Finding the Perfect Third-Party Logistic Solutions for your Amazon Business

🚚 Ready to streamline your Amazon logistics for success? In this episode, our host Ben dives deep into the world of logistic solutions with Cindy Flores from Tactical Logistic Solutions.

With no prior experience, Cindy gained a profound understanding of the e-commerce industry by communicating with sellers and attending trade shows. And with that, she realized that Amazon isn't a mere side hustle, but one that demands time and commitment. 

Ben and Cindy discuss the evolving eCommerce space and the challenges confronting sellers when finding an efficient and cost-saving 3PL provider. 

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Cindy Flores's Socials:
Website: https://tacticallogistic.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tactical-logistic-solutions
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tacticallogistic/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tacticallogistic/

Episode link & contact info
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For content collaborations, please email us at: grei@sellercandy.com

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Seller Candy is the expert operations arm of your Amazon business. We provide outcome-driven support for time-consuming and challenging Seller Central issues so you Never Have to Talk to Seller Support Again! With Agency-Level security practices and an experienced team who’s been through the thick of it, we give sellers bandwidth on demand without the hassle of hiring, training, or managing.

#amazonsellercentral #amazonsupport #ecommerce #amazonpodcast

Never Talk to Seller Support Again.

Seller Candy is the expert operations arm of your Amazon business. We provide outcome-driven support for time-consuming and challenging Seller Central issues so you Never Have to Talk to Seller Support Again! With Agency-Level security practices and an experienced team who’s been through the thick of it, we give sellers bandwidth on demand without the hassle of hiring, training, or managing.

#amazonsellercentral #amazonsupport #ecommerce #amazonbusiness

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I was the one that was sped ideas from social media and you're scrolling and it's like, oh, learn this side hustle, learn this side hustle. And oh my god, amazon FBA is so easy, so easy. So I was a believer of that idea and coming into the space researching and having to learn about Amazon, I realized in my opinion. I was like this is not a side hustle. I don't know what all these people are talking about on the internet, and so the more I talk to sellers, the more I learn about everything. I'm like yeah, this is absolutely not a side hustle. It's probably even harder than a nine to five and it takes even more time and effort. At the end of the day, it's like so much more work. It's way more consuming than like the internet leads to believe.

Speaker 2: 0:38

All right, hello, I'm your host, ben, and welcome back to another episode of the Amazon Strategist show, the show that no hacks, no silver bullets and no magic pills, just real, practical strategy for Amazon sellers, all right. So today we have a very special guest. It's Cindy Flores, and I was honored because this is her first podcast ever and I have a feeling she's going to start going on many more podcasts. But today we talked all about all things 3PL and logistics. She works for tactical logistics solutions, so she has a nice behind the scenes understanding of all the components that kind of go into running your business as an Amazon seller or as an e-commerce seller from the logistics side of the operation. So very cool and insightful conversation. She's also one of the nicest human beings in the world, so without further ado, let's go ahead and dive right into this episode. I hope you guys enjoy this wherever you're watching or listening.

Speaker 2: 1:29

So today we have the pleasure of being joined by Cindy Flores of tactical logistics solutions and just a quick information about their company. But they are an end to end logistics solution for retailers and e-commerce clients with a niche for solving logistics headaches Big problem with Amazon for Amazon FBA seller specifically and this means that they provide services for every step of the supply chain freight forwarding, customs clearance, dredge 3PL, warehousing and speed trucking into Amazon. So that's a little bit of background. We'll get into all that stuff today. But, cindy, I wanted to first just say welcome to the Amazon strategy show. Thanks so much for being here. How are you doing?

Speaker 1: 2:06

Thank you, I feel I'm excited. This is my first official podcast ever, so we have the honor here of doing it for the first time, yay.

Speaker 2: 2:13

Love it, you're going to do great. We were talking about that backstage. I remember the first one I did ever. I was like freaking out for and then, honestly afterwards, I just finished doing a podcast. It was like, oh, that was so fun, I want to do more. That was it so yeah, exactly. So anyway, before we get started, I know you have some, some friends and animals in the background, so can you tell us what's kind of hidden behind you, right?

Speaker 1: 2:36

now. Okay, so I have a snake up here. I remember it's a red tailed boa.

Speaker 2: 2:40

That's the name red tailed boa Okay.

Speaker 1: 2:42

Something like that, and then to bearded dragons. I could bring one on later if you want, but yeah we could turn this into an animal show. Good, I would love that.

Speaker 2: 2:52

Okay, but yeah, that's my background.

Speaker 1: 2:54

There's no virtual backgrounds here. We got real one yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:58

We were laughing about that before the show started, but the app we're using, riverside, for those of you listening, watching what have you, does not allow virtual backgrounds, so we always have fun with what's hidden in the background behind us. So, anyway, well, thanks for sharing that, cindy, I appreciate it. I'm going to ask you the question I ask every guest kind of at the start of the show but can you tell us how you got into the Amazon world?

Speaker 1: 3:19

Okay, I'm laughing because you already know it's secret, but it's a little anticlimactic. Basically, I was recruited, so someone on.

Speaker 1: 3:28

LinkedIn reached out and was like, hey, I have this position for a logistics company and I hit the timing nothing about logistics. So I was like, no, that's like probably not for me. But then, like, as I look more into the role itself, I thought it was social media marketing, all the stuff that I love. So I was like, okay, I'll take a look. And then it turns out it had more to do with Amazon than with logistics, because all of our key audience was Amazon sellers and I didn't even know anything about Amazon, like how it works. I was just kind of like a clueless buyer that would go on Amazon and buy all kinds of things and be so excited to get it at my door, like everyone else. But it turns out there's like so much behind it. So I guess, once I went into the space and realized it's like real people, real entrepreneurs, that are just hustling, I was like, oh, this is actually really cool.

Speaker 2: 4:10

So now, I'm here and I know more. No, that's awesome. How long ago was that that you got recruited, I guess?

Speaker 1: 4:19

I think it's a little more than a year and a half now, so it's been a minute.

Speaker 2: 4:22

Okay, cool. So you've had probably a pretty crazy learning curve, I guess, over the last year and a half, and because I've seen we met at. Amz United in person. But you know, I know we've talked back and forth in emails and I know you're very plugged in with the Amazon community and just last year and a half I hear your name or your company's name all the time.

Speaker 1: 4:39

So that's so cool. No, so literally like two weeks after I was hired, we had our first show in that I had to attend in Florida, and it was literally like I knew nothing and then they just threw me into the show. I was like, okay, let me go talk to people and learn this way, and so I get anything like. Since then, I've been to like over 30 different shows at this point and my major learning goes in from actually talking to these people and to sellers and to other source providers, and it's been a fun trip.

Speaker 2: 5:05

Nice, I love that. So before we kind of get dive into the actual like Q&A session, I guess I am curious, like as someone who just kind of came in from I don't know what you were doing, necessarily before working at tactical logistics solutions, but do you have any like any interesting takeaways or insights just from your first kind of year in the Amazon world, like anything that you've noticed about Amazon sellers or I don't know anything like that.

Speaker 1: 5:28

Yeah, oh my god, this is always, I think, if we're gonna ask a controversial question, I think this won't be it. Yes, okay, good. So this is like my favorite topic. Coming into the space, like as an outsider, I was the one that was sped like ideas from like social media and you're scrolling and it's like, oh, learn this side hustle, learn this side hustle. And oh my god, amazon FBA so easy, so easy. So I was like a believer of that idea.

Speaker 1: 5:53

And coming into the space researching and having to learn about Amazon, I realized, like, in my opinion, I was like this is not a side hustle.

Speaker 1: 5:59

I don't know what all these people are talking about on the internet, and so the more I talk to sellers and more learn about everything, I'm like, yeah, this is absolutely not a side hustle.

Speaker 1: 6:06

It's probably even harder than a nine to five and it takes even more time and effort, but the difference is that, I've noticed, is that, like one, you get to be like passionate about it as a Entrepreneur for yourself and it's something you're building for yourself. So that's probably where the whole idea of, oh, you get to, you know, release yourself from the nine to five and the whole work for somebody else concept, but at the end of the day it's like so much more work. I feel like I said I've been to over 30 plus shows Over a year and a half and I feel like I see the same sellers at every single show. I'm like, damn, like this is your real life, like you literally just do this all the time and it's way more consuming than like the internet leads to believe. So I think that would be like my controversial take on as an outsider Coming in like yeah, y'all are crazy, but for a good reason.

Speaker 2: 6:53

Yeah, no, I mean that's definitely a good. Yeah, I mean it's a good insight, right, cuz, like I still get targeted ads all the time that are like, oh you know, by this FBA course, blah, blah, blah. Fortunately I've got a little bit less recently. I'm sure now that I said it out loud, they'll start popping up nonstop in my Instagram feed or something. But I I mean, yeah that you know, being the front, I've been in the space like about six years now and it was kind of the even back when I would got it and I was kind of late to the game or so it felt at the time. Right, there were already like a ton of courses even at that time. So, and but I feel like the difference is like at that time it was kind of a little bit more possible.

Speaker 2: 7:27

You know, I always say it's a kind of like go get a product made from you know Manufacturer you found off Alibaba, have it shipped to the US and a small like 500 units ship it in, and actually that kicks off your whole like business and it's definitely gotten more complex. I think it's gotten more challenging. I don't, yeah, as you said, you know, it's not like you can just come in out of nowhere and, you know, just make a million dollars in you know a couple months kind of thing. You really there's other steps there right, you need to have more money, I think, now to invest, to kind of get your business off the ground. You know, I mean there's every entrepreneur who's watching or listening to this will know that. You know, you oftentimes think that you're quitting your nine-to-five job to. You know, have a more control over your life.

Speaker 2: 8:11

I'm like really exactly when you're everywhere so you've really just employed yourself and you're now gonna probably work. You know, significantly more than you might have worked at your nine-to-five, but, that being said, on the other side of that you know there is a lot of work that you have to put in, but you can build a business to and I still believe this up with Amazon. You can build a business up to the point where you have outsized returns for the amount of time You're maybe putting in on a weekly basis, but at first it might still be. You're putting in 60, 70 hour weeks, I don't know something like that, but hopefully over time it becomes less so. Anyway, that's, that was an amazing start here, and I definitely appreciate that. Since that was kind of the controversial take section, I do have to ask you one question, though, which is does pineapple belong on pizza? Because I ask every single guest that, and I have to know.

Speaker 1: 8:55

Tell me why. I just went to a pizza place last week and I was there with my family. I was like, okay, but do they have pineapple? And they look at me like oh yes, I'm a pineapple on pizza person and thank goodness they did have pineapple. So I love that that's for extra pineapple.

Speaker 2: 9:11

Love that you get an applause for me because I am the same.

Speaker 2: 9:13

It's funny because I'm a pineapple fan. But it's funny because almost every guest we've had so far I want to say, out of like tennis guests, I think nine out of ten people have said, yeah, pineapple belongs on pizza. But the weird thing is then, when I love it, because it's always a very debatable topic, the weird thing is whenever I'm in a real-life situation or like friend group or anything, I say it and I feel like it's the same reaction. It's like I'm the only one in the group out of like five people and they're all like you know.

Speaker 1: 9:39

So it's just like drama, so they like to deny it yeah yeah, I'm a good controversial.

Speaker 2: 9:44

You're right, maybe that's it Anyway. Well, cindy, so let's swap into, kind of, our Q&A section. I want to ask you some questions again, just as we're going into Q4 but and really this is a year-round thing, but going into Q4 Especially, there's a lot of things that you have to consider in terms of logistics, keeping your inventory in stock. You know you've got seasonality in play right now where you're gonna start seeing a lot more sales volume coming through. So I guess, just to kind of get started, you know, can you tell us a little bit about tactical logistics solutions? You know, are you guys a 3pL, third party logistics company, or what kind of all sits under that umbrella? I know I said some of it here in the intro, but can you kind of break it down for us?

Speaker 1: 10:24

Yeah. So a lot of people, when they think of Logistics for Amazon, that we say, oh, you're a 3pL, you're a 3pL and I'm like, you know, we are more than that. Well, yes and no.

Speaker 1: 10:34

So we, yes, we have our own 3pL facilities, but we're more than that. So we take care of your whole supply chain, like you touched on in the beginning, and that includes getting your product from overseas to the US. So that's freight forwarding, whether it's like on a vessel or air freight. We do the customs clearance for you, we have cargo insurance, that kind of thing. So we do all the the annoying paperwork that has everything to do from getting your product from overseas to a US port, the most popular being the Long Beach LA obviously Usually the rat was trying to the Long Beach LA and then from there you can either do follow the model that a lot of sellers do, where it's like straight from the port to Amazon, a fulfillment center.

Speaker 1: 11:11

We can handle that with drainage, so that's like the trucking portion of it. Or if you're the kind of seller that likes to store things in a 3pL, or maybe your own warehouse, wherever it is, we can do the trucking portion for that as well. Or, again, you can use our warehouses. So we have two in California, just about a million square feet total. It's Chino California and Paris California, and there we can do, I guess, when we're talking to like wholesalers. A lot of their questions is oh, do you like, are you a prep center, are you a prep center? It's like yes, and more so. We do do prep center related work. So where there's like relabeling, we packaging, that kind of thing, we can do all of that for you as well at our facilities, and then after that, the last step is getting it to where the end is.

Speaker 1: 11:52

So, whether that's an Amazon fulfillment center, maybe you also sell on Walmart or Target marketplace Wherever, or even a retailer we do handle with retailers as well, so it's anywhere it needs to go, as long as it's B2B model, and then that's directly from our facilities. However, we recently partnered with a micro fulfillment company. We're invested into them, so it's DaVinci micro fulfillment, and what they are able to do is now do the very, very last step, which is getting it to your actual customer, and that they have six micro fulfillment centers all over the US, so you can literally use this for the whole chain. Now, basically, whether it's to Amazon or to direct to consumer, they offer one to two-day shipping to wherever. So it's pretty similar to like replacing the fulfilled by Amazon model. But, yeah, make it to it. But yeah, make it to it.

Speaker 2: 12:38

Do you guys actually do um that? Yeah, I mean, you guys do a lot of different things, prime as well, just on that that note.

Speaker 1: 12:45

No so.

Speaker 2: 12:47

I know it's a tricky one to be able to. I haven't really heard many 3PL. Well, I don't get not 3PL now logistics companies that do offer sour fulfilled prime because it is such a stringent thing, right, and the rules, I guess, kind of change pretty often.

Speaker 1: 13:02

Yeah, it's mostly that, like, yeah, we stay away from that, but we're just another option outside of it.

Speaker 2: 13:07

So Okay, got it. Now. That's awesome, I think. Kind of one thing just I wanted to highlight, from my experience too, is you know, I know I think is it one of the founders that started as an Amazon seller first, or I tell you about that.

Speaker 1: 13:22

So so basically the company is family owned. So our CEO, he was in the logistics space for 1211 plus years whatever the number is but a long time.

Speaker 1: 13:32

And so his son, which is our chief logistics officer, he was actually an Amazon seller for like six to seven years and he did a gift basket. It was like a seasonal thing and it was back, like he said, in the day when it was a little bit easier to like break in and just kind of experiment and see how things go. But as he like he's obviously been in it a long time, as he kept going like the logistics part of it He'd realized it's just like very intricate and he always had had issues with it. So eventually he came on to the company and introduced like a solution, like a one stop shop for Amazon sellers, because he had already been through all of the chaos and the having to call 10 different people to get one thing from here to there. So basically there's expertise in both ends the logistics side of it and the e-commerce like experience of it. So, yeah, that's the origin story of how we niche to Amazon and now the majority of our clients, how like 90% of it is Amazon sellers.

Speaker 2: 14:27

Cool Love that? Yeah, the reason I wanted to ask is you know, I've obviously had my fair share of experiences with different 3PLs and, to be honest, actually most of the 3PLs that I've worked with over the years were not Amazon centric, right Like. They were actually what the traditional 3PL would be, which is oftentimes like a big business customer is importing stuff and that 3PLs help helping them out with the logistics around that. I think what I noticed is that those cases we had a lot of issues where we were as sellers, we had to educate the 3PL in a lot of ways on. You know, hey, you guys shipped our FBA shipment and you forgot this label when that we're getting dinged or like just small things like that.

Speaker 2: 15:06

And so I guess what that experience taught me and something I just really wanted to call out about you guys is that, because you come from having that background and the majority of your clients are Amazon sellers, you know that's a really important piece, because that's something that I didn't have, you know, over the years and it did cause problems and headaches, and you know there's a lot of nuances to the Amazon system. So just wanted to call it out for anyone watching, listening as well, as you know, if you're looking around for a logistics company or a 3PL, is just having one that knows the Amazon ecosystem is really important in my opinion, and I don't know if you found that or heard some more. You know things from your clients before there.

Speaker 1: 15:44

I think that's kind of like what a lot of our clients like realize when they come to us, when they're like, wow, you offer that or wow, you actually can just do that. Because I think some things that are very important for sellers that they aren't getting with other 3PLs or other third party of logistics services of any kind is, like usually, the transparency part, the transparency and being able to actually see where their inventory is. So a lot of them are like, oh, you have a portal, what do you mean? Like usually I just call somebody and then they get back to me in two to three days and hope that everything's there, like and we have access to things on a live, on a lifetime frame and that, and like being able to just talk to a person. I guess a lot of them tell me like, oh, like, really like you just call and like ask about your things or like you have a direct point of contact and other places. It's kind of just like a guessing game.

Speaker 1: 16:32

Is what I've been, what I've heard, bad and then just understanding how like time frame is so important in urgency and so important in Amazon. So, like you're saying, like with retailers, it's like a pretty set schedule or pretty set way of supplying inventory to your spaces or to your stores, whereas in Amazon it can go up or down it can go, I need 10 containers set immediately. Or oh, it's a slow season. Like, let me do a reverse logistics and take some stuff out of Amazon for film and centers and bring them back, so I'm not paying these fees like crazy. So there's so much different ways of looking at both businesses. So, yeah, we understand it and to us it's not a big deal to handle those things as they come. So it's not going to be a big deal and we're going to be able to help you and know what is needed, whereas others are just like, what do you mean? You need to like this and that?

Speaker 2: 17:23

Like no, we don't know what that means.

Speaker 1: 17:24

Yeah. What is the removal? What do you mean? No, we know it.

Speaker 2: 17:28

Yeah, no, that's awesome. And I was just curious, like what are kind of like the biggest I don't know, maybe friction points or challenges. I don't know if you're you've directly communicated with a lot of your clients or not, but do you kind of have a sense of like right now or what you normally have been seeing, or the biggest challenges for some of your client base, you know, in terms of kind of dealing with the Amazon world or the Amazon logistics piece?

Speaker 1: 17:50

So I think there's one also kind of controversial. But there's one thing that tends to come up with a lot of sellers that like I don't think that either they know or not aware or they're not aware, but basically, like there's a lot of people that come into Amazon and try to do everything through Amazon, so using, like Amazon fulfillment and all using Amazon trucking and partner carriers and that kind of thing, and using their warehouses and using all of their things, like 100% of the things through Amazon, and what they don't realize is like things can be done so much more efficiently than with Amazon. So Amazon likes to offer like yeah, it's convenient, it's already inside your seller central portal, it's already there for you and it's cheaper. Let's be honest, it's cheaper. However, what they don't realize is that a lot of the times, the quality of the service isn't as good as it could be outside of Amazon. So using third party carriers a big thing is time.

Speaker 1: 18:42

So, with Amazon, when you use their trucking, I use the analogy as if, like you're having a guest over at your house. So when you have, like, your family member come home or like you're just the four of you living in your house, it's you, I don't care to clean up, it's fine. It can be messy, I don't, you know, there's no maintenance, but when you have a guest over, you've got to clean up, you got to make it look pretty right and you got to cater to them. So that's kind of how Amazon trucking works. Where it's Amazon partner carriers, if you're using them, they don't care. They're going to leave your cargo or your trucks are in their lots for like days, weeks, and your stuff's not going to get offloaded until you're FC for a long time.

Speaker 1: 19:16

However, if it's a guest or a third party carrier, like us, we got to take care of them immediately. So they immediately unload your goods into their centers, which is same day, so it's same day. It's called live unloads and things get unloaded right away. You're in stock, you don't run out, you're good to go. If you're using Amazon again, the timeframe may be slower and they're not going to take care of their stuff as well, whereas, like I think, a lot of sellers think the opposite. Where they're like, oh, it's Amazon, of course they're going to take care of their stuff, but it's like you know, they're actually just comfortable with leaving it in the law and letting things sit and then just saying oh, but we're cheaper, so come with us.

Speaker 2: 19:51

Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 1: 19:52

Sorry, I forgot what you started about I was like I think I covered something.

Speaker 2: 19:55

No, I mean that's a really good point. Right Is, to be honest, I don't sell as much through FBA now, but I'm the type of person who always would lean towards using like an Amazon partner carrier. You know just as it is easy and normally they are like one of the most cost effective methods. That being said, you know like I've certainly also had those experiences where it's like I am low on stock, I really need this shipment to get checked in like ASAP, or else my product's going out of stock. And I've literally had some shipments where I'm like this shipment's taking two full weeks. Like I know it arrived at Amazon, I can see the tracking number, but it's literally taking two full weeks to move into the check-in status, which is not cool Right Now.

Speaker 2: 20:34

I don't know. You know I don't know how much this is a couple of years ago and I was really shipping seriously myself, so I don't know if that's changed or gotten a lot better. I know they've had a lot of changes to their supply chain stuff as well, but from that perspective like I totally get that right Is, there's a time and a place where saving money does not always mean that the service that you're getting is necessarily the best right there are. You know other things to consider.

Speaker 1: 20:57

Yeah, and it's not always the best decision for your business, because I mean, amz United, where we met, actually had someone come to me and say that they've been waiting four weeks for their stuff to get unloaded. And I'm like, really like still, and apparently, yes, so, and it's not even that, because once you get into your first fulfillment centers, sometimes you're still an FC transfer, so it's like you still have another extra time added to get to your actual end customer. And that's like I'm trying to logistics now. It's like your actual business. So like now your customers are going to leave the reviews oh, it took so and so long to get here. Oh, it was out of stock, or this and that. So I think that you've got to think about, like, the repair of running out of stock. How much is that going to cost you in the long run?

Speaker 2: 21:34

How many more PPC?

Speaker 1: 21:35

ads, and how much more damage controller are you going to have to put in to recovering what you could have just paid up front for and like not have to deal with the headache of something falling apart?

Speaker 2: 21:45

So I think that that's like an important thing to consider, yeah 100% and I think like it's nice to have like both of those kind of this. You know all the tool, you want all the tools kind of in your toolkit right, like I, for example, I know, when shipping from overseas, like oftentimes we would normally ship which the cheapest route or the cheapest method, rather, which is, you know, ocean cargo. That being said, if we're like, oh my gosh, like we just finished the forecast, we know this skew is going to run out of stock soon. You know well, guess what? We're changing strategy right there. We're going to get, we're going to pay the extra to get airship to get that inventory in as fast as possible, because the ripple effect, I guess cost of going out of stock is going to hurt a significantly more than maybe having to pay way more on that shipment, that one shipment right, and so again, that's kind of like the way that I kind of think about it is.

Speaker 2: 22:34

It's nice to have different options and know when to use each of them, but part of that is having the knowledge to know what the options are and what the benefits and kind of the pros and cons are. So, which is why we have you here today, can you tell us a little bit about just like how pricing works, you know, for you guys with your company. And I guess I'm really asking because I think this is like a good to know thing for the general industry, right, regardless of if people are using you guys or maybe not even thinking yet too seriously about getting a, you know, a 3PL or something like that. The time will come and it's good to have a sense of like what the cost structures look like normally.

Speaker 1: 23:06

So yeah, yeah, I think that's also like another topic that comes up a lot. When, in person, when people are coming to look for a new 3PL, they like start asking questions like what's your minimum or what's your maximum, or like how do you charge? But my answer is that, like, we actually only charge for what you use. So again, like, in comparison to other partners, some 3PLs have minimum requirements of, like you need X amount of pallets per month, otherwise, like, we can't host you. Or you can only have up to X amount of pallets per month, otherwise we can't host you. There's that. And then let's say you come in an Amazon, the turnaround can be very quick. So that's also another difference between like working with retailers in Amazon, but turnaround could be very quick.

Speaker 1: 23:45

So not a lot of 3PL companies understand that. Where it's like, maybe I only needed two weeks of storage but then you get charged for the whole month, we don't do that. So it's just you pay for what you use. If you come in on the first and you leave on the fifth, all you pay for. So that's, I think, important for like sellers to understand when looking for a partner. It's like what are they charging me for? Are they charging me for time I didn't use or, you know, making me reach quotas or that kind of thing. Like you shouldn't feel pressured with your 3PL to have anything specific. It's just I. This is what I need and that's it.

Speaker 2: 24:14

Yeah, no, awesome, that's cool. And then do you guys do as well, like, because I know these are just some of the pain points that I've experienced in the past.

Speaker 1: 24:21

but do you?

Speaker 2: 24:22

guys do like relabeling of products. I won't go into too many details on this but, like I've had a few brands that I've worked with where, yeah, they needed a products completely relabelled whether that was just they needed to put their their you know F and SKU labels on that products, you know, or it was like, hey, they actually needed, you know, some labels removed and a new label put on top of that. What have you? Is that something that's in your wheelhouse?

Speaker 1: 24:44

Yeah, so we call that like prep services or value added services. So and that's part that goes part into like for wholesalers or for, just like you said they may be my supplier messed up and like they did something wrong or whatever we handle them as work orders. I know like some other companies are 3,000 or prep centers. They will like charge a minimum fee for these kind of things or like a per unit charge, which I think is kind of crazy. But we charge per hours of labor. So what we do is a time study on. Let's say you need these three things done to your units.

Speaker 1: 25:16

Okay, so we do it on one. We see how long that takes, how many people's going to take to do it. We quote you and then, once you feel comfortable with it, we're like, okay, cool, so then that's it. So it's per hour and based off of something that you're comfortable paying. And then, yeah, we get your items ready and we do it every day, we do it all the time. So it's not like the biggest thing that we advertise or talk about, but it's happening nonstop. I've been to the warehouse many times and there's a whole section just for prep center work and it's happening all the time. Make it very simple for you.

Speaker 2: 25:44

That's cool. And what about removal orders? I know I mentioned that earlier in jest I guess but you know removal orders, you know, are something that you have to deal with as an Amazon seller. Do you guys receive those and process them for your clients, or is that kind of out of your wheelhouse?

Speaker 1: 26:01

We do that as well. So if you need a removal order, you just let us know, we go pick it up where needs to go. You can bring it basically to wherever you want us to take it. So whether you have no room to store it, you're like, no, just take it back to your warehouse, like we don't know what to do with it yet, go for it, we'll do that. If you want it to take it to another, like a liquidation center or whatever you decide to do with it, we can get it there. We have like a whole section as well in our warehouse with just returns. It's like the world of Amazon returns of lost jungle of items.

Speaker 2: 26:28

It's always a weird section too. I feel like there's like random cords and there's like, you know, missing parts and like things hang around.

Speaker 1: 26:37

So it's basically like, once it's in our warehouse, it's up to you to let us know, like what do you want to do with it, whether you want us to like donate it to something specific, or if you're donating it to us. Sometimes at our holiday party, we have like the giveaway section of like all of the things that everyone was like no, just do whatever you want with it, throw it out or donate it, whatever that kind of thing. So it's like a fun time.

Speaker 2: 26:59

But yeah it's whatever you like, it was definitely handle it.

Speaker 1: 27:02

Yeah, it's like a fun grab back. Yeah, that does sound fun.

Speaker 2: 27:06

One thing you know that's I personally again, it's plagued me in the past as an Amazon seller with removal orders is like I always give this one example that I had where I was working with a company where you're shipping relatively expensive products there's like a $2,000 sometimes piece of IT equipment into Amazon FBA, which, of course, is always a risky move because it's just like such an expensive product. I remember one specific removal order where we were expecting like you know it was on well jumble things up, right. So it's not like it's just always this one skew, sometimes it is, but so there are like six skews in there. I'm expecting, though, like one of these expensive $2,000 units plus like two or three other things. I opened the box up and this I was getting this to our own warehouse, so a little bit easier but I was opening the box up and instead of that unit that I was expecting the $2,000 one, I literally got a box of like Tupperware and that that was marked as this is your $2,000 item, and I was like are you kidding me? No, this is definitely.

Speaker 2: 28:03

How do you make that mistake? So my question is like you know, when, with Amazon, you know to go through that process to actually get a reimbursement for the the returns goods that were not correct. Amazon's going to ask you to do things like open the box up, take pictures of the label you know, the shipping label, the little label inside the actual items you received, so that you can verify like, hey, this is not my $2,000 item. I know that not all three three PL companies do that, but is that something that you guys help out with? Do you know?

Speaker 1: 28:33

Yes, okay, I am the United as well, I remember, because I didn't know the answer to this before, but I kind of have an idea better to tell you, because somebody came up and asked me the same question, like what do you do? I was like, let me ask my fellow. So I know we have like all the paperwork in place to assist you with that once you do it. But we do do that. So, like, if you ask us to take pictures, if you need like evidence and all these things, we definitely do. I know we did it for a client not too long ago. My coworker actually did it herself like here taking pictures in her office of everything. But yeah, we definitely can assist with you and we have like the paper trails of back. It's in like whatever you like asked for and needed. Like we have documentation of everything that you can present to make your case and we'll definitely back you and we've done it. So it's good.

Speaker 2: 29:17

Cool, yeah, it's just good to know. It's just, it's a nitty gritty question. But you know, I know a lot of sellers are like, hey, you know, by the time it gets back, if it's a lower cost item, maybe it's like it's a wash right, like they don't like you're saying they donated or whatever. So a lot of times not as big of a deal, but this, if you're selling higher end products or what have you, that's a lot of money. Yeah, exactly so I was just curious about that. So, no, awesome, cindy, I just have one other kind of question. We already covered the controversial topic, so I'm gonna ask just one other question which is just kind of general, I don't know guidance, I guess. And you know, I know you've only been in the space, I guess, now a year and a little bit, a year and a half. So this is your second Q4, right? Or maybe first Q4 officially.

Speaker 1: 29:58

My second Q4, actually I came in just before the first Q4. No, it's another Q4. Yeah, Nice.

Speaker 2: 30:03

Okay, so now that you've weathered one Q4 and you're kind of going, we're going to the second one, do you have any tips, like just from kind of the logistics side of the equation for Amazon sellers, like maybe things to be aware of? You know, obviously, like I think inventory and saying in stock is be everyone watching, listening to this, knows, is like one of the most important things, and that's true with anyone, but especially Amazon, because it is you're building momentum and you're throwing advertising money in and when that, see, you know all the momentum you've built up, if you go out of stock anytime that happens, then you literally are undoing all the work you've done. I mean, it gets worse and worse each day. My point being is like Q4 is a little bit of a trickier time just because, like you have these spikes in sales volume that are sometimes challenging to deal with or prepare for. So I guess just general question but do you have like kind of any guidance or tips or advice for that?

Speaker 1: 30:55

I guess it's like interesting, because when I first came in again, I was like learning about logistics, learning about everything, and so I didn't realize how long it took for things to actually make it to where they needed to be. So by this time around now, knowing like what it means to get to Q4, I think it's more about really understanding how long it takes for things to get to where they need to be and how many things can go wrong in between or, you know, leaving buffer for it. So I think the biggest lesson that I learned going into Q4, like especially like me, I do our marketing, so it's like my marketing for Q4 starts like beginning of Q3, because it's really about planning and preparing for it, so that by the time you're in Q4, you're kind of like coasting and sailing through it in terms of inventory, because you've got to consider like how long does my manufacturer take to actually make me the new product? That's one time frame. How long does it take it to get overseas? It's usually like what? Like a month or a couple days. You know it's a long time.

Speaker 1: 31:52

And then once it gets over here, again it's it's going straight to FC transfers, where it's like it's going into other places. So the actual time frame from getting from A to B is way longer than, like, some sellers account for. And so then that's when those things come in where you have to like, oh crap, I have to air freight it now and spend way more than I thought I was going to spend because I didn't prepare. So the biggest tip is like, if you maybe this is your first Q4 as a seller or, you know, if you're newer in the game, like learn from it, don't be too hard on yourself, because you kind of have to learn through trial and error anyways. So it's like learn from it, but take into consideration, like realistically for your model and how you do your supply chain, like how long did it actually take for things, and get ready next year in Q2, q4, I mean sorry, q3, like beforehand. Always do it beforehand and always account for it beforehand, so then by the time you're there smoother.

Speaker 2: 32:42

That's a good tip, and I was going to just another one too. But I just remember, when I was living in Southern California a couple years ago, I remember there was the Long Beach Port shutdown. I don't know if you remember that. Oh yeah, I don't know how long. I felt like forever, but they, you know, the workers, went on strike, I think, and they were. So they brought in like they're still processing, like shipments and whatnot. But you could, if you lived in Southern California, you'll remember this, because there are ships lining up just to get into the port which you don't ever really see right, like you normally see, like one ship at a time, kind of going into port, but there's literally a line of ships and I just, you know, just throwing that out there. There's always kind of those other unforeseen things too which can come up, you know. So obviously that was a unique one, but certainly being prepared is always the true answer, but it's not always as easy as that sounds, because you know.

Speaker 1: 33:31

And I guess, like how you're saying, like what if something does happen like that? Okay, so it's also being able to like have the plan be set before the disaster happens. So in that case, let's say, you're relying only on getting your stuff directly from supplier to Amazon what happens if the ships get stuck? If you had like considered a plan B or like a solution to that beforehand, it would be like having some stock in the US already. And that's where the retail partner kind of comes into play with like where is your other stash of goods, just in case something were to happen? You don't want it to be stuck overseas 45 days away, where you could already have like maybe yes, it's a little extra cost, but if you're selling at that volume, it might be worth having some already here and having like a set buffer already in place in case things like that happen.

Speaker 2: 34:15

Yeah, absolutely. I couldn't agree more. Cindy, I wanted to say thank you so much for coming on and gracing us for your presence for your first ever podcast. This was a great and it's it's nice to kind of get you know the behind the scenes. Look, I think, at some of the logistics companies side of the equation. Right, because oftentimes as sellers we only think about kind of what we see, which is maybe ordering the product and then yelling at our 3PL to do better, go faster or whatever.

Speaker 1: 34:40

So and then yelling at Amazon.

Speaker 2: 34:43

So anyway, my point is it's nice to have kind of your inside, like inside and just you know. I know that you've seen a lot and we're excited to have you hopefully back and maybe another couple months or another year when you can tell us even more cool things. But appreciate you for coming on. I just wanted to turn it around, though, to you really quick and just you know, ask you and for the audience's sake, where can people actually find you and learn more about kind of what you guys do?

Speaker 1: 35:07

Sure, so you can go to tacticallegisticcom no S at the end. I learned there and then also on. We're on Instagram. I post a lot of content there teaching you guys the little ins and outs of logistics, tiktok as well, and YouTube, and it's all tactical logistics solutions and you got to type that in and then you'll find us.

Speaker 2: 35:26

Love it Good stuff. Well, yeah, I am again. I just want to close by just saying, you know, I've talked to a lot, of, a lot of 3PLs. So for anyone watching listening, like, I have talked to a lot of 3PLs and just from talking to Cindy and some of her other team members, like you guys are very responsive, which is unusual in the logistics space. I, you know, I just that's been my experience at least. So I just wanted to say, from that perspective, although I haven't used you guys to actually, you know, handle any of my FBA stuff or anything like that, I will say that you guys do have an impressive track record with me so far. So I just wanted to thank you again for that too. For anyone watching, go check out their website. They've got a lot of good stuff If you're looking for a 3PL or logistics solutions, and otherwise I think that's going to bring us to the end of the show. So I just want to say thanks again, cindy, for being here.

Speaker 1: 36:13

Awesome. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2: 36:14

All right, everyone. That brings us to the end of another amazing episode today with Cindy from Tactical Logistics Solutions. It's awesome having her on the show, so we hope that you got some kind of value out of this show, whether it's a little nugget, an insight, a strategy, anything that's going to help you on your Amazon or e-commerce selling journey. And, as always, thank you again for tuning into the Amazon strategy show. If you did find some value in today's discussion, we'd love it if you could kindly give us a review rating on your favorite podcast player to let us know. Your feedback definitely helps us reach more e-commerce enthusiasts just like yourself. If you're watching on YouTube, let us know in the comments what you thought or what you learned from this show as well. That does help us and we appreciate that feedback.

Speaker 2: 36:53

Don't forget to follow us on social media platforms. You will get updates behind the scenes stuff and a lot more there too, so we'll put links to everything talked about in the show notes or, if you're on YouTube, in the description, so make sure you guys check that out. That's it for today's episode, but mark your calendars. We're going to be back next week, as always, for another exciting episode as well. We've got more guests to come and a lot more game changing tips, so make sure you stay tuned for that. Until then, I'm your host, ben signing off and happy selling.