Glossary
Look up any term used on LiteLocker. Each entry explains it and links to where it appears.
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- 3PL
- Third-party logistics. A company that stores, packs and ships goods for other businesses. Many pallet-space providers are 3PLs.
- Warehouse operations
A
- Access hours
- The times when you can enter the facility. Some providers allow access around the clock, and others only during office hours.
- Access, insurance and rules
- Admin fee
- A one-time charge that some providers add when you open a lease, on top of the monthly rent.
- Leases and prices
B
- Barcode
- A printed pattern of lines or squares that a scanner reads to identify a product, a shelf or a pallet.
- Equipment and software
C
- Clear height
- The usable height of a warehouse or a unit, measured up to the lowest beam, light or sprinkler pipe. It decides how high you can stack pallets or fit racking.
- Space and size
- Climate control
- Heating, cooling or dehumidifying that keeps the temperature and humidity inside a unit within a set range. It protects wood, leather, paper, electronics and artwork from warping and mould.
- Space and size
- Cross-docking
- Moving goods from an incoming truck straight to an outgoing truck, with little or no storage in between.
- Warehouse operations
- Cycle count
- Counting a small part of the stock on a regular schedule instead of closing the warehouse for one full count. It keeps the system's quantities close to what is on the shelves.
- Warehouse operations
D
- Deposit
- Money that you pay when you sign the lease and that the provider returns when you leave, minus any damage or unpaid rent.
- Leases and prices
- Drive-up access
- A unit with its own door on the outside of the building, so you can park next to it and load without a lift or a corridor.
- Space and size
F
- FIFO
- First in, first out. The oldest stock is shipped first, which matters for goods with a shelf life.
- Warehouse operations
- Floor load
- The weight that each square metre of a warehouse floor is built to carry. Heavy racking, full pallets and forklifts all need a floor with enough load capacity.
- Space and size
- Forklift
- A powered truck with forks that lifts pallets onto racking and loads trucks. Operators need training, and in many places a licence.
- Equipment and software
- Fulfilment
- Storing a seller's products and packing and shipping each order to the customer. A fulfilment provider is a 3PL that handles parcels.
- Warehouse operations
H
- Hazardous goods
- Items that can burn, explode, leak or poison, such as fuel, gas bottles, paint, solvents and chemicals. Most providers forbid them in a standard unit.
- Access, insurance and rules
I
- Insurance
- Cover for the goods in your unit against fire, theft or water damage. Many providers require it, and some sell it with the lease. Their own cover usually does not replace yours.
- Access, insurance and rules
- Inventory software
- Software that counts stock, tracks reorder levels and shows what is in each location. It is simpler than a WMS and suits a small stockroom.
- Equipment and software
L
- Label printer
- A printer for barcode, shelf and shipping labels. Thermal printers print with heat, so they need no ink.
- Equipment and software
- Lead time
- The time between your order or booking and the day the space is ready or the product arrives.
- Leases and prices
- Lease
- The agreement that states what you rent, the price, the minimum term, the notice period and the rules of use. Most storage providers ask you to sign a lease before you receive the key.
- Leases and prices
M
- Marketplace
- A booking or comparison platform that lists many storage facilities or products from different providers.
- Who provides it
- Minimum term
- The shortest period that you have to rent for, such as one month or three months. Leaving earlier can mean paying the rest of the term.
- Leases and prices
N
- Notice period
- The time that you have to give the provider before you move out, often one to four weeks. The rent runs until the notice period ends.
- Leases and prices
O
- One-off purchase
- A price that you pay once to own a product, such as a shelf, a safe or a scanner, with no monthly fee.
- Leases and prices
- Online booking
- Renting a unit or buying a plan through the provider's website, with the price shown and payment taken online, without a call or a visit.
- Leases and prices
P
- Pallet
- A flat platform that goods are stacked on so a forklift or a pallet jack can lift them. The Euro pallet measures 1200×800 mm, and the common North American pallet measures 48×40 inches.
- Storage products
- Pallet jack
- A hand-pulled or electric truck that lifts a pallet a few centimetres off the floor so you can move it.
- Equipment and software
- Pallet position
- The space for one pallet in a warehouse, on racking or on the floor. Shared warehouses rent space by the pallet position.
- Space and size
- Pallet racking
- Steel frames of uprights and beams that hold pallets on several levels. A forklift places each pallet on the beams and takes it out again.
- Storage products
- Per month
- The price for renting a unit or a plan for one month. It is the usual unit for self-storage, containers, lockers and software subscriptions.
- Leases and prices
- Per pallet per week
- The price of storing one pallet for one week. Shared warehouses use it, and they often add a handling fee when a pallet arrives or leaves.
- Leases and prices
- Per user per month
- The price of a software plan for one person for one month. A plan for ten people costs ten times the per-user price.
- Leases and prices
- Picking
- Collecting the products for a customer order from their storage locations. Warehouses pick by order, by batch or by zone.
- Warehouse operations
- Prohibited items
- The things that a provider does not allow in its units. The list usually covers hazardous goods, food, living animals, weapons and anything illegal.
- Access, insurance and rules
- Provider
- A storage facility operator, a storage product brand or shop, or a vendor of warehousing tools. Each provider on LiteLocker has its own page.
- Who provides it
- Put-away
- Moving received goods from the receiving dock to their storage location and recording where they went.
- Warehouse operations
Q
- Quote
- A price that the provider works out for your request and sends you, because the price depends on the space, the term or the services. Large warehouse space is usually priced by quote.
- Leases and prices
R
S
- Safe
- A locked steel box built to resist fire, theft or both. The seller states the lock type and the fire or burglary rating.
- Storage products
- Selective racking
- The most common kind of pallet racking. Every pallet can be reached directly from an aisle, so no pallet has to be moved to get at another one.
- Storage products
- Self-storage
- A storage facility where you rent a lockable unit by the month, fill it yourself and visit it when you like. The facility owns the building and you own what is inside.
- Space and size
- Shelving
- Freestanding frames with shelves for boxes and loose items, made of steel, plastic or wood. Each shelf has a load rating in kilograms or pounds.
- Storage products
- SKU
- Stock keeping unit. The code that identifies one product variant, such as a T-shirt in one size and one colour, in your inventory.
- Warehouse operations
- Slotting
- Choosing the best location for each product. Fast sellers go near the dock, and heavy items go low.
- Warehouse operations
- Square foot (sq ft)
- A unit of floor area, 12 by 12 inches. Storage units in the United States are sized and priced in square feet: a 5×5 ft unit is 25 sq ft, and a 10×10 ft unit is 100 sq ft.
- Space and size
- Square metre (m²)
- A unit of floor area, 1 by 1 metre, equal to about 10.8 sq ft. Warehouse space and storage units outside the United States are sized and priced per m².
- Space and size
- Storage cabinet
- A lockable cabinet for tools, supplies or chemicals. Cabinets for flammable liquids and chemicals are built to a safety rating.
- Storage products
- Storage unit
- A lockable room inside a self-storage facility, rented by the month. Units run from lockers of a few square feet to rooms the size of a garage.
- Space and size
W
- WMS
- Warehouse management software. It records where each product is, tells staff where to put away and pick goods, and keeps the stock count up to date.
- Equipment and software
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