There are three basic issues in dealing with 3PL providers, control, compensation, and expertise. Control refers to the ability to make the cotractor (we may refer to 3PL providers as contractors in this chapter) behave as if they were within the company. It should never be assumed that a contractor is going to behave exactly as the principal (the company hiring the contractor) would wish. Compensation refers to the amount and manner in which the contractor is paid. Some may be paid on commission, while others are paid an amount regardless of performance. Ideally all contractor would be paid on performance, but when this is difficult, costly or impossible to measure, other forms of payment would be required.