Storage fee calculator: check your 3PL pallet storage bill

This storage fee calculator tells you how many pallets your 3PL should bill for a month, based on the storage basis in your contract, and what the correct charge is. Paste the daily pallet counts from your storage report, or type the average and peak, and compare the result with your invoice. Billing on the busiest day when the contract says average is one of the most common storage errors.

How to use the calculator

1. Enter your rate per pallet per month from the rate card.
2. Enter the pallets billed on the invoice.
3. Choose the basis your contract uses: the monthly average, the monthly peak or the end-of-month count.
4. Give it the month's counts, in one of two ways:
   • Paste the daily pallet counts, one number per line, from your 3PL's storage or inventory report. The calculator works out the average, the peak and the last day for you.
   • Or type the average, the highest count and the count on the last day yourself.

If you paste daily counts, they replace the typed figures.

The formula

The calculator first works out the pallets you should be billed:

Then:

• Correct charge = pallets that should be billed × rate.
• Overcharge = (pallets billed − pallets that should be billed) × rate, if the result is above zero.

Rounding a fractional average up gives the warehouse the benefit of any part pallet. If your contract bills fractional pallets, the correct figure may be slightly lower than the calculator shows.

Worked example

Ridgeline Fulfillment, a made-up warehouse, charges Juniper & Pine, a made-up brand, $18.00 per pallet per month, billed on the monthly average. The September invoice bills 46 pallets.

The 30 daily counts in the September storage report add up to 1,140, so the average is 1,140 ÷ 30 = 38.0 pallets. The highest day was 46 and the last day was 38.

The invoice billed 46 × $18.00 = $828.00. That matches the peak, not the average the contract states, so the overcharge for September is $144.00. If the average had been 37.4, the calculator would round it up to 38 and give the same result.

In the made-up sample audit, the same error ran for three months and added up to $324.00.

What the result means

• An overcharge on the average basis, with the billed count equal to the peak, is the classic sign that storage is being billed on the busiest day. It usually repeats every month, so check earlier invoices too.
• No overcharge means the billed pallets are within what your contract allows on that basis. If the bill is still higher than you expected, check the rate and whether long-term storage fees have started. Our pages on storage fees and long-term storage fees cover both.
• Unsure which basis applies? Read the storage clause, then our guide to storage billing on the average vs the peak. If the contract says nothing, ask the 3PL to confirm the basis in writing.

The calculator checks pallets. If your 3PL bills by bin, shelf or cubic foot, the same logic works: enter the rate and counts in that unit.

Storage is one of twelve checks on our 3PL invoice audit checklist.

Check every month at once

3PL Checker's free audit recomputes storage from your 3PL's own storage reports for every month you send, alongside every other line on the bill. You get the evidence and a credit request ready to send, and a person reviews each finding first.