Valence takes your co-packers, suppliers, inventory and freight off your desk, from the plant to the shelf. You see every order, pallet and truck, and nothing moves without your OK.
The co-packer pushes the run and you find out when the DC is already short.
02
Your 3PL, your co-packer and KeHE all have different numbers, and the buyer only trusts one.
03
A truck goes quiet and your buyer tells you first.
04
A chargeback lands and nobody has the paperwork to fight it.
Most small brands don't lose a retailer on taste. They lose it on a DC that ran dry during the review.
What we take on
Co-packers and suppliers
We confirm runs, chase ingredients and packaging, and tap our partner network when a supplier falls short. You hear about a slip before it turns into a rush truck or a stopped line.
Inventory across every partner
Counts from your co-packer, 3PL, distributors and Amazon, checked against what actually moved. One count you can trust, and transfers made before a DC runs out.
Freight to the shelf
LTL, truckload and refrigerated into KeHE, UNFI, Sprouts, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Aldi DCs. Appointments booked and retailer rules checked before pickup, with live tracking on every truck.
You see everything.You know what it costs.You decide. We recommend, you approve, we execute.
What changes
Stop paying retail fines.
Every retailer rule checked before pickup, and every BOL and POD filed, so the fines that do land can be fought.
Get your week back.
Forward us the PO. We book it, run it and tell you when it's on the shelf.
Freight that costs what it should.
Itemized quotes with accessorials up front, and nothing is booked until you approve it.
Never stop the line.
We see the slip before it costs you, and a person picks up any hour.
Every retailer grades your truck differently.
These are the rules we book against. We check them before pickup, not after the chargeback.
Retailer
What they measure
What a miss costs
Walmart
90% of cases inside the Must-Arrive-By window when you book the freight. 98% of cases ready at pickup when Walmart books it. 95% of cases in full. Counted case by case.
3% of the cost of goods on every late or short case, taken automatically.
Costco
Arrival at the booked appointment. Depots may wait about 30 minutes for a late truck, but it isn't guaranteed.
The truck is often turned away, the next slot is usually 24 to 48 hours out, and missed-appointment chargebacks land on you.
Kroger and Ralphs
On time and in full against the PO and the delivery window.
Deductions on your invoice for late and short deliveries.
Sprouts, Aldi and Trader Joe's
The appointment, plus the rules in your vendor agreement and routing guide. None of them publish a fine schedule.
Loads rejected at the dock, and a pattern of misses puts the account at risk.
Benchmark Walmart and Costco figures are from published supplier and carrier guides. Your own agreement with each retailer decides what applies to you, and we work from that.
Questions founders ask
What is OTIF?
On time, in full. It is the share of what you ship that arrives inside the retailer's window and complete. Walmart scores it case by case, so one short pallet can put a whole order out of compliance.
What does Walmart charge for a late or short delivery?
3% of the cost of goods on every case that misses. Walmart expects 90% of cases on time when you book the freight, 98% ready at pickup when Walmart books it, and 95% in full. The fine comes off automatically, so most brands only see it on the remittance.
What happens if my truck misses its Costco appointment?
Depots may wait about 30 minutes, but they don't have to. A late truck is often turned away, the next appointment is usually 24 to 48 hours out, and chargebacks for the missed appointment come back to you, whoever the carrier was.
Do Sprouts, Aldi and Trader Joe's fine for late deliveries?
They don't publish a fine schedule. Their rules sit in the paperwork you signed with them, and the cost of missing them is rejected loads and a buyer who starts to doubt you. On a small shelf, an empty slot shows.
How does Valence keep us inside the window?
We confirm your product is ready before we book the truck, book and protect the appointment, check the retailer's rules before pickup, and track every load live. When a fine lands anyway, the BOL and POD are already filed so you can fight it.
Food and beverage work
Five accounts our team ran before Valence, and the four jobs food and beverage brands bring us most, told the way we run them.
Brands our team has moved freight for
Anheuser-BuschBeerTendered freight into breweries, wholesalers and craft breweries2021 to 2026Read the case
AldiGroceryA backup carrier on Aldi's over-the-road bid, with contract and spot freight into its DCs2021 to 2025Read the case
FGF BrandsBakeryFresh bakery from Toronto into US grocery distribution centers180+ loadsRead the case
LabattBeerLanes won in a national bid, from US origins into Canadian breweriesNational bidRead the case
Canadian CanningPackagingCans and packaging from US mills to Hamilton, Ontario215 spot requestsRead the case
Jobs we take on most
How we run it Functional beverage · Founder-run · One co-packer, several 3PLs
The founders are the logistics team.
Before
Every shipment from the co-packer to the 3PLs is a string of emails, texts and calls. Trucks show up to product that isn't ready, the dry-run fee lands on the invoice, and half-empty loads go out on order days.
What we change
We take the co-packer to 3PL shipments first. We confirm the ready date the day before every pickup, keep one thread per shipment, and ship on production days instead of order days so loads go out fuller.
Freight off the founders' week Target
No dry-run fees Target
What it leads toWeekly inventory counts across every 3PL, then co-packer scheduling for the next flavor launch.
How we run it Sparkling drink or snack · Growing brand · Distributor into a regional grocer
The co-packer slips 3 days before a category review.
Before
The distributor's main DC is carrying just enough cover into the grocer's annual review. Then the co-packer pushes a run, and the DC that matters goes short days before the buyer looks.
What we change
We're already running the truckloads from the co-packer to the distributor DCs and checking each DC's balance against what's in transit every morning. We flag the gap that day, move pallets from the secondary DC, and re-sequence pickups once the co-packer restarts.
Zero out-of-stock days through the review Target
The fix priced before you approve it Target
What it leads toA weekly days-of-cover report for every DC, the first thing your sales team reads on Monday.
How we run it Snacks · Growing brand · Walmart and Target regional DCs
Late-delivery fines budgeted like rent.
Before
Multi-stop LTL into the retailer DCs drifts outside the arrival window. Each extra stop costs time, and the fines come off the remittance every quarter.
What we change
We take over the DC lanes, set a fixed ship day for each DC so appointments repeat week to week, and build every pallet to the retailer's label and height rules. Where other brands we work with ship to the same DC on the same day, the truck can run straight there.
Every load inside the Must-Arrive-By window Target
Fines off the remittance Target
What it leads toPallet specs and appointment scheduling for the next retailer you launch.
How we run it Condiments and sauces · Growing brand · One core lane
The core lane rides the spot market.
Before
Your busiest lane is priced fresh every week. Rates swing with the season, and in peak months tenders get rejected right when you need trucks most.
What we change
We start on outbound finished goods and map the lane. When a packaging supplier near your destination ships back toward your plant, we put one carrier on both legs at a fixed round-trip rate.
A fixed rate on your core lane Target
No rejected tenders in peak season Target
What it leads toInbound scheduling for all your packaging suppliers.
Labels The brands above are accounts our team ran before Valence. How we run it is the way we handle that job for a team like yours, with what it's built to deliver. Those aren't results from a named client.
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