Capitol Warehousing

10/27/2026

When do I actually pay the import duties?

This is the question that matters most to your finance team.

Outside an FTZ, duties are due when the container clears Customs at the port. Full value, all at once, before the product has earned you a dollar.

Inside our FTZ at Belvidere, duties are deferred for as long as your inventory stays in the warehouse. You pay the tariff on each item as it's pulled and shipped out, not on the whole container up front.

So instead of one large payment at import, you make smaller payments spread across the time you actually sell through the inventory. Cash stays in your business longer, and duty spending tracks real demand.

For anyone managing working capital against long lead times, that timing shift can be significant.

If your duty payments followed your sales instead of your shipments, what would that free up?

10/23/2026

What is a Foreign Trade Zone, exactly?

We get this question a lot, so we're kicking off a short series on the Foreign Trade Zone program at our Belvidere, IL facility.

A Foreign Trade Zone is a location that's physically inside the United States but treated as outside U.S. Customs territory. The program is a partnership between the U.S. government and private companies, and each approved site is specially designated.

Here's the practical part: when imported cargo arrives for an FTZ operator, it doesn't clear Customs at the port of entry. It moves into the zone with duties deferred, reduced, or in some cases eliminated. That changes when you pay, how much cash you tie up, and how you manage imported inventory.

Capitol Warehousing operates within FTZ #176 in Belvidere, the first facility in the Rockford-Belvidere region to offer these services through a 3PL.

What's the first thing you'd want to know about FTZ before considering it? Drop it below and we may work it into the series.

10/21/2026

Only 6% of warehouses are highly automated. More than 60% are still fully manual. Where does that leave the rest of us?

Inbound Logistics just published a deep dive on the "connected warehouse," and the numbers frame the moment well. Per a Kardex survey, most warehouses still run on people picking, packing, and sorting by hand, though Gartner expects about 80% of facilities to deploy some form of automation by 2028.

The article walks through what's coming: robot fleets logging billions of picks, autonomous forklifts that can be virtually commissioned in days instead of months, AI-guided trucks that "see" a pallet and adjust in real time. Impressive stuff. But two points stood out to us more than any single gadget:

First, the biggest hurdle isn't budget. According to Interact Analysis, it's integration complexity. Getting three or four systems to actually talk to each other is harder than buying any one of them.

Second, the "Moving Past the Hype" section is refreshingly honest. Autonomous forklifts can run into the six figures. Single-shift operations may struggle to justify the spend. And as one executive put it, there's plenty of automation out there, but not much that survives contact with a real warehouse floor with congestion and damaged pallets.

Our takeaway: the connected warehouse starts with connected information, not connected robots. That's the role our RAMP Warehouse Management System plays for our customers. Barcoded pallet IDs on every inbound load, system-generated receipts and VICS Bills of Lading, and a 24/7 portal so you always know what's on hand across our Wisconsin and Illinois facilities. The visibility layer the article describes as "the foundation" is already in place. 🔗

For the operators reading this: if you've invested in automation, was the technology or the integration the harder part?

Full article from Inbound Logistics: https://bit.ly/4iSrC9u

Discover how connecting WMS, IoT, ERP, and robotics transforms warehouse operations with real-time data visibility, boosting supply chain speed and accuracy.

10/19/2026

Step Inside Menasha’s Supply Chain Advantage

Take a walkthrough of our 800 Midway Road facility in Menasha, WI, and see how we’re powering smarter, faster distribution across the Fox Valley and Northeast Wisconsin.

With expansive warehousing space, direct CN rail access, and seamless truck connectivity, this site is designed to keep freight moving efficiently—backed by the expertise of the Valley Express Family of Companies.

▶️ Hit play to explore the space and imagine what your supply chain could look like with Capitol Warehousing as your 3PL partner.

10/15/2026

A new piece in Inbound Logistics makes a point worth sitting with: when warehouse leaders want more throughput, they usually look at labor first. But the process itself is often the bigger constraint. Every time an operator stops to verify a location or backtracks after a mis-pick, it costs a few seconds. Multiply that across thousands of picks a day and it adds up fast.

Turnover makes it worse. New hires need time to learn the layout, and during the busiest weeks your experienced people end up training instead of picking. Then the returns wave hits, and the whole operation has to pivot from shipping outbound to inspecting, sorting, and routing inbound product.

The article's advice is refreshingly practical: you don't need a massive automation project. Fix one bottleneck at a time, and lean on tools that give operators the right information at the right moment so the job gets done correctly the first time.

That's the philosophy behind how we run fulfillment at Capitol Warehousing. Our RAMP Warehouse Management System uses barcode scanning at every step, so pallet IDs and locations are verified by the system, not by memory. It's a big reason we can process 1,000+ LTL and small parcel orders a day while handling labeling, repackaging, and returns processing with the same team. When volume spikes or return cycles hit, the process holds up because the process was built to hold up. 📦

Curious to hear from other operators: what's the one bottleneck in your picking process you'd fix first if you could?

Full article from Inbound Logistics: https://bit.ly/4js4Mpd

Streamline your fulfillment operations under pressure. Learn proven strategies to optimize warehouse picking efficiency, manage high return volumes, and keep orders moving during peak peak season demand.

10/13/2026

Where's my inventory right now?

If you have to email your warehouse to get that answer, you don't have visibility. You have a request queue.

At Capitol Warehousing, every pallet that comes through our doors is tracked in RAMP, our warehouse management system. Here's what that means on your side of the screen:

📊 24/7 online portal access, so you can check inventory levels, inbound receipts, and outbound shipments whenever you need to, without waiting on a callback
🏷️ Pallet-level tracking. We use your pallet IDs if you have them, or apply our own barcoded IDs so nothing moves without a scan
📥 A receipt generated and sent to you every time product is received
📤 A VICS Bill of Lading generated for every outbound shipment, ready for the carrier at pickup
🔍 Barcode scanning at every step, so what the system says matches what's on the floor

Good warehousing isn't just about square footage. It's about knowing exactly what's in that space, where it is, and what's moving today.

How much time does your team spend each week chasing inventory answers from vendors? Would getting that back change how you plan?

10/09/2026

Menasha, WI: Where Logistics Meets Opportunity

At Capitol Warehousing, our 800 Midway Road facility in Menasha, WI is built to deliver efficiency, capacity, and flexibility for growing supply chains.

Key Highlights:
🔹 550,000 sq. ft. of modern warehousing space
🔹 Direct Canadian National (CN) rail service for cross-border efficiency
🔹 15 truck docks + 3 grade-level docks for fast, reliable throughput
🔹 Flexible ceiling heights from 15’ to 30’
🔹 Full sprinkler coverage for safety and compliance

Strategically positioned in the heart of the Fox Valley, this facility gives shippers easy access to Northeast Wisconsin and beyond—helping you optimize distribution, cut transit times, and scale with confidence.

Backed by the strength of the Valley Express Family of Companies, we provide the space, expertise, and technology to keep your supply chain moving forward.

📦 Let’s talk about how Menasha can power your logistics strategy.

10/07/2026

Nine tariff deadlines between now and December. Is your inventory positioned for each one, or just for the next one?

A new Q4 import calendar from FreightFigures lays out every hard trade date through early December: the Section 232 pharmaceutical tariff expanding to all remaining importers, new bans on certain Canadian goods, the expiration of the last 178 Section 301 China exclusions on November 9, and new Section 232 duties on polysilicon and solar products on December 4.

The article's sharpest point is about timing. For inventory sitting in bond or in an FTZ, each deadline "runs" in a direction. Ahead of a rate increase, it can pay to pull goods out before the date. Ahead of a possible rate cut, it can pay to wait. The authors recommend a steady weekly withdrawal cadence, pulling exposed SKUs as they sell rather than paying duty on the entire inventory up front.

That's exactly how our Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ #176) in Belvidere, IL is designed to work. Instead of paying the full tariff on a container at the port, you pay duties as you pull product from our warehouse. Your cash stays working longer, and your team has more control when the rules change mid-quarter. It's especially valuable for importers dealing with Section 301 China tariffs or Section 232 steel and aluminum duties. You also get access without having to set up your own FTZ operation.

If you're an importer, which of these Q4 dates has the biggest impact on your inventory plan?

Full article from FreightFigures: https://bit.ly/3VcP7Ak

10/05/2026

Most companies think of an FTZ as a tariff tool. The bigger win is what it does for your cash flow.

Normally, when a container of imported goods reaches the U.S. port of entry, the full duty on the whole container is due at once, even though that product may sit on a shelf for months before it sells.

A Foreign Trade Zone changes that. At our Belvidere, IL facility, home to FTZ #176, imported inventory can sit in the warehouse with duties deferred. You pay only when you pull product out, in smaller amounts that follow how fast your inventory actually moves.

For companies facing Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, or Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum, that can take a lot of pressure off working capital.

You also don't need to set up and run your own FTZ. The benefits come through our warehousing services, backed by the same inventory tracking and 24/7 portal visibility our customers use every day. 📦

An FTZ may be worth a closer look if you:
✔️ Import a significant value of product, or expect imports to grow
✔️ Hold imported inventory for extended periods
✔️ Re-export a meaningful share of what you import

Importers: how are you managing the cash tied up in tariffs right now?

10/03/2026

Hairnets on, aprons tied, and a whole lot of Valley Express red in the room.

Last Thursday, team members from across the Valley Express Family of Companies rolled up their sleeves at Oshkosh Corporation's Feed the Body, Feed the Soul event, packing food staples that go directly to local food pantries and families facing food insecurity.

Every year, this event brings together more than 1,200 volunteers worldwide to pack over 250,000 pounds of food, with live music keeping the energy up the whole time. Locally, the food heads to neighbors in need through Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin.

A huge thank you to everyone who showed up and gave a few hours of their day. We move freight for a living, but this is the kind of work that reminds us why community matters. Proud to stand alongside Oshkosh Corporation and the other volunteers who made it happen.

Learn more about Feed the Body, Feed the Soul: https://bit.ly/4rDOdZG