Staring at yet another 3PL invoice, frustration mounting with each line item, it sparked an idea.
“I remember that moment clearly,” Niels recalls. “Even with industry experience, I couldn’t make sense of these charges. I thought: if I’m struggling with this, what chance does a small business owner have?”
The Industry’s Open Secret
Let’s pull back the curtain on one of the logistics industry’s long-standing practices: pricing opacity isn’t an accident – it’s a strategy. Through years in logistics, Niels observed how complex pricing structures often work against transparency.
The pattern typically plays out like this: A business owner reaches out for a quote. The 3PL responds with an attractively low base rate. But then come the add-ons: handling fees, peak season surcharges, minimum volume requirements, storage overflow charges. By the time you realize your actual costs are double what you were quoted, you’re already locked in.
“During my years in logistics, I saw many businesses trapped in this cycle,“ Niels explains. “They’d sign up based on one rate, only to find their actual costs were completely different. But by then, switching providers seemed too daunting.”
The Common Explanations
“Every client is unique,” they say. “We need to customize pricing for each business.” But experience shows that while every business has its unique needs, basic fulfillment operations are remarkably standard. Pick, pack, ship. Store, manage, track. These aren’t mysterious processes that demand complex pricing.
“When 3PLs say they can’t provide upfront pricing, what they really mean is they don’t want to,” shares Rasmus, who experienced this frustration firsthand while running his e-commerce business. “It’s about maintaining the flexibility to adjust charges.”
The Impact of Hidden Fees
Think about what this lack of transparency really costs businesses:
- Hours spent trying to decipher complex invoices
- Impossible-to-predict monthly expenses
- Constant anxiety about surprise charges
- The inability to accurately forecast growth
“It’s not just about the money,” Niels points out. “It’s about the trust that’s broken, the time wasted, and the opportunities lost because businesses can’t properly plan their logistics costs.”
A Different Approach
When Niels, Lars, and Rasmus founded HermesLines, they focused on something simple: transparent pricing. No hidden fees. No complex formulas. No surprises.
“We believe in showing our prices upfront,” Lars explains. “It just makes sense for everyone involved.”
The Path Forward
The response to transparent pricing in logistics has been enlightening. While some said it couldn’t work, businesses have shown there’s a real need for clarity in fulfillment pricing. The logistics industry is ready for change. The old way of doing things – the hidden fees, the complex contracts, the opaque pricing – it’s not just frustrating, it’s unnecessary. We believe successful fulfillment services can operate with complete pricing transparency.
Ready to experience fulfillment without the confusion? Let’s talk about how transparent pricing can help your business grow.
Check out our full pricing details here: HermesLines Pricing