In this article you will find:
- FedEx Fulfillment vs Fulfillment Hub: Key Differences at a Glance
- What Was FedEx Fulfillment and Why Did It Close?
- Fulfillment Hub USA: The Model and What It Actually Offers
- Cost Structure: What Fulfillment Hub USA Charges
- Warehouse Network and Geographic Coverage
- Technology and Integrations
- Delivery Speed and SLAs
- When Does Fulfillment Hub USA Make Sense? When Doesn't It?
- Why Neither Operates in Mexico
- How Cubbo Solves What Neither Can
- Frequently Asked Questions
When an ecommerce brand starts researching third-party fulfillment options, the names that show up most often tend to be the ones most visible in the English-speaking market. FedEx Fulfillment and Fulfillment Hub USA are two of them, but comparing them requires understanding what each one actually is and which market it was built for.
FedEx Fulfillment shut down in 2022. It's no longer a live option. Fulfillment Hub USA, on the other hand, is an active 3PL with warehouses across several US cities and Europe, publicly listed pricing, and a model designed for the North American and European markets.
For a brand operating in Mexico, the conclusion is the same in both cases: neither has operational presence in the Mexican market. This article explains what each offered, how they differ, and why the relevant comparison for a Mexico-based ecommerce brand is a different one.
FedEx Fulfillment vs Fulfillment Hub: Key Differences at a Glance
What the table doesn't capture: the real operational impact of neither provider having any presence in the market where a Mexican brand's customers actually are.
What Was FedEx Fulfillment and Why Did It Close?
FedEx Fulfillment was the 3PL fulfillment service FedEx launched in 2017. The logic was reasonable: a carrier with its own warehouse network, transportation infrastructure, and tracking technology should be able to extend that network to offer storage, picking, and packing for ecommerce brands.
The problem was that ecommerce fulfillment isn't the same business as package transport. It requires a specialized WMS, warehouse processes oriented toward preparing individual orders, and a different customer service model from what a carrier runs. FedEx had the advantage in the last mile, not in inventory management.
In 2022, FedEx announced the closure of FedEx Fulfillment and began redirecting customers to third-party providers. Brands that had operated with that service had to migrate, many to independent tech-first 3PLs like Fulfillment Hub USA or ShipBob. To understand FedEx's current rates as a carrier in the Mexican market, the article DHL vs FedEx for Ecommerce in Mexico covers the comparison with operational data.
Fulfillment Hub USA: The Model and What It Actually Offers
Fulfillment Hub USA (FHU) is an independent 3PL headquartered in the United States. It operates its own warehouses in several American cities, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Houston, New Jersey, Portland, plus facilities in Poland, Hungary, and India.
Its standout differentiator compared to FedEx Fulfillment: published, transparent pricing with no enterprise contract requirement. Any brand can go to FHU's website and calculate estimated storage costs, pick fees, and receiving charges before talking to a sales rep. In a sector where pricing opacity is the norm, that's a genuine advantage when comparing options.
What FHU offers in its standard service:
- B2C and B2B fulfillment: FHU processes both direct-to-consumer orders and replenishment orders to distributors or retailers. For brands selling across multiple channels including physical retail, that capability matters.
- Kitting and customization: FHU offers kitting, custom packaging, inserts, and on-demand labeling. Brands with products requiring pre-shipment assembly, bundles, subscriptions, gift sets, can manage that layer inside FHU.
- Specialized storage: FHU facilities include FDA-certified storage for food and pet products, temperature-controlled environments (68°F/20°C and 40°F/4°C), freezer storage, and an alcohol license. For products with specific conservation requirements, this removes the need to contract a separate specialized warehouse.
- International shipping from the US: FHU handles customs documentation, air cargo, and ocean freight for international shipments from its US warehouses. This includes shipments to Mexico and LATAM, but as US exports, with the customs processing times and tariff costs that entails.
- Integrations with 40+ platforms: FHU's platform connects with Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Magento, and others. ShipHero WMS integration is included at no extra cost; custom API integrations carry a setup cost of $2,499 plus $99/month.
💡 #CubboTip, Fulfillment Hub USA is one of the few 3PLs that publishes its pricing openly. Use that transparency to your advantage: before any sales call, run your estimated cost through their online calculator. But don't forget to add the WMS subscription ($99/month), account management ($99/month), and per-PO receiving fee ($11.90 per purchase order), these are fixed charges that appear separately from the pick and storage prices.
Cost Structure: What Fulfillment Hub USA Charges
Unlike most 3PLs, FHU publishes its rates directly on its website. This allows for cost projections before any negotiation.
Pick & pack
Monthly storage
Temperature-controlled, freezer, or security storage applies multipliers on top of base prices (from +50% up to +350%).
Other relevant charges
- Receiving: $11.90 USD per PO (ASN fee) + $11.50 USD per pallet received
- Returns management: $4.00 USD per returned order, $1.85 USD per item
- Account management: $99 USD/month
- WMS (ShipHero): $99 USD/month includes one store; additional store $49 USD/month
- Kitting and repacking: $44 USD/hour (rush: $55 USD/hour)
- Custom API integration: $2,499 USD setup + $99 USD/month
⚡ #CubboHack, The real cost per order with FHU is: (monthly receiving ÷ orders) + (monthly storage ÷ orders) + pick fee + shipping + $198 USD fixed monthly cost (WMS + account management) ÷ orders. For an operation of 500 orders per month with one pallet of inventory, the $198 USD fixed monthly cost adds roughly $0.40 USD of overhead per order before you even touch the pick fee. Add everything up before comparing against any other provider.
Warehouse Network and Geographic Coverage
FedEx Fulfillment (2017–2022)
FedEx Fulfillment operated exclusively within FedEx's internal US warehouse network. Its only geographic advantage was direct access to FedEx's transportation infrastructure for the last mile. No warehouses outside the US, and no domestic delivery capability in Mexico.
Fulfillment Hub USA
FHU operates its own warehouses across:
- United States: Miami (FL), Los Angeles (CA), San Francisco (CA), Chicago (IL), Houston (TX), Hackensack (NJ), Portland (OR), Nashua (NH)
- Europe: Warsaw (Poland), Tatabánya and Budapest (Hungary)
- Asia: Bangalore (India)
Distributing warehouses across multiple US cities allows American brands to reduce average shipping zones and with them the cost and transit time of domestic deliveries. For a brand selling heavily on the East Coast or in the South, using the Miami or New Jersey warehouse has a direct impact on per-shipment cost.
The blind spot: Mexico and LATAM. FHU does not operate any warehouse in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, or any Latin American country. Shipments from its US warehouses to customers in Mexico involve customs clearance, tariffs, and transit times of 5–10 business days. That is not competitive against the 1–3 day delivery standard Mexican consumers expect today, according to AMVO ecommerce data.
Technology and Integrations
FedEx Fulfillment
FedEx Fulfillment's technology was built into FedEx's own systems, with a functional dashboard for inventory tracking and integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce. The constraint was the exclusive carrier lock-in: no ability to optimize the last mile with other operators.
Fulfillment Hub USA
FHU uses ShipHero as its warehouse management system, with integration included at no extra cost. Its ecommerce platform integrations cover 40+ channels: Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Magento, and others. Additional integrations via custom API carry a $2,499 USD setup fee.
Documented technology features:
- Real-time inventory management and order tracking
- Detailed performance reporting (sales, stock, shipments)
- Address validation before dispatch
- Receiving photos at inbound inventory intake
- Returns management with Q/A reporting
- Live shipping rates on Shopify ($49 USD/month add-on)
FHU's technology stack is solid and well-documented for the English-speaking market. What it doesn't solve: integration with the sales channels that matter in the Mexican market. Mercado Libre, Liverpool, Walmart Mexico, and TikTok Shop are not listed among FHU's standard integrations.
Delivery Speed and SLAs
Fulfillment Hub USA processes orders same-day for US domestic shipments. For international shipments from US warehouses to Mexico, timelines include export documentation, international transit, and Mexican customs clearance, making the 1–3 day delivery that Mexican consumers expect structurally impossible from this model.
When Does Fulfillment Hub USA Make Sense? When Doesn't It?
When FHU Makes Sense
- US-based brands selling primarily in the American market that want a 3PL with transparent pricing, no high volume minimums, and multiple warehouses to optimize shipping zones.
- Operations that need specialized storage: FDA-certified, temperature-controlled, freezer, or alcohol storage without contracting two separate providers.
- Brands with a kitting component or customization in the packing process, bundle assembly, subscription boxes, products with custom labeling.
- Ecommerce with 300 to 10,000 monthly orders that wants cost transparency and the ability to compare before signing.
- Brands that need European expansion and want a 3PL that already has warehouses in Poland or Hungary under the same operator.
When FHU Is Not the Answer
- Brands with customers in Mexico. No warehouses in the country, local carriers (Estafeta, J&T, 99Minutos, Redpack) are not integrated, and US-to-Mexico transit times are incompatible with Mexican consumer expectations.
- Operations on Mercado Libre, Liverpool, or Walmart MX. FHU does not have native integrations with the main Mexican marketplaces.
- Brands looking for same-day or next-day delivery in Mexico, that is impossible from a warehouse in Miami or Los Angeles.
- Operations with strong Mexican seasonality (Buen Fin, Hot Sale, Mother's Day) where delivery speed is a direct conversion factor.
Why Neither Operates in Mexico
Mexico's ecommerce market exceeded 856 billion pesos in 2024 with sustained double-digit growth. But both FedEx Fulfillment in its time and Fulfillment Hub USA today built their infrastructure for the US and European markets.
The concrete reasons:
Different logistics infrastructure. Carriers, delivery zones, transit times, and returns mechanisms in Mexico work differently from the US. Integrating Estafeta, J&T, 99Minutos, or Redpack requires contracts, systems, and processes that FHU has not built for LATAM.
Customs regulation. Shipping from a fulfillment center in Miami or Los Angeles to customers in Mexico is a US export and a Mexican import. That means tariffs, customs documentation, and transit times that make 1–3 day delivery, what Mexican ecommerce demands, structurally unachievable.
Local marketplaces without integration. Mercado Libre accounts for a significant share of Mexican ecommerce volume. A brand selling on Mercado Libre from a US-based 3PL cannot meet the processing and delivery SLAs the marketplace requires to maintain search ranking and seller reputation.
The practical result: a Mexican brand evaluating FHU is solving the wrong problem. To understand how local carriers in Mexico compare to each other, the article Segmail vs Buho Logistics analyzes the alternatives in the Mexican market.
How Cubbo Solves What Neither Can
What Fulfillment Hub USA does for the North American market, fulfillment with transparent pricing, multi-carrier operations, WMS technology, and a proprietary warehouse network, Cubbo does for Mexico and LATAM.
Cubbo is a fulfillment 3PL with centers in Mexico City. It stores your inventory in Mexico, prepares each order, and delivers it through the most efficient carrier for that specific route, weight, and moment. No customs crossing. No international transit times.
What sets Cubbo apart:
- 10+ carriers integrated and active in Mexico, including DHL, FedEx, Estafeta, J&T, 99Minutos, and others. For each order, the system automatically selects the optimal option based on destination, weight, and required SLA.
- 1.3-day average national delivery time. Not from the US, from Mexico City, with Mexican carriers, to customers in Mexico.
- Same-day delivery in Mexico City for orders placed before the cutoff. Next-day delivery in Guadalajara and Monterrey.
- Direct integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, VTEX, Mercado Libre, Amazon, TikTok Shop, Liverpool, and SHEIN. The channels where a Mexican brand actually sells.
- All-inclusive pricing without separate fixed fees. No monthly WMS subscription. No account management surcharge. The cost per order includes everything.
- Dedicated account manager included in the standard service. Not a $99/month add-on, it's part of the base.
- Cubbo Engage: automation of 85.3% of post-purchase customer inquiries via WhatsApp, without your team managing each message.
- Guaranteed capacity during peaks, Buen Fin, Hot Sale, holiday season, with no surcharges and no shipping label limits.
- 365-day operations, including national holidays.
- Volume-negotiated rates. Cubbo consolidates the volume of 500+ brands to access carrier conditions that a brand shipping 300–500 orders per month can't negotiate on its own.
If you want to know what your logistics operation would cost with Cubbo, calculated against your actual volume and carrier mix, the team can run that analysis before you make any decision. Talk to an expert.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is FedEx Fulfillment still operating?
No. FedEx Fulfillment discontinued its service in 2022. Brands that operated with that service were redirected to third-party providers. FedEx continues to operate as an active carrier for domestic and international shipments but no longer offers its own 3PL fulfillment services.
Does Fulfillment Hub USA operate in Mexico?
No. FHU has no warehouses in Mexico or any Latin American country. Its warehouses are in the US, Poland, Hungary, and India. It can ship from the US to Mexico as an international export, but that involves customs processing, tariffs, and 5–10 business day transit times, incompatible with local ecommerce standards.
How much does Fulfillment Hub USA charge per order?
FHU publishes its rates. For 0–500 orders/month, the base pick fee is $2.85 USD per order plus $0.70 USD per additional item. Storage starts at $34.50 USD/pallet or $3.00–$6.90 USD/bin depending on size. Add receiving ($11.90 USD/PO + $11.50 USD/pallet), WMS subscription ($99 USD/month), and account management ($99 USD/month). For an operation of 500 monthly orders with one pallet of inventory, the total cost including shipping can range from $15 to $25 USD per order depending on destination zone.
Does Fulfillment Hub USA integrate with Mercado Libre?
It's not documented as a standard integration. FHU lists 40+ integrations with English-speaking ecommerce platforms, but Mercado Libre, Liverpool, or Walmart Mexico don't appear among its published integrations. For brands selling on Mexican marketplaces, that's a critical operational gap.
What makes Cubbo different from Fulfillment Hub USA?
The core difference is geographic and operational. Cubbo has warehouses in Mexico and operates with local carriers (Estafeta, J&T, 99Minutos, among others), enabling 1.3-day average national delivery. FHU has no presence in Mexico. Operationally, Cubbo includes a dedicated account manager and native integrations with Mercado Libre, Amazon MX, TikTok Shop, and Liverpool, without separate WMS or account management fees.
How many monthly orders do I need for a 3PL to make economic sense?
Generally, at 300–500 monthly orders, the time your team spends preparing shipments, managing carriers, and controlling stock starts to outweigh the cost of outsourcing. For brands with strong seasonal peaks (Buen Fin, Hot Sale, Mother's Day), the threshold can be lower, not being able to scale during peak season translates directly to lost revenue and lower customer retention over time.
Is it worth comparing FedEx Fulfillment with Fulfillment Hub USA if FedEx no longer operates?
Yes, as a market reference. FedEx Fulfillment represents the carrier model that tried to enter 3PL and couldn't build enough differentiation. Fulfillment Hub USA represents the independent 3PL with transparent pricing that fills part of the gap FedEx left. The comparison helps clarify what characteristics actually matter when choosing a 3PL: cost transparency, carrier network, integration with your platforms, and above all, physical presence in the market where your customers are.
