Storage space has a way of becoming the bottleneck nobody planned for. Stock arrives faster than it moves, the back room fills up, and a business that never set out to run a warehouse finds itself doing exactly that.
Sub60 provides more than courier services. We offer ambient temperature storage and 3PL warehousing Brisbane and Gold Coast businesses can grow into, giving you a flexible way to store, manage and dispatch inventory without the cost and complexity of running your own facility. Whether you are an e-commerce retailer, an importer, a wholesaler, a distributor or a brand in a growth phase, we can simplify how your stock moves from arrival to customer across Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Tweed Heads.
The Short Version
3PL warehousing means outsourcing the storage and handling of your stock to a logistics partner. Sub60 offers ambient temperature storage, stock management, carton picking, stock takes, labelling, repackaging and dispatch, with our own courier network carrying the final leg to your customer.
What Is 3PL Warehousing?
Third party logistics, usually shortened to 3PL, is the practice of outsourcing warehousing and distribution to an external provider. Instead of leasing a building, hiring warehouse staff and buying racking and equipment, you send your stock to a 3PL partner. They store it, handle it and dispatch it on your instruction, and you pay for the service rather than the infrastructure.
The storage itself is ambient temperature, which means goods are held at normal indoor room temperature with no refrigeration or freezing. That covers the majority of general freight: dry goods, packaged consumer products, retail and wholesale stock, promotional material, spare parts and packaging. Items on our prohibited goods list are the exception, and it is worth a quick check before you plan a move.
What Sub60’s 3PL and Warehousing Services Include
The point of a 3PL is that the work does not stop at putting a pallet on a rack. Stock needs counting, picking, preparing and moving, and each of those steps is a job somebody has to do.
Our 3PL and warehouse services
Inventory Storage
Store stock securely without committing to warehouse space of your own, whether you need short term overflow or an ongoing home for inventory.
Stock Management
We manage your inventory while it is with us, giving you better visibility and control over what you are holding.
Carton Picking
Individual cartons picked from your stored inventory against your orders and requirements, which keeps fulfilment moving.
Stock Takes and Best Before Dates
Scheduled stock takes and best before date coordination, so you stay on top of levels and prioritise the stock that needs to move first.
Labelling and Relabelling
Products and cartons labelled or relabelled to your specification before anything is dispatched.
Repackaging
Repackaging products, changing cartons and preparing stock for distribution as your requirements shift.
Dispatch and Fulfilment
Orders picked and prepared for dispatch, with our courier services connecting the warehouse to your customer.
Because the dispatch step runs through the same business that stored the goods, there is no handover gap between warehouse and carrier. That matters most on the last mile, which is the leg your customer actually experiences.
Who Uses 3PL Warehousing?
3PL suits businesses that hold physical stock but would rather not hold a lease. The common thread is a need for space and handling that flexes rather than sits fixed.
Typical 3PL clients
E-commerce retailers
Order volumes that spike and settle, with no appetite for a warehouse sitting idle between peaks.
Importers
Container loads landing at once that need somewhere to sit and someone to break them down.
Wholesalers
Bulk stock in, carton quantities out, with picking handled off site.
Distributors
Multiple lines and multiple destinations, coordinated from one holding point.
Growing brands
Outgrowing the garage or the back room but not ready for a commercial lease.
Seasonal businesses
Stock that needs storing for part of the year and moving quickly for the rest of it.
If your customers are spread across South East Queensland, holding stock closer to them shortens the delivery leg. For orders travelling further, interstate and international freight can be arranged from the same point.
In-House Warehouse or 3PL: What Actually Changes
Running your own warehouse means real, recurring costs: rent, staff, equipment, insurance and the day-to-day operations that come with all of it. Outsourcing shifts most of that from a fixed commitment to a variable one.
| Factor | Your own warehouse | Using a 3PL |
|---|---|---|
| Cost structure | Fixed rent, wages and outgoings whether the space is full or empty | Costs track the space and handling you actually use |
| Setting up | Lease negotiation, fit out, racking and equipment before a single item is stored | Stock arrives and goes into an operating facility |
| Scaling up or down | Space is locked in for the term of the lease | Adjust as volumes rise and fall through the year |
| Staffing | Recruiting, training and covering leave for warehouse staff | Handled by the provider as part of the service |
| Dispatch | Coordinating a separate carrier for every outbound order | Storage and delivery sit with the one provider |
| Where your attention goes | Split between running a facility and running the business | Stays on product, sales and customers |
We have written before about outsourcing logistics compared with keeping it in house, and the same logic applies to storage. Neither option is automatically right. The question is whether the fixed cost of a warehouse is earning its keep at your current volumes.
How the Process Works
The flow from arrival to delivery is straightforward, and it is the same whether you are storing one pallet or refreshing stock every week.
From arrival to delivery
Stock arrives
Your inventory is received into our facility and recorded so you know what is on hand.
Stored and managed
Goods sit in ambient storage, with stock takes and best before dates tracked as required.
An order comes through
You let us know what needs to go out, to whom, and when it is needed.
Picked and prepared
Cartons are picked, labelled or relabelled and repackaged where the order calls for it.
Dispatched
The order moves onto our courier network and heads to your customer.
Timing is the part most businesses want pinned down. Our service times set out the options for standard and priority delivery, and booking information covers how to get an order moving. Goods in transit are covered by our insurance arrangements, which is worth reading before your first dispatch.
Signs Your Business Has Outgrown Its Own Storeroom
Most businesses do not decide to move to 3PL in one go. It usually creeps up, and these are the signals worth paying attention to.
- Stock is stored in more than one place because no single space fits it all
- Staff hired for other roles are spending real hours picking, packing and counting
- A container arrives and the whole week reshapes itself around unloading it
- You are turning down volume because you have nowhere to put it
- Peak season means renting temporary space at short notice and short odds
- Orders are going out late because packing is competing with everything else
If two or three of those sound familiar, the fixed cost of your current setup is probably higher than it looks on paper. Matching delivery speed to what the order actually needs is a related decision, and the two tend to get sorted at the same time.
Common Questions About 3PL Warehousing
What does 3PL stand for?
3PL stands for third party logistics. It describes an arrangement where a business outsources the storage, handling and dispatch of its inventory to an external logistics provider rather than running those functions in house.
What is ambient temperature storage?
Ambient temperature storage keeps goods at normal indoor room temperature, with no refrigeration or freezing. It suits most dry goods, packaged products, retail stock, promotional material and general consumables.
Do I have to commit to a fixed amount of space?
Our storage is designed to be flexible. Some clients use it for short term overflow during a peak or a product launch, others use it as ongoing inventory storage. The right arrangement depends on your volumes, so it is worth talking it through with us.
Can Sub60 deliver the orders as well as store the stock?
Yes. Once your orders are picked and prepared, our courier network handles the delivery leg, so the warehouse and the last mile sit with the one provider instead of being split across two.
Where can you dispatch stock to?
We deliver across Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Tweed Heads and the wider South East Queensland region, and we can arrange interstate and international freight where it is needed.
Our FAQs page covers the courier side in more detail if you have questions beyond storage.
Store It. Manage It. Dispatch It.
With Sub60’s 3PL warehousing services, you outsource the physical storage and handling of your inventory while keeping a solution that can grow alongside the business. No lease, no racking, no warehouse team to manage, and a courier network already attached to the back end of it.
If you would like to talk through what your stock needs and how it might work, get in touch with the Sub60 team and we can go from there.