Hi! You’re receiving this because you’ve worked with us, connected with our team, or crossed paths with Operating Crew in the world of DTC operations and supply chain.
On Our Radar This Week
$4.1B to $39M: When Valuation Finally Catches Up Allbirds sold for $39 million last week — down from a $4.1 billion peak. The story has been told as a branding failure, and that's fair. But underneath it was a company that scaled complexity by introducing new product lines before the foundation could support it. Today's DTC environment doesn't offer that runway. Getting the infrastructure right early isn't just good practice, it's survival. At scale, fixing a broken foundation is like replacing the ground floor of a skyscraper. Read more →
Amazon Can Deliver It In 1 Hour. Now What? 1-hour and 3-hour delivery is now live across hundreds of U.S. cities. The bigger question isn't whether you can match that speed — it's whether your brand has a reason to exist outside of Amazon at all. If you're in a category Amazon can now deliver in an hour, the convenience argument for your own storefront gets harder to make. The brands most exposed are in commoditized categories with no strong community or differentiated product story. Speed is a commodity now. The question is what isn't. Read more →
Remember When Fuel Surcharges Were 6%? FedEx and UPS are at 26% today. USPS just announced its first-ever fuel surcharge — 8%, effective April 26 — a signal that costs have reached even the carrier of last resort. The number that catches most brands off guard isn't any single surcharge, it's how they stack: a general rate increase raises your base rate, and then a 26% fuel surcharge applies on top. The math compounds fast. The brands adjusting well aren't hunting for one big fix. They're building continuous cost review into how they operate, finding a few percent back across ten different areas. That's the new playbook. Read more →
On The Ops Floor
(Oversized) Shipping Costs Are Too Damn High
Speaking of compounding math, chances are you’re paying more than you should be if you’re shipping oversized items. Carriers have quietly been lowering the threshold for what counts as "oversized", which means more surcharges, on more packages, more often. Pile fuel surcharges near 25% on top and it compounds fast. This live tracker from our friends at DCL shows exactly where surcharges stand week over week.
We've built carrier relationships specifically around large parcels and secured rates most brands can't get on their own. If you haven't audited your shipping rates lately, now's the time. We're already helping our partners audit/benchmark and plug in lower shipping rates, and we'd love to do the same for you. Reach out if that's of interest.
Client Win: $1.3M+ savings and 83% → 97% Customer 5-Day Delivery for Equip, a $40M+ DTC Nutrition Brand
Our client Equip, a fast-growing DTC nutrition brand with an ops team of less than 5, was running over 40,000 orders a month through a 3PL that only delivered 83% of orders within five days. Their target was 95%.
Switching 3PLs at over 40,000 orders a month isn't a project — it's a live surgery. We vetted partners, built the financial model, and ran the full transition with Equip's team: Shopify integration, routing validation, every edge case before go-live. No surprises on launch day.
Day one of launch: 3,000+ orders shipped without a hitch.
Where they are now:
97% of orders delivered within five days (up from 83%)
$1.3M+ in annual savings on fulfillment and shipping
$180K+ reduction in annual packaging costs through our packaging strategy, dim optimization, and sourcing project
A dual-node fulfillment network built for B2B and DTC growth to $100M+
The full case study is coming soon. In the meantime, if your fulfillment operation is underperforming or you're scaling past what your current 3PL can handle, get in touch.
Events: What’s Happened + What’s Coming
Cocktails with Operating Crew and DOSS
We recently co-hosted our first-ever event, a cocktail-making evening with our friends at DOSS, and it set exactly the tone we were hoping for. We brought together a great crew of brand leaders and operators - folks from KITH, Moonbrew, Birdy Grey, Brightland, Heavys, Tumble, Brooklinen, Hello Fresh, Green Compass, Hair Story, and other amazing brands. What a lovely night at a private speakeasy: four cocktails (each) and good conversation.
We're so happy with how it came together and are excited to make this a regular thing. If you're in our network and would love to co-host something like this with us, we'd love to hear from you.
This is what happens when brand leaders and operators get in a room together.
Webinar we’re hosting: What Best-in-Class Ops Looks Like at Scale
We're hosting a free webinar on Tuesday, April 23rd at 1 PM EST with our friends at Parabola. If you're running or building a brand doing $30M+ and thinking about what the next level looks like, this one's for you.
There's a meaningful gap between ops that work and ops that are truly best-in-class. At $50-100M, that gap starts showing up in your margin, your ability to say yes to new opportunities, and whether your infrastructure is pulling you forward or quietly holding you back.
We'll get specific about what top-performing brands are doing differently across shipping, packaging, and fulfillment: real examples, real numbers, and a few takes we'll stand behind.
Send us your questions ahead of time, and we’ll aim to address them on the webinar.
We'll be sharing the link to register next week, so keep an eye out.
Got Ideas? We’re All Ears
If you have thoughts on what we should explore next, people we should meet, or just want to say hi — we’d genuinely love to hear from you. We’re always looking to grow in the right direction, and your feedback means a lot.
Thanks for being part of the ride. Always here to jam on shipping, packaging, or whatever’s slowing you down.