For Brands

Fulfillment&DeliveryAdvisory forConsumerBrands.

Senior fulfillment and delivery leadership, without hiring a team. Carrier RFP is the engine, the rest of the function rides on top.

Carrier RFP 3PL sourcing Invoice recovery Claims & SLAs
22.5%
Typical savings on shipping spend
85%
Of messages answered within the hour
10+
Carriers benchmarked, every RFP

Where it hurts

The problems brands bring us.

Most brands arrive with one of these. The pattern is always the same: name the problem, fix it, and prove it in dollars.

The problem

You do not know how your rates compare.

What we do

We benchmark your last 90 days lane by lane against our carrier rate database, then take your volume to the full market. Your contracts, your rates, no markup in the middle.

Freak Athlete: multiple six figures cut
The problem

Fulfillment is capping your growth.

What we do

We run your 3PL search or renegotiation end to end, vetting partners against your real order data so the handoff actually fits the brand.

Pepper Pong: per-order cost nearly halved
The problem

You're still packing every order yourself.

What we do

We run your first 3PL search end to end, from sourcing and an in-person warehouse visit to signed rates, so the handoff pays for itself instead of costing you.

Wayve Wear: time back, at break-even

What's included

Lower cost. Less operational work. Better delivery decisions.

The individual services matter because of what they change for your team and your customers.

Lower cost

We compare carriers and 3PLs on your real orders, negotiate the contracts, recover invoice errors and claims, and keep the savings visible after launch.

Carrier selection · 3PL selection · contracts · invoice recovery

Less operational work

We run the analysis, market process, implementation oversight, and partner follow-through while your team keeps the operation moving.

Sourcing · implementation · claims · partner oversight

Better delivery decisions

We connect shipping cost, carrier performance, returns, tracking, and repeat purchase so each change can be measured against the customer outcome.

Performance · tracking · returns · connected data

Client stories

Brands we've grown with.

Freak Athlete

“Iron Margin really meticulously got costs down. He saved us multiple six figures, and of course, that's something that's going to scale for us.”
Benji Stark Elster Founder and CEO, Freak Athlete
6-figures
cut from annual shipping spend
Double digit
landed cost reduction

Wayve Wear

“I didn't really have to do anything in this whole process other than go to some meetings and do a gut check. If I were doing this by myself, I wouldn't know what to ask, how to vet their answers, or how to negotiate rates.”
Yahli Founder, Wayve Wear
Break-even
shipping savings offset pick, pack, and storage
Apparel-only
a specialized partner, close enough to visit
Pepper Pong game set

Pepper Pong

“He was able to nearly cut our per-order cost in half. That's real money back on every order.”
Phil Vilk Founder, Creative Launch · Marketing Lead, Pepper Pong
Nearly halved
per-order fulfillment cost
Zero gap
orders shipped through the transfer
Health Y Sol small-batch soap

Health Y Sol

The savings are measured per label. When a carrier disruption stranded their packages, we built the claims case and recovered the money.

Small-batch soap, shipped daily Carrier mix managed, every label benchmarked
Refunded in full
transportation cost recovered after the disruption
Below benchmark
every label priced from real carrier invoices

FAQ

The questions brands actually ask.

What we do +
What exactly does Iron Margin do? +

We are your outsourced fulfillment and delivery advisor. Carrier RFPs sit at the center of the work. The rest wraps around them: strategy and sourcing, contract negotiation and renegotiation, invoice recovery, claims, SLA monitoring, accessorial review, order management and WMS evaluation, 3PL sourcing and oversight, and shipping and delivery CX. One service, built for DTC brands on Shopify.

What do you handle, and what does my team still do? +

We run the carrier and fulfillment work: benchmarking, RFPs, negotiation, invoice recovery, claims, SLA and accessorial review, and 3PL oversight. Your team keeps shipping exactly as it does today. We handle the analysis and the market benchmarking and bring you clear options; you approve every decision.

How are you different from a rate broker? +

Rate brokers and freight aggregators make money by marking up carrier rates and taking a cut of every shipment. We work for you. Your carrier contracts are yours, the rates are yours, the savings stay yours. We sit on your side of the table, not in the middle of your invoices.

What carriers do you work with? +

USPS, UPS, FedEx, Amazon, DHL, Veho, OnTrac, GLS, SpeedX, UniUni, and more. We benchmark across all of them.

Fit for your brand +
Is my brand a fit for Iron Margin? +

If you're a DTC brand shipping parcels, talk to us. We run a free evaluation for every brand: we benchmark your last 90 days against our carrier database and show you the savings that are actually there. You make an informed decision from real numbers, not a sales pitch, and there's no commitment to find out.

What if you've already negotiated your rates? +

Most shippers who come to us have negotiated before. We benchmark against our full carrier dataset. If you're already at market, we'll tell you. If not, we find the gap.

How will I know I'm actually saving money? +

We benchmark all-in cost, not headline rates: surcharges, fuel, delivery-area fees, and dimensional weight, held at the same service level, so the number survives contact with a real invoice. You get the before and after in dollars per order, and we keep auditing invoices monthly so the savings hold.

Does this work if you use a 3PL? +

Yes. We can help whether you ship in-house or work with a 3PL. The negotiation work is the same; the integration step changes depending on who's running the labels. If your 3PL isn't pulling its weight, we also source and vet new ones.

Why not just use ShipStation or a similar self-serve app? +

Self-serve apps advertise headline discounts that look great (often 70% off retail), but those are still retail rates with platform margin baked in. At meaningful volume you can negotiate directly with the carriers and get materially better pricing than any aggregator pass-through.

Carriers and delivery +
Do you have to switch carriers? +

No. We negotiate better rates with your existing carriers first. If a new carrier offers meaningfully better pricing, we'll flag it, but you always decide.

Why not just ask my carrier rep for a discount myself? +

You can, and it's worth asking. The difference is knowing the market. Your rep knows what you currently pay; they won't tell you what comparable brands pay for the same lanes. Because we see market rates across many programs, we can tell whether an offer is genuinely competitive and where a fair, better-than-market deal sits. This isn't about forcing a carrier into something that doesn't work for them. It's about both sides landing on pricing that's better than the market, which is what makes the relationship last.

Will my carrier know we're working with you? +

Only if you want them to. We can benchmark and negotiate quietly in the background, and the carrier simply sees a better-informed counterparty. A well-run RFP is normal procurement; carriers expect it, and it doesn't damage the relationship.

Are the cheaper regional carriers actually reliable? +

We only shift volume onto a carrier after a small live test on your real orders, so you see delivery and tracking quality before committing. Reviews for every parcel carrier skew harsh, USPS included, so we judge on your actual results, not star ratings. We start conservative, watch the first weeks closely, and pull back fast if service slips.

Will switching carriers hurt my delivery experience? +

That is what we protect hardest. We hold service level constant when we compare, run a small test before scaling, and watch transit time and first-scan speed in the early weeks. If a carrier is slow to post tracking or adds a day, we catch it early and adjust. Cheaper is only worth it if the customer experience holds.

Will a bigger box cost me more? +

Sometimes, because carriers bill on dimensional weight, not just actual weight. Each carrier applies a DIM factor that turns box size into billable weight, so the same item in a larger box can cost more. Matching your box sizes to the right carrier mix is part of the work, so you are not paying to ship air.

If a package is lost, damaged, or misdelivered, who deals with the carrier? +

We do. Filing and chasing carrier claims is part of the ongoing work, not something you handle alone. We escalate to our carrier contacts, track each claim to reimbursement, and flag patterns before they become a trend. When you move to a new carrier, we set up the support path first, so there is a clear point of contact the day something goes wrong.

Getting started and your data +
How long does it take to see results? +

About 2 weeks from kickoff to a benchmarked recommendation, and typically 4 to 6 weeks to fully live. We've moved faster than that, but the timeline depends on the complexity of the project and how quickly we can get what we need from your side. Carrier setup and integration are the long pole, not the analysis. From there we onboard the new carrier and review the first invoices, with the rest of the work running alongside.

What data do you need to get started? +

An export of your last 90 days of shipping. Each row needs at minimum: origin zip, destination zip, weight, dimensions, carrier, service type, and cost. Format varies by WMS (ShipStation, EasyPost, Shopify, Shiphero, Extensiv exports all work). We'll guide you through the export on the intro call.

How much lift is onboarding for my team? +

Light. We need one export of your last 90 days to start, usually a few clicks in your platform, plus a short call to confirm box sizes and weights. No engineering or integration project on your end.

Who owns the carrier contracts? +

You do. We negotiate on your behalf, but the contracts are between you and the carrier. No Iron Margin in the middle, no third-party billing layer.

Will you sign an NDA, and how is our data handled? +

Yes. Standard NDA on request before you share anything. Your shipping data and carrier contracts are used only to benchmark and negotiate on your behalf. We never sell your data or share it with carriers, and access stays limited to the team working your account.

What does the ongoing relationship look like? +

Once a new carrier program is live, the work shifts to the rest of the scope. Invoice recovery, SLA enforcement, claims, accessorial and surcharge review, contract renegotiation, order management and technology evaluations, 3PL oversight, and returns and delivery CX. The goal is no invoice error or SLA left unclaimed, month over month.

What happens if we stop working together? +

You keep everything. The contracts are in your name, the rates stay in place, and the savings continue. There is nothing to unwind and no carrier relationship to untangle. That is the advantage of us sitting on your side of the table instead of in the middle.

Still have a question? Book a call and we'll walk through it.

Carrier & Fulfillment Evaluation

A benchmarked read on your carrier spend.

The Iron Margin Carrier and Fulfillment Evaluation Report is custom built. We benchmark your last 90 days lane by lane against our carrier rate database, then show where your rates sit against market and what is recoverable.

Get your evaluation report
Iron Margin Carrier and Fulfillment Evaluation Report, format illustration

Ready to see what's possible?

Start with a 30-minute intro call. We learn your setup, your carriers, and your volumes, and walk you through exactly what we'd recommend.

30-minute intro call. Free evaluation. No commitment.