How Much Money Can a Drinks 3PL Save You?

You might already be running your own drinks warehousing, delivery fleet or full logistics operations in-house.

But that doesn't stop many drinks brands asking themselves:

“If I were to outsource to a 3PL, will it save me money, or will I end up paying more in ‘middleman’ fees?”

A well-matched drinks 3PL can reduce your total logistics cost, increase operational flexibility and free up time to focus on your business's core strengths and profit boosters.

But could an outsourced logistics partner actually work for your particular drinks brand?

In this post, we’ll walk you through the kinds of savings you should expect- and how to use our FREE drinks logistics cost tool to check whether outsourcing makes sense for your business.

Key Cost Levers a 3PL Can Influence

Below are the main areas where a drinks-focused 3PL can drive cost savings.

An Applied Example

Let’s imagine a mid-size brewery:

1. Annual production: 1,000,000 litres
2. Average stock value in warehouse: £1,500,000
3. Annual In-house logistics cost (warehouse, labour, delivery, systems, transport): ~£450,000
4. Current logistics cost per litre: £0.45

The 3PL Solution:

The 3PL estimated drinks logistics cost for this scenario (including storage + order handling + transport): £0.38 per litre

Total outsourced logistics savings = £0.07 per litre, or £70,000 on your annual 1 million litres.

(15–16% cost saving).

In addition:

1. You avoided £500,000+ of fixed investments (warehouse rent, racking, a WMS)
2. You no longer carry responsibility for forklift maintenance, insurance, etc.
3. You gain flexibility to scale up for seasonal peaks without hiring night staff

A 3PL turns much of your fixed, capacity risk into variable cost, which is especially valuable in a business with fluctuating demand.

You can try your own scenario and input your true drinks logistics costs using our FREE drinks 3PL cost tool - it’s designed so that you see those cost shifts, not just hear about them.

What To Watch Out For When Partnering with a 3PL

Outsourcing to a 3PL isn’t a guaranteed win; success depends heavily on the match between a drinks producer and a drinks 3PL.

Here are some important cautions when partnering with a 3PL:

• ‍Pricing transparency & hidden fees‍

Always insist on clarity on pricing and fees, including inbound receiving charges, handling of returns, minimum volumes, rework and special packaging.

Use our FREE drinks 3PL cost tool as a baseline to compare “quote vs. reality.”

• ‍Service levels must match your brand’s promise

If you pride yourself on ultra-fast delivery to pubs or direct consumers, ensure your 3PL partner can deliver next-day into high-traffic venues.

Many 3PLs will offer different delivery days based on the popularity of certain postcodes.

For example, Tap'in 3PL offer next-day delivery into London venues and delivery to Brighton venues twice a week.

• ‍Geographic fit matters
  

If you're looking to deliver into London and the South East UK next-day, it's important to find a 3PL that operates close to London (e.g. Tap'in 3PL has a warehouse just 5 miles from Woolwich). Partnering with a 3PL close to London could get you next-day London delivery cheaper than you'd be able to run it in-house due to 3PL's use of consolidated deliveries.

• ‍Flexibility & scalability
  

During peak seasons (e.g. summer festivals), you want a 3PL that can flex capacity with you, not one that suddenly hikes cost.

Drinks 3PLs like Tap'in offer a scalable UK drinks delivery service based on a 'Price per Delivered Litre' (PDL) rate. This rate uses your drinks business's specific litreage to charge based on how much you are currently delivering.

Tap'in 3PL's PDL rate is completely bespoke to you and allows brands to scale based on seasonal demand, without having to invest in a bigger fleet, bigger warehouse and a bigger team.

Interested? Our team would love to help: https://www.tapin3pl.com/contact

How to use the FREE drinks 3PL cost tool

When you engage with prospective 3PLs (including ours), you’ll likely get indicative quotes.

Here’s how to use our drinks logistics cost tool- it's instant & free to use:

1. Input your current in-house drinks logistics stats (including number of vehicles, drivers, cases, 30L kegs and 50L kegs delivered per day)
2. Check out the output stats: Tap'in PDL vs in-house PDL and Tap'in Annual Cost vs In-house Annual Cost
3. If the savings pique your interest, contact our expert team to talk about your PDL rate. We're always happy to help.

Summary & next steps

Here's our summary...

• A 3PL can drive savings for your drinks business by shifting fixed, in-house costs to variable, 'volume-delivered' based costs.

• A well-matched drinks-specialist 3PL can realistically deliver approximately. 10–20%+ logistics cost reduction in many cases (actual numbers depend on your unique volumes).

• When it comes down to it, success depends on transparency, alignment and good metrics.

• Our FREE drinks 3PL cost tool can give you a pricing estimate for Tap'in 3PL's UK Drinks Logistics Service, before even having to talk to our team. Check it out!
  

Tap'in: Your Trusted Next-Day Drinks Delivery Partner

At Tap'in, we specialise in providing next-day UK drinks delivery into London and the South East for breweries, wineries and distilleries looking to stay ahead in the competitive drinks market.

Our tailored UK drinks logistics services are designed to meet your own, unique drinks operations needs. We build bespoke quotes for each and every client we onboard to ensure that your drinks are delivered quickly, safely and to your own personal standards.

Whether you need to get your beers to a London pub, wine to a retailer in Brighton, or spirits to a bar in the Home Counties, Tap'in offers reliable and cost-effective delivery solutions.

What are the benefits of Tap'in 3PL?

1. Next-Day UK Drinks Delivery: Tap'in offers next-day delivery services across London and the South East, ensuring that your products are quickly delivered to your customers, whether they are bars, retailers or direct-to-consumer clients.
2. London delivery 4 days a week: We deliver drinks into key London postcodes up to four times a week, making it easier for your products to reach one of the most competitive markets in the UK. Our regular delivery schedule ensures your products are always available when your customers need them.
3. Pallet Network for Broader UK Reach: While our core focus is on London, Brighton and the Home Counties, we also offer Pallet Network delivery services to reach other areas in the UK. Whether you need to fulfil larger orders or expand your distribution network, our expert logistics team can help organise Pallet Network service provisions for a more flexible solution.

Let Tap'in handle the logistics so that you can focus on creating exceptional drinks and growing your brand.

Fill out our contact form below and our expert team will get back to you to discuss your bespoke quote as soon as possible.