Operator glossary
First-leg freight
The origin-to-FBA move and its three-speed menu — express in days, fast boat in three weeks, slow boat in five — where every Q4 plan and every stockout postmortem begins.
The first leg is the cross-border stretch: express courier (DHL/UPS-class, roughly 5–10 days door to door), air freight plus US trucking (8–15 days), expedited ocean (fast boats, ~18–25 days all-in), and standard ocean (~30–40 days). Cost per kg falls an order of magnitude down the menu; predictability falls with it in peak season.
Operating doctrine: match mode to margin and moment — express for launch samples and stockout rescues, fast boat for the replenishment backbone, slow boat for predictable base demand bought well ahead. The blend is the skill: a launch might fly 20% of the buy to start selling while 80% sails, and Q4 planning (see our inbound back-planner) is mostly choosing which mode's calendar you are living on.
The numbers
- The menu: express ~5–10d, air+truck ~8–15d, fast boat ~18–25d, standard ocean ~30–40d door-to-door.
- Blend modes: fly a slice to start selling, sail the bulk; the mode's calendar is your planning calendar.
Related terms