In Temecula, California, Ideal Fulfillment is proving a better warehouse job is possible.

Founded in 2018 by Chris Barlog and Chris Page, the company emerged after the realization that third-party logistics providers weren’t getting it right. So Barlog and Page decided to build something better on their own.

Long-Term Thinking in the Face of Short-Term Pressures  

Prior to the company’s launch, Barlog worked as a propulsion-systems engineer, supporting test and flight operations for liquid-fuel rocket engines. On the side he and some friends launched an Amazon FBA retailer, but working with fulfillment centers was a mess.

“They didn’t have the software in place to handle it,” Barlog said. “Communication was rough. They would often lose our inventory, or the counts would be off, so we’d have to chase them down for that. I thought, This is ridiculous. We could do better.”

That frustration, combined with Page’s experience helping a family member with fulfillment, turned their side project into a full-time venture. They left their jobs to commit to Ideal Fulfillment. “Jeff Bezos quit his little warehouse company to focus on space,” Barlog nimbly posted in his LinkedIn bio. “I did the opposite.” 

A Different Kind of Warehouse Job

Warehouse labor is often associated with long hours, high turnover, and oppressive performance tracking. Ideal Fulfillment offers something different. Employees adhere to the standard 40-hour week, with optional overtime. There are no strict productivity quotas or constant surveillance.

“We’ve had a number of employees who actually left and went to Amazon,” Barlog said. “But they returned, because the hours and expectations are ridiculous. You have to hit metrics every day; otherwise, your job’s on the line. People appreciate the predictability here.”

The company’s team includes around 20 employees, with a core warehouse staff of 12. Most have been with Ideal Fulfillment for years, and the culture favors creative problem-solving and collaboration over top-down control.

The Retirement Benefit Nobody Asked For

Despite a stable team and positive environment, Barlog struggled to gain traction with retirement savings. “I’ve always been passionate about investing and retirement planning,” he said. “But when we offered a Simple IRA through Fidelity, only one person signed up.”

The process was a headache. Employees had to complete and snail-mail paper forms, while Barlog had to log in weekly to manage contributions. For a workforce that skews younger and prioritizes take-home pay, it just wasn’t clicking. Besides, nothing is more discouraging — no matter the age group — than going on a scavenger hunt for a postage stamp. 

To be fair, the admin burden was manageable with only one enrolled employee, but the experience spoke a bigger truth about wage earners’ inability to realistically plan for retirement.  

“If you’re making $20 an hour and living in Southern California, thinking about retirement can feel impossible,” he said. “Most people would rather take an extra dollar per hour than a long-term benefit.”

Finding a Better Fit

Things shifted when Barlog came across an ad on Instagram for Basic Capital. He’d just finished reading Lifecycle Investing, too, so the power of compound interest “was fresh in my mind,” he recalled.

“I’ve read a lot of books around the topic,” Barlog continued, “and the benefit of Basic Capital’s leverage has the potential to provide outsized returns, compared to other options. Plus, it just looked a lot more user-friendly for everybody. ” 

 Barlog and Page rolled out Basic Capital with a 3% employer match. An onboarding visit from the company’s CEO, Abdul Al-Assad, followed, and participation rose from one employee to six. One team member even committed 10% of his paycheck to the financing plan.

“It was good to just have a dedicated time where all the employees sat down and had an honest discussion about retirement savings,” Barlog said. “For a lot of them, that was literally the first time. That was the initial spark.”

A Long-Term Bet 

Barlog knows offering a retirement benefit (particularly a 3% match) adds costs to the business. But for him that’s not the point. “This is our team,” he said. “These are people we care about. I want them to be setting themselves up for success, you know?”

Ideal Fulfillment isn’t aiming to scale like Amazon or squeeze every single minute for efficiency. It’s trying to build a business that works for customers as much as the people running it.

“I’m definitely passionate about investing for the future,” he said, “and so it’s cool to help a few others get on that path.”