A fulfillment centre, run by what is often called a 3PL (third-party logistics provider), stores your stock and packs your orders. A courier moves the packed order to your customer. They solve different problems, which is why many online stores use both instead of choosing between them.
The short version
- A 3PL or fulfillment centre stores inventory and prepares orders. A courier collects prepared orders and delivers them.
- You can do each job yourself, hand it to a 3PL, or split the work: pack in-house and let a courier deliver.
- A local courier fits when most of your customers are in one region and you want same-day, next-day or tighter windows.
- If you use a 3PL, ask how it hands nearby orders to a local courier. Many default to one national carrier.
- Decide by the job, not by the label. Storage, packing, delivery and returns are four separate decisions.
Who does what
| Job | You, in-house | 3PL or fulfillment centre | Courier (last mile) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storing inventory | Yes | Yes | No |
| Picking and packing orders | Yes | Yes | No |
| Printing labels and booking the carrier | Yes | Often | No, it receives the order |
| Collecting the packed order | You hand it over | It hands it over | Yes, it picks up |
| Delivering to the customer's door | Possible, with your own vehicles | Typically through a carrier | Yes |
| Tracking and proof of delivery | Only if you build it | Often through the carrier | Yes, order by order |
| Handling returns | Yes | Often an extra service | Collects the return, where offered |
The courier's job starts where the packing ends. That is the point of the table: the two services are not rivals.
Four set-ups, from simplest to most outsourced
| Set-up | How it works | Fits when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everything in-house | You store, pack and deliver. | Volume is low and customers are close. | Your own time and vehicles become the bottleneck. See the real cost of DIY delivery. |
| Pack in-house, courier delivers | You store and pack. A courier collects and delivers to the door. | You have the space and time to pack but not the vehicles or the delivery hours. | Cutoffs: orders must be packed before the courier arrives. See setting a cutoff. |
| 3PL stores and packs, national carrier delivers | The 3PL does everything up to the carrier handoff. | Customers are spread across the country and you do not want to hold stock. | Delivery windows are wide, and nearby customers wait as long as distant ones. |
| 3PL stores and packs, local courier delivers nearby orders | The 3PL packs. Local orders go to a courier and the rest to a national carrier. | The 3PL is in or near your main customer region. | It needs a handoff: pickup time, manifest, and tracking that reaches the customer. |
How the pieces fit: a local-first routing rule
A common arrangement is a routing rule by postal code. Orders going to the region where most customers live go to a local courier, which can offer a delivery window or same-day delivery. Everything else goes to a national carrier. The rule can live in your store platform, in your 3PL's system or in a short spreadsheet. What matters is that it exists. An illustrative version:
- Greater Montréal postal codes: local courier, same-day for orders placed before the cutoff.
- The rest of Québec: local courier where it has routes, otherwise a national carrier.
- The rest of Canada: national carrier.
recourier.ca's last-mile service collects from a warehouse or fulfillment centre and delivers to the door. It lists fulfillment-centre overflow among the orders it takes: extra capacity when volume is more than your usual carrier can deliver on time.
Questions to ask a 3PL about local delivery
- Can you route local orders to a courier I choose, or only to your own carriers?
- How is the handoff done: a scheduled pickup, a manifest, a cutoff?
- Do tracking links reach my customers, in French and English?
- How do failed deliveries and returns come back to you?
- What do you charge for a custom carrier arrangement?
Questions to ask a courier about taking orders from a fulfillment centre
- What pickup times can you offer at the warehouse, and what is the cutoff?
- How do orders reach you: a CSV, an API or a webhook?
- What happens on a failed attempt: retry, re-route or return to the warehouse?
- How do returns get back? Returns management covers the options.
- What do you report back: on-time rate, windows, exceptions?
Mistakes to avoid
- Paying for a 3PL's fastest national service when a local courier could deliver nearby orders sooner.
- Choosing a warehouse far from where your customers are, so that every order starts with a long middle mile.
- Treating delivery as a line in the 3PL contract instead of a separate decision.
- Forgetting returns: where they come back to, and who inspects them.
- Skipping the trial. Run a small batch of local orders through the courier before you commit.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a 3PL and a courier?
A 3PL (third-party logistics provider) takes over parts of your logistics such as storage, picking, packing and shipping. A courier moves a packed order from one place to another, typically to the customer's door. A 3PL may use couriers and carriers to make its deliveries.
Do I need a fulfillment centre to use a courier?
No. If you store and pack orders yourself, a courier can collect them from your shop or warehouse and deliver them.
Can a local courier deliver orders packed by a fulfillment centre?
Yes, if the fulfillment centre can hand the orders over at a set pickup time and the courier serves the delivery area. Ask both sides how the handoff will work.
Is a 3PL cheaper than doing it myself?
It depends on your volume, your space and your own time. A 3PL turns storage and packing into per-order costs. Whether that is cheaper depends on your numbers, so cost out each job separately.
Does recourier.ca do fulfillment or delivery?
Delivery. recourier.ca is a last-mile delivery service: it collects orders from your warehouse or fulfillment centre and delivers them, and it also offers returns management. Storage and pick-and-pack are not services it lists.
Tell us where your orders are packed and where they go, and we will explain how a courier route can take over from there.