Your competitors who outsource are already ahead. Here’s why.
The real cost of handling supply chain labor in-house is almost always higher than it looks — and slower than you need.
Every company reaches a point where demand outpaces what the current team can handle. The instinct is to hire — add headcount, absorb the cost, and scale the operation. It feels like the responsible answer.
But hiring is slower, more expensive, and riskier than most companies account for when they’re staring down a deadline or a product recall or a holiday season that starts in six weeks.
Outsourcing to FRS isn’t a compromise. It’s a strategic decision that gives you access to a fully equipped facility, a skilled full-time labor force, specialized equipment, and decade-long industry expertise — without adding a single person to your payroll or a single square foot to your lease.
The case for outsourcing to FRS goes beyond the numbers — but the numbers are compelling.
The true cost of an employee isn’t their salary. It’s their salary plus benefits, plus recruiting, plus training, plus turnover, plus the equipment they need, plus the space they occupy, plus the management time they require. Stack those costs against a fluctuating workload and the math gets uncomfortable fast.
The pages in this section break down exactly what those costs look like — what it costs to hire an employee, what it costs to keep one, and what it costs when you lose one. The figures may surprise you.
But cost is only part of the story.
Beyond the financial argument, outsourcing to FRS gives your company something that money alone doesn’t capture — capability you couldn’t justify building yourself.
Eight commercial ticket printers with RFID capability. Twelve commercial sewing machines. Five concurrent production lines. EDI integration. A full-time labor force with years of institutional knowledge across apparel, appliances, electronics, toys, and more. A facility ready to receive your raw materials today and ship retail-ready product on your deadline.
Building that infrastructure in-house would take years and cost millions. Outsourcing to FRS means you have it available the moment you need it — and only pay for what you use.
Outsourcing to FRS makes sense when:
- Demand spikes seasonally and hiring full-time staff isn’t justified
- A product crisis requires immediate mobilization without disrupting your core team
- A specialized processing job requires equipment or expertise you don’t have in-house
- Your distribution center floor space is too valuable to use for processing and prep work
- A retailer’s compliance requirements are adding complexity your team isn’t equipped to handle
- You need the flexibility to scale up fast and scale back without the cost of layoffs
The bottom line.
Fixed costs are the enemy of flexibility. Every full-time employee, every piece of owned equipment, every square foot of dedicated processing space is a cost you carry whether demand justifies it or not.
FRS converts those fixed costs into variable ones. You get world-class supply chain processing capability when you need it, at the scale you need it, without the overhead you don’t.
The question isn’t whether you can afford to outsource to FRS. It’s whether you can afford not to.