1. Why Space Is the First Wall New Delivery Companies Hit
Many new delivery companies get a carrier contract and a start date, then discover that the contract expects them to bring their own place to receive, sort and load packages. That's where the trouble starts:
- Industrial space is hard to find in dense metros, and the sites that are available are often too big, too far from the routes or too expensive for one young company.
- Commercial leases usually run for years and often ask for deposits or a personal guarantee, a heavy commitment before the first package is delivered.
- Equipment is a second big purchase, and without it drivers end up sorting by hand. At stations we visited in Santa Monica, drivers arrived around 6:00 AM and left around 9:00 AM because of the morning sort.
- Sharing a floor informally gets messy. In Flushing, New York, we saw three or four delivery partners take turns on one shared sorting area every morning, with no clear rules for whose packages go where.
None of these companies needs a whole warehouse. They need a few reliable hours of sorting capacity, a clean place to stage their routes and a setup they can trust.
2. Who This Is For, and Who It Isn't
Good fit
- New delivery companies whose carrier or shipper contract requires their own sorting or staging site
- Contractors for regional and e-commerce carriers, couriers and same-day delivery companies
- Existing delivery companies opening a new service area
- Carrier headquarters that lease stations for their contractors
Not a fit
- Delivery partners who work only out of a carrier-operated station, such as an Amazon delivery station, where the carrier sets the package flow
- Operations whose packages already arrive route-sorted
- Anyone whose carrier agreement doesn't allow a third-party site. Check yours first
3. Three Ways to Work With SortLease
A · Join a shared hub
Use an existing SortLease site alongside other delivery companies. You get your own sorting window or lanes and your own staging area, and pay only for your parcels.
Best for: new companies that want to start fast.
B · A site we secure for you
Tell us where your routes are. SortLease finds and leases a suitable site, designs and installs the sorting system, and runs it. You don't sign the lease or buy the equipment.
Best for: companies with steady volume in one area.
C · Carrier network partnership
For carrier headquarters: SortLease sets up and runs sorting sites for your contractors in the metros you choose, so new contractors start on a working site instead of an empty one.
Best for: carriers growing their contractor network.
In every option, SortLease handles design, installation, operation, maintenance and upgrades. Each system is built for the site: lines stacked vertically when floor space is tight, or laid out flat when it isn't. Each sorting line handles up to 3,600 parcels an hour, and lines are added as volume grows. Size a setup for your volume.
4. "Will My Packages Be Mixed With Another Company's?"
This is the first question every delivery company and every carrier asks, and the answer is no. Separation is designed in from the start and written into the agreement:
Separate time windows
Each company sorts in its own window. One company's packages are cleared before the next company's arrive.
Dedicated lanes and staging
Where companies run at the same time, each gets its own lanes, labeled staging zones and, if required, a caged or locked area.
Your own package records
Parcel counts and sort records are kept per company. Your counts drive your invoice, and your data isn't shared with other companies.
Custody and access in writing
Who handles your packages, who can enter your area, and who is responsible for what are agreed in writing before you start.
The sorter reads package labels and doesn't connect to carrier systems. Carrier-required scans stay with your drivers.
5. For Carrier Headquarters: A Network Partnership
Many carriers lease stations centrally and hand them to contractors. Working with SortLease can take that load off headquarters:
- Faster contractor onboarding. New contractors start on a site that is already sorting, not an empty building.
- No capital tied up in equipment. Sorting is paid per parcel, so cost follows volume.
- Consistent sort quality across sites. The same system and process in every metro you choose.
- Flexible capacity for peak. Add lines or extend windows for peak season instead of opening temporary sites.
- Better site placement. We plan site locations with you around where your parcels actually go, to cut the distance between sort and first stop.
- Your freight stays yours. Dedicated windows, lanes and records, as described above, whether a site serves one carrier or several.
6. How to Get Started, Step by Step
Check your carrier agreement
Confirm you are allowed, or required, to use your own or a third-party sorting site.
Tell us where and how much
Your service area or ZIP codes, packages per day, number of routes and the hours you need to sort.
We propose a site and setup
A shared hub nearby, or a site we secure for you, with a layout sized to your volume.
Agree terms in writing
Price, sorting window, separation, custody and insurance, all before anything starts.
Start with a 30-day pilot
Measure driver sorting time and departures, then continue, change or stop.
7. What It Costs
Sorting is billed per parcel, starting from $0.10 per package, with no equipment to buy. When SortLease also provides the space, the space and sorting are quoted together for that site, because rent and setup vary a lot from one metro to the next. You get one written quote before you commit.
To see whether it pays for you, compare it with what the morning sort costs you today: (drivers × sorting minutes ÷ 60 × hourly wage) ÷ packages per day. The driver sorting cost calculator does the math with your own numbers.
Honest limits: a site depends on finding suitable space in your area, and some carrier agreements don't allow third-party sites. We confirm both before anyone signs anything.