Tuesday morning. A client emails: “Why did I pay 4,200 PLN for storage in March, but 3,100 PLN in February? Did your rates go up?”. You open Excel and notice he briefly held 28 pallets instead of 22. You spend 40 minutes explaining. He still doesn’t buy it.
The problem isn’t your pricing. It’s your billing model.
Polish 3PL operators use four storage billing models. Each has different logic, different simplicity, different accuracy. There’s no single “right” one. There’s the model that fits your client portfolio. The rest creates disputes.
Four billing models
Per unit per day
You count the average stock level and multiply by a daily rate. Market rate: 0.002–0.005 PLN per unit per day.
A client with 2,000 units at 0.003 PLN pays 180 PLN per month. A client with 50,000 small electronics SKUs pays 4,500 PLN.
Works best for clients with high turnover and small SKUs. The client sells, stock drops, the invoice drops. That’s fair.
It also requires daily stock snapshots. Without an integration (Base, WMS), counting this manually is impossible. Don’t try.
Per pallet per day
The simplest model. You count pallets weekly or monthly, multiply by a rate. Polish 3PL market standard: 0.40–0.70 PLN per pallet per day, or 12–21 PLN per week.
20 pallets × 0.55 PLN × 30 days = 330 PLN/month. The client gets it. Disputes vanish. The invoice is plain.
Downside: two pallets of the same footprint can cost very different things. A pallet of household appliances takes different handling than a pallet of pillows. Same charge.
Second downside: a client with 0.3 of a pallet is a problem. Do you charge half or a full one? Either choice hurts someone.
Per CBM per day
You measure the actual volume occupied by the client’s goods. Rate: 1.00–1.50 PLN per CBM per day.
15 CBM × 1.20 PLN × 30 days = 540 PLN/month.
The logic is precise. A client with light oversize goods (pillows, foam, flat-pack furniture) won’t fill one pallet but takes 4 CBM. Per pallet, you’d undercharge.
The catch: clients don’t grasp what CBM means or why their 20 cartons equal 8.4 CBM. They will question every invoice. Your only defense is a table of SKU dimensions, which often doesn’t exist.
Flat fee
The client pays a fixed monthly amount regardless of stock. 800 PLN/month, end of discussion.
Makes sense for very small clients (up to 5 pallets, low variance) and clients with strong seasonality who want predictable budgeting.
Downside: if the client grows from 5 to 15 pallets over a year and you don’t update the flat, you subsidize him from your margin. An annual review is mandatory.
A real client. Three models. Three results
Fashion e-commerce client. 200 SKUs, average 8 pallets in stock, 12 CBM total volume, 8,500 units. Full billing month:
| Model | Formula | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Per pallet (0.55 PLN) | 8 × 0.55 × 30 | 132 PLN |
| Per CBM (1.20 PLN) | 12 × 1.20 × 30 | 432 PLN |
| Per unit (0.003 PLN) | 8,500 × 0.003 × 30 | 765 PLN |
| Flat | negotiated | 500–700 PLN |
A 3x gap between pallet and unit. A 6x gap between pallet and CBM if the client carries oversize.
For you as an operator this means one thing: a model picked at random either leaves money on the table or pushes the client out of the contract. You need to match the model to the profile.
When to use which model
Per pallet — clients with standard e-commerce dimensions (fashion, beauty, consumer electronics, home). Goods stack into a Euro pallet without waste. The client gets it. You count once a week.
Per CBM — clients with oversize or low-density goods (furniture, appliances, sports gear, home interior). Clients with strong seasonal turnover who refuse to pay for unused space.
Per unit — clients with small SKUs and high turnover (cosmetics, accessories, jewelry, small electronics). Requires system integration. Without it, forget about it.
Flat — very small clients (1–3 pallets), clients with predictable annual volume, pilot clients. Always with an annual review clause.
Hybrid for mixed portfolios
For most operators with mixed clients, a hybrid works best: pallet as the standard, CBM as the correction for outliers.
Base pricing per pallet. For oversize clients, you apply a 20–30% surcharge or switch to CBM above a threshold. For clients under 2 pallets, you use a flat fee.
Client A (fashion, 15 pallets): 0.55 × 15 × 30 = 247.50 PLN. Client B (flat-pack furniture, 6 pallets but 18 CBM of actual volume): pallet + 25% correction = 6 × 0.55 × 30 × 1.25 = 123.75 PLN. Or per CBM: 18 × 1.20 × 30 = 648 PLN.
In this case, per CBM gives the true number. Per pallet would undercharge by 80%.
Next step
Picking a model shouldn’t take more than a week of analysis. Pull a list of your top 10 clients. Calculate each one in all four models. Look for who’s profitable, who’s underwater.
Then decide: do you want simplicity (per pallet across the board, accepting losses on outliers) or optimization (per-client hybrid).
FulBill lets you configure each model separately per client. Pallet for seven clients, CBM for two, flat for one, all in one system. Billing runs from Base and WMS data, invoices go out monthly, no Excel.
The pricing matrix and calculator live at /pricing. To run your portfolio numbers with us, book a call.