Most DTC brands at our stage are buying ad budget for "multi-warehouse fulfillment." Three locations: West, Central, East. Two-day delivery to most ZIP codes. The pitch is that you are buying speed.

We do not do this. We ship every order from one warehouse in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Here is why.

The actual tradeoff

Multi-warehouse fulfillment is faster on the marginal delivery, but it has three costs that DTC brands rarely talk about:

1. Inventory split. Three warehouses means triple the safety stock. If you sell 100 units a week of a SKU, you need ~30 units of safety stock in one warehouse but ~50 to 70 units spread across three. That capital sits on shelves.
2. Quality variance. Each warehouse has its own staff, its own pick-and-pack standards, its own quality control. Three warehouses means three sources of damaged tubs, mispicks, and missing items.
3. Batch traceability. When all orders ship from one location, every COA we send a customer matches the lot they received. Multi-warehouse fulfillment splits lots across locations, so the COA you get may not be for the exact tub in your hand.

For a brand whose entire value proposition is "you can verify what is in your tub," the third one is disqualifying. Multi-warehouse breaks our trust mechanism.

What we trade away

Honest accounting: shipping from one warehouse means slower delivery to the West Coast. A West Coast order from us is 4 to 6 business days. From a brand with West Coast fulfillment, the same order is 2 to 3 business days.

We think the tradeoff is worth it. If you disagree, we will not pretend otherwise.

The warehouse partner

Our 3PL is Rocktomic in Lawrenceville, Georgia. They are also our contract manufacturer. The advantages:

• Manufacturing and shipping live in the same building. No inter-warehouse transfer. No lot-splitting.
• GMP-certified facility. The same quality controls that produce the product handle the fulfillment.
• ISO 17025 testing partner (Eurofins) audits batches at the same site.

That integration is what makes batch-level COA tracking possible. Any tub you receive can be traced to a specific lot, a specific COA, and the specific production date.

What this means for you

When you order from valenco.org, your tub:

1. Was manufactured in the same building it shipped from.
2. Has a lot number that matches a single COA on file.
3. Was packed and shipped by people who know the product, not a generic 3PL fulfillment crew.

In return for that, you wait an extra day or two if you are on the West Coast.

If we get to the scale where we can add a second warehouse without breaking lot integrity (which would require an inventory management system most DTC brands at our stage do not run), we will revisit.

For now, one warehouse is the right answer.

valenco.org