We welcome clients whose values and needs fit with our approach to business. Working together, we create a formidable synergy. Nevertheless, we know that for most organizations Peak Fulfillment is not the appropriate service provider.

We designed Peak Fulfillment partially as a calculated response to the practices of large commercial fulfillment houses. We know those companies. They are superbly equipped for the markets they serve. Fortunately for Peak, the advantages provided by their size create disadvantages for the market we covet and for which we are the most appropriate supplier. The following comments will draw the comparison between these two different business models.

Industry Norm -The large companies operate on the basis of a factory assembly line. They built infrastructure, organized operations and defined their labor force to secure economies of scale. To utilize their capacity effectively they must process a high volume of transactions through uniform, automated processing.

Industry Norm -  Their production workers are assigned to pre-defined and highly structured jobs. In this controlled environment, every process is fixed, every employee is replaceable. The company mantra for each employee is to quickly finish the task in the prescribed way and within the allotted time, pass the order to the next processing stage and begin another cycle. Since transaction volume is the criteria by which everything is typically measured, job satisfaction is low and staff turnover is high.

Industry Norm - The large fulfillment company’s workplace rules and financial margins are protected when it has clients that generate relatively undifferentiated orders. The orders ideally come in a fairly consistent high-volume stream from a generic mass market. To most large fulfillment companies the ideal client is (just as they are) focused on transaction volume above all else. That ideal client could be operating an infomercial promotion on TV. It could be selling products that don’t want or need sustainable brand loyalty. Perhaps it is pulling business from mass mailings to purchased address lists. Their preferred client could be operating a stand-alone ecommerce store. It could need fulfillment of an inexpensive bounce-back trinket or coupon in exchange for a consumer product purchase.

Whatever the activity, price for service may be more important to the client than packaging quality or turnaround time or error rate. There is little need for the service provider to be fully informed about the client’s product, services and customers. The continuing loyalty of those being served would be nice, even important - but it is not essential to the client. And to the fulfillment house each customer represents a transaction to be processed - nothing more. When a customer has a question or a package is damaged in transit, quick, personal customer service is not particularly important. 

There is nothing slipshod or indifferent about all this. It is a solid, highly efficient and market-appropriate business arrangement. It is designed to carry huge facilities overhead. And it is backed by plenty of economic sense. Countless numbers of successful organizations and service providers work together on a transaction-driven basis.

Industry Norm -  Large commercial fulfillment centers impose complex price schedules on their clients. The ones we have reviewed indicate that every possible task, every differentiated step and every possible exception to routine processing is identified. And then divided into its smallest components. A price is then assigned to each component.

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A Difference: Unlike the assembly line approach, Peak encourages employees to use their own judgment and set their own pace whenever appropriate. Operating within broad policies at every stage of the process, our staff is empowered to do what is necessary to meet the company requirement that each customer must be satisfied even if we take a loss on the transaction. Although it has resulted in a few disappointments, over the years this practice has produced great results- the kind that aren’t likely to be available elsewhere.

A Difference: Peak employees do not perform artificially segmented and narrowly defined tasks. We know that the "handoff" from stage to stage of a process may create efficiencies that delight a Time & Motion Study Disciple. We also know they can cause hidden errors for which no employee takes ownership.

We prevent that risk in order processing and in customer service. A Peak work shift often consists of several teams working together on sequential common tasks, with employees moving between the groups as tasks are completed. We lose some efficiency through this practice, but we find that it fosters a sense of employee ownership of our service - and pride in its quality. For the clients we serve and the people we employ, this is more important than the bit of efficiency we lose.

A Difference: Peak employees are responsible for quality of results, not the number of transactions they process. For example, in order processing a small group of employees assumes responsibility for a batch of orders, seeing it through each step of the pick, pack and ship operations. In customer service, an employee will deal directly with a customer who has a complaint and then trace the missing shipment or pick and pack a replacement as needed. When that step is completed, the employee will email or call to let the customer know the shipment has been located or a replacement has been shipped. The same person will later follow up by email or phone to be sure the customer is fully satisfied.

This level of independent action violates conventional practice in the fulfillment industry, so we have plenty of internal controls on this process. Our error rate quantifies how well we make it work for our clients and their customers.

A Difference: The principles of cross-training and workload sharing guide our staffing practices. While some have primary responsibility for specific activities, many warehouse employees are equally able to perform most receiving tasks, inventory management duties and pick/pack/ship activities. They also handle customer service and order processing responsibilities in our customer service phone center. The reverse is also true - our customer service representatives are trained in the basics of pick/pack/ship and easily switch tasks when necessary to meet volume fluctuations in the warehouse. In a typical commercial fulfillment operation, all of these are segregated assignments in an assembly line process.

A Difference: Unheard of in a big fulfillment operation, Peak’s warehouse and customer service departments have a stable long-term workforce. Several of our employees came to us from large national fulfillment houses in the Boulder Area. Our 15 warehouse and customer service workers have three bachelor’s degrees in progress - plus four bachelor’s degrees and two master’s degrees already earned. One is a retired financial analyst from a major university. Another just returned from a six-month leave of absence to teach English As A Second Language in China. One used to manage a retail store with responsibility for cash control, hiring and firing and inventory acquisition. We also employ the retired owner of a small industrial packaging firm in our production crew. This staff is stable, talented, motivated and committed to both teamwork and zero-defect customer service.

A Difference:Peak Fulfillment has a simple price policy. Peak fulfillment services are competitively priced in the aggregate. And our services and prices are clustered, not relentlessly subdivided. We require only five charges for the same range of services that many competitors encompass with dozens of separate rates. (We will provide the fee schedule to a prospective client after mutual interest is established.)

Our five charges include: 1) Account Set-Up Fee, 2) Transaction Fee on each sale or fulfillment release, 3) Customer Support Fee when required to resolve a customer problem, 4) Quantity Based Service Charge to process arriving shipments of client inventory and 5) Warehouse Space Charge for inventory management and space. Our intent is not to charge less for superior service, but to provide a less complex price schedule for our work.  Building and hosting a shopping cart requires a custom quote.

A Difference: As a bonus - Peak can arrange One Stop Shopping for clients who need a supplier of products for which Peak will provide distribution services. VisABILITY, Peak’s parent company, has built a network of high-end factories both stateside and offshore. From these factories it sources imprinted products in all categories for U.S. public radio and television stations and for esteemed brands like National Public Radio, A Prairie Home Companion, Morning Edition, Car Talk, This American Life and dozens more. VisABILITY also has extensive experience in overseeing production of editorial products like program-related CDs, audio cassettes, video tapes and books.

Simple tasks, such as product research and modifying existing art to meet the requirements of various product-specific imprinting technologies are handled as a matter of course. Complex graphics projects, including creation of new logos and designs, are performed on an hourly rate. All of this is immediately available to Peak Fulfillment clients because VisABILITY and Peak are located across the street from each other.

• Traditional fulfillment house and their preferred clients emphasize transaction volume. 

• We view each transaction as a critical element in a long-term relationship to be protected with impeccable, personalized and flexible services. 

• We are not "hired gun" vendors. We regard our clients as our colleagues - and expect reciprocity of that view. 

• We don’t confuse clients with price schedules that ultimately challenge the common sense of their budgeting and accounts payable staffs. 

• One Stop Shopping for products and distribution services is an added value available from very few fulfillment companies.

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Last Update: 07/16/04