Companies outsource all or much of their logistics operations to a specialized company that is a third party or a Third Party Logistics provider. The term 3PL was the acronym used to describe tripartite transportation and logistics service agreements made between a shipper, a carrier and a third party logistics service provider. The 3PL definition has expanded to the point where every company that offers some kind of logistics service for hire calls itself a 3PL. These services are integrated or bundled together and include transportation, warehousing, cross-docking, inventory management, packaging and freight forwarding. In 2008, legislation passed declaring that the legal definition of a 3PL is “a person who solely receives and holds or otherwise transports a consumer product in the ordinary course of business but who does not take title to the product”.