Distribution logistics: Order, hall and departure

Distribution logistics at a glance

Six points before you open a card. The rest of the page follows them.

The truck leaves without the order

A distribution warehouse rarely fails on clear height. It fails on the clock. The carrier stops whether the order is ready or not. Three times belong in the listing. If one is missing, you see a hall and still do not know whether your goods make the truck.

If you staff the picking yourself, the clock runs differently from leaving it with the operator. If the entry only says warehousing, ask whether people pick or only the space is let. The guide describes the process. It does not state what this card can do.

Picking and reserve are two areas

The reserve sits at the back, the pick face at the front. A pallet in block storage is quick to count and slow to break into a single order. Pieces and cartons need an aisle, racking and someone walking. Pallet places on the card count the reserve. They do not count order lines.

A high-bay warehouse can hold the reserve. Picking often happens below it or beside it, on a mezzanine or in shelving, not in the top aisle. If the listing only states the hall height, the area where the order is made is missing. The next picture shows the other side of the same question: not the racking, the doors.

The doors in the photo

In the picture an articulated truck stands at one door. The other doors are shut and the yard is empty. That is a quiet hour. The expensive hour is the one when goods-in and goods-out want the same door. Ask how many doors a truck can actually use, whether a second truck can wait, and whether inbound and outbound run apart. A yard that is empty in the photo can be full in the afternoon. The listing should know that hour, not only the door count.

What stays overnight

Some goods may stay, some should leave the same day. Cross-docking is handling without stock: in, split, out. Distribution with stock picks from the warehouse. Cards often call both distribution. The warehouse type distribution warehouse bundles the search. Whether goods stay or only pass through is in the individual listing. A cross-docking centre is the neighbour when almost nothing stays overnight.

Returns need a corner

Returns that land on the outbound dock block the departure you have just booked. They need a corner, a table and someone who checks whether the goods may go back into the racking. If the listing is silent on that, ask before the first return arrives, not when the carton is already in the way.

Who looks for this hall

Wholesale, store replenishment, spare parts, brands that ship from their own stock. Procurement logistics brings the goods in. Production logistics sits in front of that, at the line. Packaging logistics is the station between the pick and the truck. Where supply runs into the shops, retail logistics sits next door.

The first cards on this list lead to Aichach and Ismaning, so to Bavaria, and through the locations in Germany elsewhere too. Area and pallet places are on the card. The cut-off is not. You read it in the listing, via Go to offer. If none of them fits, name the order type, the handling unit and the time the truck must leave in a search request.

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The rent does not include picking

This page does not name a price per order. The table takes its ranges from the article Warehouse prices in Germany 2025. They apply to an ordinary hall and an operated pallet warehouse, not as the price list of the spaces on this page and not for the picking.

Compare two offers on the same order type and the same departure time. A cheap square metre without picking is often the longer route for a store order. Whether the space stays in-house or runs as outsourcing does not change the clock. It changes who stands at it.

Sources

The euro figures come from the article named above. They describe ordinary halls and standard warehousing. The source publishes no rate for picking or for the departure.

• Warehouse prices in Germany 2025. A guide to hall rent and operated pallet places. No tariff for picking.