Prioritize measurable KPIs: average order cycle time, dock-to-stock throughput, pick-and-pack accuracy, inventory turns, and on-time shipping rates. Also evaluate inbound appointment flexibility, peak-season scalability, and the 3PL’s SLA enforcement and reporting cadence to ensure alignment with your service promises.

Lincoln’s proximity to major interstates and regional freight lanes typically shortens linehaul distances to Midwest markets, lowering carrier miles and transit times. That reduces LTL and parcel zone creep for nearby metros, improving delivery windows and lowering per‑shipment freight costs compared with more distant hubs.

Request an overview of the WMS, API documentation, EDI capabilities, and sample reporting. Ask for live demos of order flows, inventory reconciliation, and exception handling. Confirm support for your OMS, eCommerce platforms, and carrier APIs, plus data security and uptime SLAs.

Pricing commonly includes receiving, storage, pick/pack, outbound handling, and monthly minimums. Watch for accessorials: chargebacks for labeling, returns processing, split shipments, short‑notice appointments, and oversized handling. Require a sample monthly bill to validate cost-to-serve under your order profile.

Look for flexible racking, mezzanine capacity, scalable labor pools, cross‑dock lanes, slotting optimization, and seasonal staffing plans. Also verify extra dock doors, staging yards, and partnerships with temp agencies or local training programs to ramp quickly during peaks.

Consider multisite when you need lower transit times across distinct customer clusters, redundancy against single‑site disruptions, or separation of fast‑moving consumer SKUs from bulk inventory. Multisite enables geographic segmentation of inventory to optimize service levels and lower expedited freight spend.