the quote, before you sign.

Check the terms and how fast you can start

Ask for the minimum term, the notice period, and what it costs to grow or shrink. If your volume swings, ask whether short-term or seasonal space can be taken by the month.

Then ask how long onboarding takes from signature to first receipt. With space available, the paperwork can be a credit check and a signed agreement over a few days. Moving stock from another provider takes longer to plan, because receiving has to fit around your outbound orders.

Match the building to your product

Confirm that the building can take your product before anyone quotes. Sealed, shelf-stable food and packaged beverage need dates and lot codes captured at receiving and rotation by expiry date. Chilled and frozen product needs a temperature-controlled facility. Heavy, dense product needs racking and a slab rated for the load.

Questions to ask on the site visit

A site visit answers more than a spec sheet. These questions are worth asking in person.

• Can you show me the inventory report I would receive?
• How many doors do receiving and shipping each use on a busy day?
• Who handles my account day to day, and how do I reach them when a date moves?
• How do you count inventory, and how often?
• Which retail distribution centres do you deliver into each week?