Highlights
- Why speed to shelf is critical for prep centers and how traditional freight creates costly delays
- How going from one truckload every few weeks to five per week changed everything for this growing business
- How Amazon Supply Chain Services let FBAPrep4u scale without adding freight complexity
When Amanda Dixon started prepping Amazon inventory on her back porch and driving boxes to delivery locations in her car, she wasn’t imagining a future that involved multiple full truckloads (FTL) per week. But that’s exactly where FBAPrep4u is today.
It’s a 36,000-square-foot warehouse operation booking two to five FTLs through Amazon Supply Chain Services’ freight offering every week. The journey from porch to powerhouse required grit and a freight solution that could keep pace with explosive growth.
The challenge
A prep center born from pandemic uncertainty
Dixon’s Amazon story began as a baby goods private label. After selling that brand and transitioning to wholesale, she was prepping products in her house and hauling small parcel boxes to delivery centers daily.
Then, a connection in Canada changed everything. “He asked if I could prep items for him since I was in the U.S. and already prepping my own products,” Dixon recalls. “That conversation spawned the prep center idea.”
She incorporated FBAPrep4u in 2020 and, a few years later, rented her first commercial space: a single-car-garage-sized unit with forklift access for loading trailers. The business exploded through 2022, eventually spanning 13 individual units at that facility before graduating to a 24,000-square-foot warehouse.
The solution
Growth and a faster way to ship
That 2022 move coincided with a discovery that would reshape the business: Amazon’s FTL service. “The same-day pickup and delivery with live unload and full receiving within 48 hours was amazing,” Dixon says. “The cost-per-pallet was much less than LTL, and the speed to shelf was unmatched.”
When Dixon compares Amazon to the alternatives, the gap isn’t subtle. “If you think about other freight providers, it can be weeks or months, a black hole,” she says. “We can’t afford that with our customers. Once it’s delivered through Amazon, it’s fully received and up for sale.”
The Amazon freight portal reinforces that speed with simplicity. “Once you have your information entered, it’s set it and forget it,” she says. “You don’t have to deal with the address because it’s all in the same system. I really like that the system calculates the freight class. The fact you can compare LTL and FTL options is a game changer.” She also values the GPS tracking: “There is a systemized way to know where your stuff is.”
And when something does need human attention, Dixon says the support team delivers. “You can call if you want more info, and an actual person picks up the phone. They’ve helped with shipments stuck in the system.”
The result
Scaling without limits
FBAPrep4u now operates out of 36,000 square feet and is installing more pallet racks to better utilize vertical space. Dixon has plans to eventually own her own building.
“We wouldn’t be able to have these massive customers without reliable truckloads,” Dixon says.
The numbers tell the story: FBAPrep4u went from sending one FTL every few weeks to booking two to five per week. What Amazon provides, at its core, is predictability and reassurance, taking the uncertainty out of a process where uncertainty costs real money.
“Business is booming,” Dixon says, “and part of our success is from Amazon.”
Get started
If you want the same experience as FBAPrep4u and the ability to tap into Amazon’s more than 80,000 trailers and advanced technology, create an account to start quoting loads immediately.
