Charging for storage: models that scale with the pallet, the day or both

Most storage prices are set once, in a meeting, and then argued about every month for as long as the customer stays. The price itself is rarely the problem. The problem is that nobody wrote down what was being priced: which pallet, which day, counted how. The first invoice turns those gaps into a dispute, and every invoice after that reopens it.

There are only a handful of common ways to charge for storage. Each one is reasonable, each one rewards a different behaviour, and each one needs a few definitions agreed before it can be invoiced without an argument.

The common models

Per pallet place per day. The customer pays for every pallet, every day it stands in your warehouse. It is the fairest model for both sides when volumes move, because the charge follows the stock up and down. It also needs the most precise records: you must know when each pallet came in and when it left.

Per pallet place per week or month. The same idea with a coarser clock. Simpler to invoice, but every period boundary becomes a question. Does a pallet that arrived on the 29th pay for the whole month? If the answer is “it depends on the customer”, you have several pricing models, not one.

Per square metre or dedicated area. The customer rents a part of the building, whatever stands in it. This suits steady volumes, bulky or awkward goods that do not fit a pallet place, and customers who want their own fenced-off area. It rewards the customer for filling the space and protects you when they do not, at the cost of being uncompetitive when their stock shrinks.

Handling fees, in and out. A fee per pallet received and per pallet or order shipped, usually on top of one of the storage models above. Handling is where the labour sits, so a storage-only price for a fast-moving customer quietly subsidises their throughput with your forklift hours.

Minimum charges. A floor per month, so that a customer with three pallets does not cost you more to administer than they pay. Small, but it removes a whole class of unprofitable accounts.

Most real price lists combine two or three of these. That is fine, as long as each part has its own definition.

What each model rewards

Pricing is also an instruction. Charging per pallet-day tells customers to keep stock lean and pull it promptly, which is good for your space and harder on your planning, because volumes swing. Charging per area tells them space is already paid for, so they will fill it, and slow-moving stock will settle in. Charging handling generously and storage cheaply rewards long-stay customers; the reverse rewards fast movers.

None of these is wrong. The useful question before quoting is which kind of customer you want more of, and whether the model you are about to offer rewards that customer or the other one.

The clock: when does a day start?

This is where most storage disputes actually come from, and it is the part that is cheapest to fix in advance.

• Arrival and departure days. Does a pallet that arrives at 16:00 pay for that day? Does a pallet that leaves at 08:00 pay for the day it leaves? Both answers are defensible. Having no answer is not.
• Snapshot or continuous. Some warehouses count stock once per period, say every Monday morning, and charge for what stands there. Others charge for every pallet-day actually used. A snapshot is simpler, but a customer who ships on Fridays and receives on Tuesdays never appears in it.
• What counts as a pallet. A standard pallet up to a stated height is one place. Is an over-height pallet two? A half pallet half? Loose cartons on a shelf? Write the unit down, with dimensions.
• Partial periods and cut-off. If the month ends on a Saturday, which movements belong to which invoice? The same cut-off question as at year-end, just twelve times a year.

A clock that is written into the agreement can be applied by anyone. A clock that lives in one person’s head gets applied differently by the next person, and the customer notices before you do.

The records the invoice stands on

Whatever the model, a storage invoice is only as good as the record of when each pallet came in and went out. If goods are received on a proper document with a date and time, and released the same way, pallet-days are arithmetic. If arrivals are noted on paper and departures inferred from the transport plan, every invoice is an estimate, and an estimate invites a challenge.

The same records answer the questions customers actually ask. Why is this month higher? Show the pallets, the dates, the days. Was that pallet still here on the 3rd? Show the release. A customer who can see their own stock and movements argues far less about the invoice, because there is nothing left to guess.

We wrote about the receiving side separately, in storing customer goods: goods held for others need a receipt that both sides signed, and it is the same document that starts the storage clock.

Before the first invoice

A short checklist, agreed in writing with each storage customer:

1. The model: per pallet-day, per period, per area, or a combination.
2. The unit: what one pallet place is, with dimensions and what happens above them.
3. The clock: arrival day, departure day, snapshot or continuous.
4. Handling: what triggers a fee in, a fee out, and any fee per order.
5. The minimum, if there is one.
6. Where the customer can see the stock and the movements the invoice is built from.

Six lines, and most of next year’s invoice disputes do not happen.

In navichain, customer goods in custody come in on a sealed, barcoded goods receipt note, and storage is billed per pallet-day off the custody ledger, so no pallet-day is ever charged twice. Customers see their own goods in their portal, and nobody else’s, and invoices go to Fortnox or Visma eAccounting. The warehouse page shows the rest, and pricing shows what it costs.