Growing brands need their stock close to their customers. It could be in your garage.
Not in a warehouse. In homes like yours. We bring the brands and the standards. You bring the space and the care.
Packing fits into the gaps a day at home already has, around a nap or before the afternoon errands.
Middle Mile was built by people who ran fulfillment at Grove Collaborative, Shippo, and UPS. Now we are building the version of fulfillment that does not need a warehouse at all, and most of the people running it are stay-at-home parents.
We pay you per order you fulfill. Not per hour, and not a flat fee for the space. What that adds up to depends on whose stock you hold and how much they ship, so we go through your actual numbers before you agree to anything.
No obligation.
Boxes in, boxes out, and a document that tells you exactly how.
Three steps, start to finish. Nothing about the work itself gets added later.
Inventory arrives and you count it in
A brand’s stock comes to you. You count it as it arrives and reconcile it against what the brand says it sent, so both sides start from the same number.
Orders come through, you pick and pack them
Each brand has a written packing standard, and you pack to it. You work from that document, not from memory.
We handle the labels, you get boxes out the door
We deal with the carriers and the labels. Your side is getting the right thing in the right box and out the door on time.
Everything that makes fulfillment hard stays on our side.
Finding the customers and agreeing the terms with them. None of that lands on you.
You never have to find the work
No selling, no quoting, no negotiating. We find the brands and we agree the terms with them, so the work reaches you already arranged.
The brand relationship is ours, not yours
You are not the brand’s point of contact and you are not their supplier. We hold that relationship, which is the same reason you never have to go and find the work.
You are never guessing what good looks like
Every brand’s packing standard is written down, and every location is audited against that same standard. You are working to a document, not to somebody’s memory of what they wanted.
We tell brands their stock is safe with you. Here is what we mean by that.
Word for word, this is what a brand reads about your location before they ship you anything. It is written to them, so "your inventory" means theirs. We have not written you a gentler version, because they do not get one either.
Insured and distributed
Every location and every operator is insured. And because your stock is distributed, one location’s bad day never becomes your bad week.
Vetted and 18-point checked
Every operator is interviewed and background-checked, and each location passes an 18-point check before it holds a single unit of your inventory.
Counted in and reconciled
Inventory is counted as it arrives and reconciled against your records, then accuracy and on-time rates are audited per location against written standards.
Monitored and secured
Each space has temperature, humidity, and flood sensors and a security camera, so issues are caught early, not after they reach your customer.
That is a list of things we check on you. It is also the list of things that protect you. Every location and every operator is insured. Each space has sensors, so a problem is caught early rather than after it reaches a customer, and every brand's standard is written down, so what good looks like is a document rather than somebody's memory of it.
The sensors and the camera are ours, and we pay for them. You are never asked to buy equipment. The camera watches the stock, not your household, your space stays yours, and we never publish your address or any detail that would identify you, to anyone, including the brands whose stock you hold.
Five things have to be true before you can hold a brand's stock.
Better to know now than three conversations in. If any of these is a no, it is a no, and we would rather you found that out from a web page than from us.
- Space at home that can stay dry, secure, and yours to use
- Willingness to be interviewed and background-checked
- A location that can pass an 18-point check before it holds any inventory
- Following a written standard exactly, every time, including on a bad day
- Being reachable on the days you are packing
The questions everyone asks us.
How much space do I need? +
It depends on the brand we would match you with, so the application asks what you have rather than telling you what to have. Describe the space you actually have and we will tell you either way, quickly, whether we have a brand it suits.
Do I need experience? +
No. Experience is not on the list of things that have to be true, and it is not what the work rewards: care and consistency are. Each brand’s standard is written down, and every location is audited on accuracy and on-time rate against that standard.
Is my home insured for this? +
Every location and every operator is insured. What that covers on your side is the kind of thing you want in writing rather than on a web page, so we take you through it before you sign anything.
How private is this? +
Your address, and anything else that would identify you, is never published to anyone, including the brands whose stock you hold. The camera is pointed at the stock, not at your household. The sensors watch temperature, humidity and water, so a leak gets caught before it damages anything. And the 18-point check happens before you hold any inventory, with every point of it walked through with you first, so none of it arrives as a surprise.
What if I want to stop? +
People stop for all sorts of reasons and it is not a problem. The terms for ending it are in the agreement, you see it before you sign rather than after, and we walk you through it on the call. We would rather hear early that you are done than find out late. Nobody wants a location run by someone who would rather not be doing it.
Tell us what you have.
What happens next: if our brands have customers near you, we email you to set up a call, and the call is where the pay, the space and the insurance get answered for your situation, before you commit to anything. If it is not a fit, we say so instead of leaving you wondering.
The application is short. It asks about your space and where you are, because where you live decides more than anything else. If we have a brand near you, we will set up a call. If we do not, we will say so.
A no today is not a no forever. Demand moves.