Food & beverage fulfillment
Canned & Bottled Beverage Fulfillment
Updated October 2026
Of everything a shelf-stable brand ships, drinks are the heaviest, the densest and the quickest to break. Here is how a case gets from our dock to the carrier, packed for its weight, with its lot and best-by date on record.
Canned and bottled beverage fulfillment is the handling of shelf-stable drinks from the receiving dock to the carrier. For a case of cans or bottles, that means:
- receiving each lot and logging its code and best-by date
- shipping the nearest-dated stock first (FEFO)
- cartons built for the weight of heavy cases
- packing that holds in a leak and resists dents
- freight priced on the case's actual weight on the scale
Keeping stock in more than one warehouse can shorten the distance a heavy parcel travels.
By The Fulfillment.com team
Heavy and breakable
Why drinks need their own handling
A case of bottled water outweighs almost anything else a shelf-stable brand ships. A book or a jar of vitamins won't leak on the way, but a can can dent and a bottle can shatter. Drinks are heavy and fragile at once, and that is why they get handled differently.
Each of those traits can cost you. A carton that isn't strong enough splits under stacked weight in transit. The wrong carrier or service means overpaying on every shipment. And a missed date code sends out a lot that is too close to its best-by date. Good beverage handling guards against all three on every order.
Dock to carrier
Canned & bottled beverage, stage by stage
Five stages take a beverage order from our dock to the carrier. Your quote carries the rates for your own products.
1. Receiving each lot with its best-by date
When a beverage shipment arrives, we count each lot and check it in. We record its traceability lot code with its best-by or use-by date before any of it reaches the shelves we pick from. The date decides which stock ships first. If a lot is ever caught up in a recall, the code lets you pull that one lot instead of guessing across the whole brand. This is also the kind of lot record the FSMA Food Traceability rule asks for at receiving and shipping.
2. Shipping the nearest date first
Plenty of drinks are dated. Juice, ready-to-drink coffee and functional or supplemented drinks carry a best-by date, and so do many other canned and bottled products. We ship that stock by the date on it, nearest date first, whatever order the lots arrived in. Undated drinks can simply ship in the order they came in.
3. Packing against bursts, leaks and dents
Here is how our packers protect a drink order:
- Dense cases go in burst-resistant, double-wall cartons made to resist splitting under stacked weight.
- Bottles get snug fill and dividers that keep the glass from moving.
- Cans get cushioning between them.
- The packing is made to hold in a punctured can or a loosened cap and to resist dents.
We size each box to protect the product without wasted space. In a carton that's too big, the product moves around, and a flimsy one gives way under the weight.
4. Building the parcel for the trip
Once a carrier has it, a heavy case gets stacked, dropped and run along conveyors harder than a light parcel does. So we build the carton to take that handling and send it with a carrier and service suited to heavy parcels. Our custody ends when the carrier takes the parcel. What we control is everything before that moment: the carton, the packing and the choice of carrier.
5. Shipping on real weight
Freight is usually the biggest cost on a beverage order. Liquid is heavy enough that the carrier bills the case on what it weighs, and the box size rarely comes into it. Each case goes out on a carrier and service suited to its weight, at rates we've negotiated.
Our guide to heavy and dense beverage freight optimization compares actual weight with dimensional weight and explains what storing stock in more than one warehouse does. We book the carriers through our freight and heavy-case shipping service.
What we take in
Shelf-stable beverage, finished and sealed
We handle canned, bottled and sealed drinks that stay safe at room temperature, so a drink that has to stay cold isn't a fit for us. Federal shipping rules also treat the two kinds differently. Our guide to dry/ambient versus cold-chain fulfillment explains where that line falls.
Bottling, filling and canning stay with your co-packer, and we take your drinks in once they are sealed. Our kitting team can put finished cans and bottles into one box, such as a variety pack or a sampler. They are stored and lot-tracked the same way as the rest of our shelf-stable and pantry-staple goods, through our warehousing and inventory service.
Choosing a 3PL
What to ask any 3PL about a heavy, dated, leak-prone case
A case of drinks is heavy, can leak or break, and often carries a date. Each of those can turn into extra cost or a damage claim, so ask about each one. How are dense cases priced? What carton goes on the heaviest case? How do dated lots rotate?
The packing and freight stages above answer the first two. For the third, best-by rotation and lot records run in BestOMS, which runs your orders and your portal, and in Deposco, which runs the warehouse. Dropstream connects your store and marketplaces, so a drink sells once across your own site, marketplaces and retail, and ships from the warehouse holding your stock nearest the customer.
Behind all of this sits a network that reaches 99.77% of the US in 1-3 day ground.
Canned & bottled beverage fulfillment FAQs
What is canned and bottled beverage fulfillment?
It covers everything that happens to shelf-stable cans, bottles, multipacks and cases between our receiving dock and the carrier. We log each lot with its best-by date as it comes in and ship the nearest-dated stock first. Heavy cases go out in burst-resistant, double-wall cartons, packed to resist leaks and dents, and freight is priced on what each case really weighs. Your drinks reach us already filled and sealed.
Why is shipping usually the biggest cost on a beverage order?
Liquid is heavy for its size, so a case of bottled water or canned drinks is usually billed on its actual weight rather than on the room the carton takes up. Two things move that cost: which carrier and service the case ships on, and how far it travels. The team that packed the order also picks the carrier. Our guide to heavy and dense beverage freight explains how actual weight and dimensional weight differ, and what keeping stock in more than one warehouse does.
How is a beverage case packed to travel?
For its weight, and for the ways it tends to fail. Dense cases go in burst-resistant, double-wall cartons strong enough for the case and whatever gets stacked on it. Bottles get snug fill and dividers that hold the glass in place, and the packing is built to resist leaks and dents and to contain a punctured can or a loosened cap. Ask any 3PL to show you the carton it would put on your heaviest case.
Do drinks really need first-expired, first-out rotation, or is that only for food?
Many drinks carry a date. Juice, cold brew and ready-to-drink coffee carry a best-by or use-by date. So do functional, supplemented, kombucha-style and nutritional drinks, and plenty of other canned and bottled products. First-in, first-out (FIFO) goes by arrival date, which suits undated drinks or lots that always arrive in date order. First-expired, first-out (FEFO) goes by the best-by date, so the nearest-dated stock ships first. Both are sound methods, and the product decides which one a SKU runs on.
Do you store refrigerated or frozen beverages?
No. We take canned, bottled and sealed drinks that keep at room temperature. A drink that has to stay cold needs cold-chain storage, which carries heavier duties under the FSMA Sanitary Transportation rule, and we don't offer it.
Is your beverage handling FDA-compliant?
Drinks count as food, so the warehouse holding your cases faces the same two questions as any food warehouse: its FDA registration, and its written food safety plan. Ask them one at a time rather than as a single "are you compliant?" Our guide to FDA-registered food facilities explains both. For the cases themselves, we ship dated drinks by best-by date and track each lot code from receiving through to the orders it ships on. Our team will take both questions when you ask for a quote.
Get a quote for your cans and bottles
Tell us what you ship, how it's cased and how much moves each month. We'll quote the packing and the carrier rates we'd use for your weights. The quote is free, and you're not committed to anything.