This is for founders and ops leads holding two or three 3PL (third-party logistics) quotes who can’t tell which storage line is cheaper, because each provider measures your inventory differently. Warehouse storage pricing comes in four common shapes: per pallet position, per shelf, per bin and per square foot, with per cubic foot as a fifth. Below, we price one made-up catalogue under every model, show when each model favours you and when it favours the warehouse, and give you two formulas that turn any storage quote into a number you can compare.
On the sample invoice in our full breakdown of a 3PL invoice, storage came to under 5 percent of the total. It is also the only line that keeps charging you when sales stop, which is why it is the line that surprises people.
Warehouse storage pricing models: what you are actually billed for
Every storage quote is a rate multiplied by a billing unit. The rate gets all the attention. The billing unit decides how much of your inventory you pay for twice.
| Model | What one billing unit is | Built for |
|---|---|---|
| Pallet position | One slot in a rack sized for one pallet, charged whether the pallet is full or holds five cartons | Cased goods, full-carton inbound, B2B stock |
| Shelf | One shelf level in a shelving bay | Mid-volume SKUs stored by the case |
| Bin | One plastic tote or bin on shelving | Small, loose, high-value units |
| Square foot | A block of floor reserved for you, aisles included | Oversized, floor-stacked or irregular freight |
| Cubic foot | The volume of your product, or of the location it sits in | Mixed catalogues; this is how Amazon bills FBA storage |
A pallet here means the standard 48 by 40 inch wooden platform. A pallet industry overview hosted by Penn State’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering identifies it as the most common pallet size produced in the US.
On our warehousing service, we bill per pallet position, per shelf or per bin depending on product size, and per square foot for floor-stacked bulk. We mix formats inside one account when that is cheaper for you, and empty positions are not charged. That is not a sales line. It is the reason the comparison below matters.
One catalogue, priced four ways
Here is a made-up skincare brand with 40 SKUs (stock keeping units, one per distinct product variant). It is not a client and not a composite of clients. It exists to make the arithmetic visible.
| SKU group | SKUs | On hand per SKU | Sells per SKU per month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hero products | 4 | 50 master cartons (1,200 units) | 300 units |
| Mid movers | 12 | 6 master cartons (144 units) | 40 units |
| Long tail | 24 | 40 loose units | 4 units |
The assumptions behind the arithmetic:
- Master carton: 16 by 12 by 10 inches, or 1.11 cubic feet.
- Pallets built to 60 inches tall including the pallet, which fits 9 cartons per layer and 5 layers, so 45 cartons per pallet. Your warehouse’s maximum height may differ, and it changes everything downstream, so ask.
- One shelf level holds 6 cartons.
- Each long-tail SKU fits in one bin of roughly 18 by 11 by 9 inches.
What you get billed for under each model
| Model | Hero | Mid | Long tail | Billable units | Space you pay for | Share actually filled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pallet only, one SKU per position | 8 positions | 12 positions | 24 positions | 44 positions | 2,933 cu ft | 11% |
| Pallet only, long tail on 2 mixed pallets* | 8 positions | 12 positions | 2 positions | 22 positions | 1,467 cu ft | 22% |
| Mixed format | 8 positions | 12 shelves | 24 bins | 44 locations | 670 cu ft | 47% |
| Cubic foot, product volume | 222 cu ft | 80 cu ft | 13 cu ft | 316 cu ft | 316 cu ft | 100% |
| Square foot | Floor-stacked 2 high | Shelving | Shelving | Block set by the warehouse | 77 sq ft net, before aisles | Varies |
*Mixed-SKU pallets save positions but slow picking, because someone has to dig through a pallet to find one serum among 24.
Look at the hero row first. Each hero SKU has 50 cartons, and a pallet holds 45. That fifth carton forces a second pallet position, so every hero SKU pays for two positions to store 1.1 pallets of goods. Call it the partial pallet tax. It is the quickest way for a pallet-only quote to look cheap per position and expensive per month.
The same units with illustrative rates
The rates below are round numbers chosen to make the arithmetic easy to follow. They are not 6G Logistic rates, they are not market averages, and they are not a quote. The $35 pallet rate matches the one in our invoice walkthrough so the two posts stay consistent. The other rates are $10 per shelf, $3 per bin, $1.00 per cubic foot and $2.50 per square foot, with the warehouse sizing your block at 150 square feet once aisle access is included.
| Model | Calculation | Monthly storage |
|---|---|---|
| Pallet only, one SKU per position | 44 x $35 | $1,540 |
| Pallet only, consolidated long tail | 22 x $35 | $770 |
| Mixed format | (8 x $35) + (12 x $10) + (24 x $3) | $472 |
| Square foot | 150 x $2.50 | $375 |
| Cubic foot, product volume | 316 x $1.00 | $316 |
Don’t read the ranking. Read why it moved. Change the rates and the order changes, which is the point. The cubic-foot model only wins here because it bills product volume. If that same quote measured the volume of the locations your stock sits in, the mixed-format footprint of 670 cubic feet would cost $670, and it would drop from first place to third.
Two formulas that make any storage quote comparable
Effective rate per cubic foot of product. Divide the monthly storage charge by the cubic feet of product you actually store. In the example, the mixed quote works out to $1.49, the consolidated pallet quote to $2.44 and the strict pallet quote to $4.87. Every quote, whatever its billing unit, collapses to one number in dollars per cubic foot of your goods.
Storage cost per unit sold. Divide a SKU’s monthly storage charge by the units of that SKU sold in the month. This is the number that shows you which products your storage bill is really funding, and it leads straight to the next section.
When each model favours you, and when it favours the warehouse
| Model | Favours you when | Favours the warehouse when |
|---|---|---|
| Pallet position | Each SKU arrives and sits in full pallets, turns fast, or ships to retail by the pallet | Your catalogue is wide and shallow, the warehouse requires one SKU per position, or quantities land just above a full pallet |
| Shelf | You hold a few cartons each of dozens of SKUs | “One shelf” is undefined in the quote, or a half-used shelf bills as full |
| Bin | Products are small and you carry a long tail of slow SKUs | Fast movers with deep stock get spread across dozens of bins instead of sitting on one pallet |
| Square foot | Freight is oversized or floor-stackable and you keep the block full year-round | You pay for aisles inside your block, and for empty floor in your slow months |
| Cubic foot | It is measured on your product and your goods are dense | It is measured on the location, or the rate changes by season |
No model is cheapest for everyone. A quote that offers only one model is fine if your catalogue fits it, and expensive if it doesn’t. Ask any provider, us included, to show the same inventory under two models before you sign.
The slow-moving SKU penalty
Run the second formula on one SKU from each group in the example.
| SKU | Mixed format | Per unit sold | Pallet only, one SKU per position | Per unit sold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One hero SKU | 2 positions, $70 | $0.23 | 2 positions, $70 | $0.23 |
| One mid mover | 1 shelf, $10 | $0.25 | 1 position, $35 | $0.88 |
| One long-tail SKU | 1 bin, $3 | $0.75 | 1 position, $35 | $8.75 |
The hero products cost the same either way. The long tail is where the model matters: the same slow SKU costs $0.75 or $8.75 in storage for every unit it sells, depending on how it is billed.
Even in a bin, that long-tail SKU carries 10 months of stock. The fix there is a smaller reorder quantity, not a cheaper warehouse. If a SKU needs 10 months to clear its stock, ask whether it belongs in the catalogue at all.
Watch for a second penalty layered on top: surcharges for inventory that has sat too long. Amazon applies one to FBA stock. Amazon’s own Seller Central staff describe it as separate from the monthly storage fee, assessed from an inventory snapshot taken on the 15th of each month. A 3PL contract can carry an equivalent clause under a different name. It belongs on the list of fees that only show up after you sign, so ask for it in writing.
Seasonal spikes: the measurement method can matter more than the rate
Say 20 extra pallets of Q4 stock land on October 25 and the last of them ships on December 20. That is 57 days of storage. Here is what the same 20 pallets cost at $35 per position under three common measurement methods.
| How storage is measured | Pallet-months billed | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Highest count during each month | 20 + 20 + 20 = 60 | $2,100 |
| Snapshot on the last day of each month | 20 + 20 + 0 = 40 | $1,400 |
| Daily average across each month | 4.5 + 20 + 12.9 = 37.4 | $1,310 |
Same pallets, same days, a $790 spread. The method is easy to miss in a quote, so ask which one applies and on what date any snapshot is taken.
Timing compounds it. When a container from Asia lands two weeks early, daily averaging bills you for two extra weeks. Highest-count billing can bill you for an extra month. Amazon charges FBA storage on your daily average volume in cubic feet, with a rate that depends on product size and time of year, per the same Seller Central guidance.
We don’t add peak-season surcharges to holiday invoices after the fact. For seasonal surge, our Perris warehouse in the Inland Empire South handles bulk storage and seasonal overflow. You take the space for the season and release it when the season ends, with no annual commitment on surge volume.
When our storage is the wrong answer
Suppose your inventory is three SKUs that arrive and sit in full pallets, and you don’t need orders picked and shipped from them. Then a storage-only warehouse quoting a lower pallet rate can beat us, because with us you would be paying for a fulfillment operation you don’t use. Get that quote and compare it honestly.
If you are storing a handful of boxes and shipping under 100 orders a month, a self-storage unit will cost you less than our $500 monthly invoice minimum. If your charges come in under $500, we bill the difference, and we have written up who that minimum is wrong for in detail.
If your volume is very high and very stable, and you already run your own operations team, a lease on your own building can come out cheaper than any 3PL. And if your products need cold-chain storage or are classed as hazardous materials, we don’t handle either.
Questions to put to every storage quote
- What exactly is one billing unit: the pallet height limit, the shelf dimensions, the bin dimensions?
- Do you require one SKU per pallet position, and will you consolidate partial pallets as stock sells down?
- Is storage measured by daily average, a snapshot, or the monthly peak, and on what date?
- Is there an aged-inventory or long-term storage surcharge, and when does it start?
- Does the rate change in Q4?
- Are reserved but empty positions charged?
Frequently asked questions
How is warehouse storage priced?
Warehouses charge a monthly rate per billing unit: a pallet position, a shelf, a bin, a square foot of reserved floor, or a cubic foot of volume. The billing unit matters as much as the rate, because it decides how much empty space inside each unit you pay for. Compare quotes by converting each to dollars per cubic foot of product.
Is pallet storage or bin storage cheaper?
It depends on depth per SKU. Pallets are cheapest per cubic foot when a SKU fills them. Bins are cheapest per SKU when stock is small and slow. In our worked example, one slow SKU cost $0.75 per unit sold in a bin and $8.75 in its own pallet position at the same illustrative rates.
Why is my 3PL storage bill higher in Q4?
You hold more stock, and the measurement method can magnify it. A month-end snapshot, a monthly peak count and a daily average can bill the same seasonal pallets very differently: $1,310 to $2,100 in our example. A provider can also raise its rate for the season, so ask before you send Q4 inventory.
How does 6G Logistic price storage?
Per pallet position, shelf or bin depending on product size, and per square foot for floor-stacked bulk, with formats mixed in one account when that is cheaper. Empty positions are not charged. Every cost category is laid out in our pricing breakdown. There is a $500 monthly invoice minimum, and you get a line-item proposal within 24 hours of your inquiry.
What to do next
Export your SKU list with carton dimensions, units on hand and units sold last month. Run both formulas against every quote you hold, and the cheapest model for your catalogue stops being a guess.
If you want our numbers on the same list, send it over and request a proposal. You will get line-item storage, receiving and handling rates within 24 hours, with no commitment and no hidden fees.