One FC poses a big scale problem: No matter the location, it is expensive to ship to nearly half the country. Certainly there are mitigation tactics, like putting the first FC close to the biggest concentration of customers. If 75% of purchases come from the Northeast, then it makes sense to put the FC in Pennsylvania, for example. Even so, long haul deliveries for parcel delivery to the opposite side of the country is a real margin killer.

That's why we advise companies to get to a second FC as soon as possible. We strongly believe that companies wait too long to open up a second FC. This can be a challenge, however. In fact, we joke that it's often harder to go from one-to-two FCs than it is to go from zero-to-one!

The operational pain and capital expenditure is more than worth it. The savings of eliminating Zone 4-8 shipments has an enormous impact on costs, while opening up the possibility of fast or free shipping to 60%-80% of the population.