Updated October 2026
Freight and damage are the two costs to ask a luggage warehouse about first. Put the same questions to every partner you're considering, and compare the answers side by side.
Before you sign with a luggage 3PL, ask how it handles eight things:
Freight and damage are the two costs that set luggage apart, so those answers matter most.
By The Fulfillment.com team
The usual 3PL checklist covers integrations, speed, accuracy and support. Those still count, but they won't tell you which warehouse is good with luggage. Carriers usually bill luggage on the size of its box, and a suitcase has wheels, handles and finishes that break in transit. Freight and damage often decide whether a luggage program does well, so ask the most about those two.
We receive, store, pack and ship luggage that arrives finished, and we don't build or repair it. Ask other warehouses where they stand, so you know whether "we handle warranty" means a repair shop or sending the unit on to wherever you choose.
Freight is usually the biggest cost on a luggage shipment. Carriers usually bill a light suitcase on the size of its box, which is called dimensional weight (DIM). Put it in a carton too big for it and you pay to ship the empty space as if it were product.
A good answer says what the warehouse does about it. We fit each carton to the unit, so you can potentially pay for the suitcase rather than the air around it, and the same team that packed the order chooses its carrier and service. Our guide to right-sized cartonization for travel gear goes into how the sizing works.
Big parcels pick up UPS and FedEx size fees on top of dimensional weight, and checked hardside suitcases and multi-piece sets sit right around the limits. We use the same carton sizing here, plus outer boxes built closely around awkward shapes, so an order is less likely to be charged extra at the label for a few inches.
Nested sets are the bulkiest orders in luggage, and they leave the most room to shrink a carton. Packing the smaller pieces inside the larger ones reduces the box size, and with it the dimensional weight on that one shipment. We nest sets to cut the carton size wherever the set allows it.
Heavy and multi-piece orders raise a separate question, because pallet freight (LTL) can cost less than parcel for bulk shipments. Which one wins depends on each order's weight and size. Find out whether a warehouse makes that call order by order or sends everything the same way. Our guide on how to ship bulky, low-density luggage works through the parcel or LTL choice.
Damage is the other big cost in luggage, and it turns up in the same few places, from the wheels and handle to the finish. Have a warehouse walk you through its actual pack-out. We box each piece in a heavier-duty carton, pad the wheels and handles, and check the pack before the label goes on. Oversized pieces are stored in large-format slots, so shells don't get scuffed before they reach the packing station. Then ask for the measured damage rate on items over 20 pounds, which a luggage partner should have. Our guide to damage-prevention packaging for wheels, handles, and finishes covers the pack-out in detail.
Luggage comes back often, from a scuff in transit to a wheel that fails once the bag is in use. How those returns are handled usually decides how much of their value you get back. Ask how a return is checked when it arrives, and where a damaged or warranty unit goes next.
Our returns team inspects and grades each unit on arrival, restocks what passes and sets the rest aside, so a scuffed suitcase doesn't go back out as new. Where a failed unit goes from there should be your brand's decision, and a good partner can show you how it follows the route you set. Our luggage returns and warranty workflow follows a return from start to finish.
A bulky, fragile unit gets handled many times between the dock and a customer's door. Each handoff to a subcontracted warehouse is a place where nobody owns the damage. So find out whether a partner runs its own buildings or passes the work down a chain of third parties.
We hold care, custody and control from the moment your inventory reaches our dock until the carrier takes the parcel, and again on returns. Our North American volume runs in facilities we operate. Our team works the floor, with agency staff added at peak. A luggage brand gets one company answering for receiving, storage, picking, packing and returns. With a product that damages this easily, that single point of accountability also helps keep damage down.
If your line includes smart luggage, you need this answer. Battery-powered pieces hold lithium cells. Carriers treat those as dangerous goods, so they can't ship like an ordinary suitcase. Our guide to travel-accessory kitting sets out the rules. Find out how a warehouse handles lithium-battery units for your exact SKUs, and which carrier services will take them. That tells you whether it can ship your smart line at all.
Bring your smart pieces to our team when we first talk. We'll go through how each one is classified, packed and documented for the carrier services you want to use.
A single price per order doesn't show which cost is high. A quote broken out by cost shows where the money goes:
It also lets you compare partners on the cost that moves your total most. Check whether there are minimums and whether the quote is free. Our own quote is free and commits you to nothing. To see what pushes each cost up or down, read what drives luggage fulfillment cost.
Ask how the warehouse keeps freight down on bulky boxes and keeps parcels under oversize fees. Ask how it packs nested sets, routes heavy multi-piece orders and protects wheels, handles and finishes. Ask how returns and warranty claims are inspected and where they go. Then ask who runs its buildings and works its floor, and how its pricing is broken out. Freight and damage cost a luggage brand the most, so give those answers the most weight.
Ask it to explain dimensional weight, then ask what it does about it. Carriers bill a suitcase on the size of its box when that works out higher than its weight. The size figure is length times width times height, divided by 139 at UPS and FedEx or by 166 for USPS Priority, so a box bigger than the suitcase means paying to ship empty space. We cut each carton down to the smallest size that still protects the piece, which shrinks the space a carrier bills for. The carrier and service for that parcel are chosen by the team that packed it.
Yes. A heavy or multi-piece order can cost less as pallet freight (LTL) than as parcels, while a single carry-on nearly always ships as a parcel. Put the question to every partner you're considering: how does it choose between the two for orders like yours? We book both FTL and LTL with the carriers we work with, and the people who packed the order do the booking. Which way suits you depends on how your sets and bulk orders actually ship.
Get it to describe exactly how it packs. Wheels, retractable handles, hard shells and soft finishes are the parts of a suitcase most likely to break or mark, and damage is a common reason luggage comes back. Our answer: sturdier cartons, padding at the wheels and handles, and an inspection of the packing before anything leaves, so the packing can help hold returns down. Have every partner give you its damage rate on pieces over 20 pounds.
Two things: how a return is checked, and where a damaged unit goes. We inspect and grade each return as it arrives, restock the units that pass and set the rest aside. Then ask who decides where a failed or warranty unit goes. The answer should be your brand, with a route agreed for each kind of failure before you launch.
If you sell it, yes. Smart pieces carry lithium cells, which ship under their own carrier rules and paperwork, so they aren't handled like an ordinary suitcase. Ask any partner how it classifies, packs and documents lithium-battery units for your specific SKUs, and bring your smart line up with our team at the start.