Common Questions, Clear Solutions

Frequently Asked 3PL Fulfillment Questions

General Knowledge

  • Coast to Coast is located in Rhode Island, which is the heart of the Northeast Corridor of the USA. This is one of the most densely populated areas in the USA, allowing us to ship ground within one to two days to more than 60 million Americans.

    Administrative Office and Warehouse 
    Coast to Coast Fulfillment, Inc.
    773 Victory Highway
    West Greenwich, Rhode Island 02817
    USA

  • Hours of Operations
    M-F: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm EST

    Contact Information
    Toll Free: 1 (800) 200-0028
    USA: 1 (401) 397-5075

    Fulfillment Inquiries: Click here

    General Inquiries: inquiries@ctcf-inc.com

    Job Opportunities: jobs@ctcf-inc.com

Onboarding

  • Onboarding is typically a quick and painless process, especially for our D2C clients! We can set you up in our warehouse management system (WMS), accounting software, and integrate with your Shopify store in 48-hours. 

    B2B clients should be aware that EDI setup can take up to 6 weeks, depending on what testing is required and how responsive the retailer is.

  • No, you can cancel at any time.

Storage & Inventory

  • Coast to Coast Fulfillment maintains 107,000 square feet of space and can make more space available as needed. However, because we are a fulfillment company and not a long-term-storage facility, our goal is to optimize your product turnover, to reduce your footprint and inventory costs while increasing your profitability.

  • Your product is carefully checked in at our receiving bay based on the quantities notated on the packing slip and outer carton, and then your product is cataloged by SKU in our warehouse management system (WMS) and a specific warehouse space is assigned to it. Our software will deduct from inventory every time an order is processed. We can also move inventory to “hold” to be allocated to a retail order at a later date.

  • No. Your merchandise and its components are your property. We do not insure your inventory or provide inventory insurance. We recommend clients add our address as a location to their insurance policy to ensure all inventory is covered. When you engage Coast to Coast Fulfillment to store your inventory, it is understood that you and your insurance company will hold us harmless in the event of any inventory loss due to fire, water damage, theft, and “acts of God.”

  • While we work with a wide variety of consumer products, there are a few product categories that we do not work with. This includes unpackaged food items, frozen or refrigerated food items, garments on hanger, and certain hazardous materials.

    If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out! We have a network of other 3PLs we can refer you to if you are not the right fit for Coast to Coast Fulfillment.

  • Our warehouse is fully equipped with security cameras, fire suppression system, pest control, and 24/7 alarm monitoring.

  • No, our facility is not temperature controlled. Our facility is considered ambient temperature, meaning it is kept at a stable, natural level - typically ranging from 60°F to 85°F (15°C to 29°C).

    Select storage rooms are compatible with temperature-monitoring technology, which can be installed by request.

Customer Service & Returns

  • Coast to Coast Fulfillment provides customer service as requested. Our outstanding customer service department is staffed from 9 AM – 4:30 PM EST, Monday through Friday. Our representatives are on-site and have online access to the transaction and shipping history, enabling them to handle questions about billing, order status, and returns.

  • Yes, you can direct your customers to send returns back to our facility. We are also able to provide a return shipping label at your request. Once the return has arrived at our facility, we will alert your team via email. We can inspect products to be returned to stock or disposed of at your request.

  • As your 3PL fulfillment provider, Coast to Coast Fulfillment is an extension of your brand and will handle D2C and retailer returns as you request. We are able to inspect, lightly refurbish, repackage or relabel, and receive products back into inventory. We can also dispose of the product or arrange for recycling or donation pick-ups if needed.

  • Our clients have the flexibility to use whatever platform fits their needs best. 


    Coast to Coast Fulfillment’s preferred returns platform is Loop, which is a plug-in compatible with Shopify. Upon receipt of the return, our Customer Service team will open the package and inspect the items, process the return in Loop, and initiate the refund. Based on your directive, returned items will be received back into inventory or placed aside for disposal.

Order Processing and Fulfillment

  • As an omnichannel fulfillment provider, we can handle orders from any and all sales and communication channels. 

    Orders are either sent to us (IE: PO PDF sent via email), retrieved by us (IE: logging into a retailer portal), or automatically sent to us and imported directly into our order processing system (IE: EDI or eCommerce shopping cart integration).

  • Orders are processed and shipped within one business day of receipt, unless otherwise required by the retailer.

  • Coast to Coast Fulfillment is equipped to handle order volumes at all levels. We’ve worked on political campaigns that have shipped 35,000 orders in 3-days and others that have shipped 1,000,000 orders in 6-months. The beauty of working with a 3PL fulfillment provider like Coast to Coast Fulfillment is that we can scale up quickly and share our workforce amongst multiple client-accounts, ultimately saving you money.

  • Coast to Coast Fulfillment works with you to make it as simple as possible. We have many “stock” boxes and other packaging materials available to our clients at a discounted rate, which are only paid for as they are used. Our standard dunnage included is craft paper newsprint. If bubble wrap is required due to fragility, please make your sales representative aware.

EDI

  • Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a specific standardized protocol for communicating business information in an electronic form from computer to computer. EDI is not email and is not dependent on the internet. To over-simplify, EDI is about doing business and carrying out electronic transactions with EDI “trading partners.”. EDI covers most things that are done using paper based communication, for example placing orders with suppliers and carrying out financial transactions. This is why the term “paperless trading” is often used to describe EDI.

    Many large retailers are now requiring their customers to be EDI-compliant. The process can seem daunting, but Coast to Coast Fulfillment is a one-stop shop for EDI and we will be able to take care of the entire process for you.

  • Coast to Coast Fulfillment offers full-service EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) to seamlessly integrate with your retail partners and streamline communication. By handling the entire EDI process, we eliminate manual errors, reduce processing times, and ensure compliance with your trading partners' requirements, enabling your business to run smoothly and efficiently across multiple channels.

    Our EDI services include, but are not limited to:

    • Full EDI document support including PO receipt, invoicing, ASN, and more

    • Error handling and real time monitoring of EDI transactions for error checking and corrections

    • Custom mapping for accounting softwares and ERP systems, allowing easy import of EDI orders

    • Custom mapping for specific trading partners and warehouse orders (940/945)

    • Custom reporting for any data needed from EDI transactions 

    • Compliance management ensuring vendor standards and routing guidelines are met for all trading partners

    • Specialized services and customized development of EDI solutions, catering to your unique business practices and niche industries 

    • Data analysis of all EDI POs and invoicing

    • Real time reporting of 850 (PO) receipt via an automated email

    • Custom integration with non-EDI partners for easier automation of “paper” POs

    • Data archiving for future reporting or audits

Shipping

  • Coast to Coast Fulfillment utilizes UPS, FedEx, U.S. Postal Service (USPS), and DHL. We also work with a variety of different trucking companies to arrange full-truckload and less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments on your behalf. 

    Our most popular services are UPS Ground, USPS Ground Advantage, and FedEx One Rate.

  • We utilize a variety of carriers and services. Our clients can request a specific carrier/service or allow us to “rate shop” on their behalf.

    Rate shopping will allow us to select the most economical ship method based on the package weight and destination zip code.

  • Coast to Coast Fulfillment uses what’s similar to an escrow account for postage. Postage is prepaid and funds will be deducted from your account as they are used. 

    We recommend adding enough postage to cover one month’s worth of orders. You can replenish your account at any time. Your postage account should always maintain a positive balance.

  • Yes, we ship all over the world using a variety of carriers.

Packaging

  • We stock 15+ different box sizes to help minimize the dimensional weight of our clients’ shipments. We also have multiple sizes of bubble mailers and plastic poly mailers in stock.

  • No. Coast to Coast Fulfillment acts as an extension of your brand and should essentially be invisible to your consumers. Our corrugated boxes are blank and do not contain any branding.

  • We encourage our clients to take advantage of our stock boxes and mailers, as it provides flexibility to accommodate varying order sizes. In some cases we do allow clients to provide their own package – please note that storage and dunnage fees will apply.

Receiving

  • Please use the address below:

    Coast to Coast Fulfillment
    ATTN: Your Company Name
    773 Victory Highway
    West Greenwich, Rhode Island
    USA

  • Please provide our team with a packing slip outlining the contents of each carton, including SKU and quantity - please also mark each box with the corresponding information. 

    We advise packing 1 SKU per carton. If you are unable to do so, we will break down the cartons for you.

    Please note that most product categories require a human-readable SKU number to be affixed to each unit.

  • If your stock arrives at our warehouse damaged, we will photograph the item(s) and packaging and notify you immediately. Damaged products will not be received into our system.

  • Delivery appointments are required for full truckloads. LTL and small parcel deliveries do not require an appointment.

Technology

  • Why settle for a one-size-fits-all when you can have a tailored suit? Our WMS is a proprietary software built in-house. Unlike off-the-shelf softwares that force you to fit into its box, our WMS provides the flexibility to mold our systems and processes to meet the individual needs of each client. With our in-house system, we’re always ready to adapt, so you get the perfect fit—every time.

  • One of the many benefits of utilizing our custom-built WMS is the flexibility it provides. Coast to Coast Fulfillment can integrate with any shopping cart or ERP system that can accommodate an API connection.

  • Shopify is our preferred eCommerce platform. We have a full integration with Shopify, which allows our system to automatically download your orders and then push back tracking information and inventory updates once the order has been fulfilled.

  • Coast to Coast Fulfillment offers all clients access to our online portal, Data Depot. You can access your account at any time and create sub-users with specific report access as needed. At Data Depot, you’ll be able to access a variety of reporting tools available to you 24/7. You will also be able to look up the status and tracking number of orders by order and PO number.

  • Coast to Coast Fulfillment works with its clients to generate whatever reports are needed. The most common reports include Inventory, Back-Order, Receiving, and Sales.

  • Coast to Coast Fulfillment holds all client-related information, plans, and ideas as confidential. We also hold secure and maintain in confidence all client proprietary information, including databases, customer lists, formulas, inventories, materials and/or products for which Coast to Coast Fulfillment has knowledge of and any other client related data. Coast to Coast Fulfillment will not disclose, use, share, rent, lease or sell any client data, materials, or products without the express written directive of the client to whom it belongs, or unless so required by a court ordered subpoena.

Value Added Services

  • In addition to our warehousing, order fulfillment, and pick/pack services, Coast to Coast Fulfillment offers many other services. This includes customer service, returns processing, kitting and assembly, gift wrapping, drop shipping, EDI, and more.

  • Kitting involves bundling two or more products into a single unit, which can enhance efficiency and lower costs, especially for orders frequently containing the same items. Our assembly services are ideal for clients whose final products consist of parts sourced from multiple suppliers. Upon receiving all components, we assemble the complete units. For further details on our kitting and assembly services, please reach out to your sales representative.

Payment

  • Coast to Coast Fulfillment invoices clients monthly for fulfillment, materials, storage, and labor costs. Invoices provide a breakdown of all costs incurred.

  • We accept checks, ACH, wire transfer, or a prepaid escrow account.

  • Our monthly invoices are net 30. Please note that postage is prepaid.