Prioritize proximity to major highways/rail, direct carrier lanes, dock and staging capacity, and the provider’s experience with LTL, parcel, and cross-dock operations. Verify SLA adherence, transit-time matrices, and contingency routing for peak periods. Confirm pickups, cutoffs, and carrier schedules align with your delivery promises.

Compare landed occupancy (rent + OPEX), labor rates and productivity (lines per hour), and dock-to-stock cycle times. Evaluate minimums, throughput guarantees, and slotting fees. Assess local labor pools for seasonal flexibility and provider investments in training or automation that improve throughput.

Require WMS/API integration for real-time inventory, EDI or API order flows, and automated ASN/EDI confirmations. Confirm reporting cadence for inventory accuracy, OTIF, order cycle time, and damage/claims. Ask for historical SLA performance and sample dashboards during due diligence.

Negotiate flexible capacity tiers, seasonal labor ramp clauses, transparent chargeback rules, and clear SLAs with financial remedies. Include expansion notice periods, slotting and handling rate schedules, termination terms, and agreed onboarding timelines for new SKUs to avoid hidden costs during growth.