Special Cargo
Per-crate sale value increases dramatically with warehouse fill level — small and medium warehouses sell at a steep discount per crate relative to a full large. The table below shows why running anything other than large warehouses is a structural disadvantage, and why the mode you sell in matters less than the warehouse you're selling from.
| Warehouse (max crates) | Max Crates | Per-Crate Value | Gross Sale | Sourcing Cost | Net Income | Sell Vehicles | Active Time | Passive Fill | $/Active Hr | $/Passive Hr |
|---|
All three sourcing methods fill the same large warehouse to 111 crates and produce the same sell. The difference is how much of your time it costs — and whether that time is active (you must be present and doing something) or passive (the clock runs while you do other things). Normal weeks favour passive staff sourcing. During a 2× event week, speed is money: active sourcing fills a warehouse in several hours versus days or weeks for staff, which may be the difference between one sell and two during the bonus window.
| Metric | Active Sourcing | Staff (No GTA+) | Staff (GTA+) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per crate | $6,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 |
| Total sourcing cost (111 crates) | ($666,000) | ($555,000) | ($555,000) |
| Net income (crew + HDB sell) | $2,664,000 | $2,775,000 | $2,775,000 |
| Time & Efficiency | |||
| Active time to fill | ~185 min | ~148 min | ~5 min |
| Passive fill time | — | 3,552 min | 3,552 min |
| Total active time (fill + sell) | 215 min | ~178 min | ~35 min |
| $/active hour | $743,721 | $935,393 | $4,757,143 |
| $/passive hour | — | $46,911 | $46,911 |
| During a 2× Event Week — Speed Is Money | |||
| Net income (2× + crew + HDB) | $5,994,000 | $6,105,000 | $6,105,000 |
| $/active hour (2×) | $1,672,093 | $2,057,303 | $10,465,714 |
| Warehouse / Reference Point | Crates | Per-Crate Value | Gross (No HDB) | Gross (+ HDB) | vs. Full Large |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small warehouse maximum | 16 | $15,000 | $240,000 | $360,000 | (89%) |
| Medium warehouse maximum | 42 | $17,500 | $735,000 | $1,102,500 | (67%) |
| Raid threshold (large warehouse) | 77 | $18,500 | $1,424,500 | $2,136,750 | (36%) |
| Holding 1–11 special items Realistic ceiling if hoarding for 2× |
100–110 | $19,500 | $1,950,000–$2,145,000 | $2,925,000–$3,217,500 | (12%)–(3%) |
| Large warehouse maximum | 111 | $20,000 | $2,220,000 | $3,330,000 | Baseline |
Special Items are rare cargo sourced by staff (~1% chance per dispatch) and sold separately from regular crates via your laptop — one vehicle, no HDB, up to $150K each. The instinct is to hold them for a 2× event week and double the payout to $300K. But holding a special item means your warehouse fills to a maximum of 110 regular crates instead of 111, dropping per-crate value from $20,000 to $19,500 — costing $75,000 per sell cycle for that first displaced crate.
Items two through eleven each cost $19,500 per cycle to hold (already below 111, already at the $19,500 tier). The math barely rescues the strategy even then: you are betting a near-certain $19,500–$75,000 per cycle against an uncertain $150K upside that arrives roughly once a year. If you sell once a month while holding, opportunity cost accumulates well in excess of the 2× premium before the event arrives.
Don't hold special items for 2× weeks. Sell them when they appear. Each is a one-vehicle solo sale with no HDB — roughly 10 minutes for $150K. At $900K/active hour it's a reasonable filler activity, not a scheduling priority. There is no reason to wait.
Keep your warehouse at 111 crates. Every slot displaced by a hoarded special item costs $19,500–$75,000 per sell cycle in reduced per-crate value. The 2× upside does not compensate for the compounding cost. Sell promptly, fill to 111, move on.
Staff source passively. Sell whenever full. Repeat. With GTA+, dispatch from your phone every 48 minutes and show up for a 30-minute crew sell whenever your warehouses are full — the cadence adapts to however much you play. Without GTA+, visit your warehouses when you can; expect roughly one sell per warehouse per month of casual play. Either way: sell at 111 crates, don't wait for a 2× event. The opportunity cost of hoarding dwarfs the upside by a factor most players underestimate — you could be cycling through ten or more sells in the time you spend waiting for a bonus that arrives once a year.
The moment a 2× event goes live, switch to active sourcing missions immediately. Fill your warehouses as fast as possible, then sell. A full large warehouse takes roughly 37 missions at ~5 minutes each — several hours of active play. Across 5 warehouses this is a serious time commitment, but the 2× multiplier on top of HDB makes it the single highest-earning activity in GTA Online for that window.
Active sourcing outside of 2× weeks is not recommended. It costs more per crate than staff, and there are better things to do with your active time. Staff sourcing handles the normal week. Active sourcing exists for the event week.
A full large warehouse spawns 3 sell vehicles. Bring 2 associates. Solo in a public lobby, you are the session's most conspicuous target for the entire sell window. Upgrade everything at the workbench: armor, bulletproof tires, jammer, boat speed where applicable (~$1.25M total). Non-negotiable for public lobby sells. Solo + invite only is always the safe fallback — same 30 minutes, same sourcing cost, no HDB.
Large warehouses become raid-eligible at 78+ crates after 5–10 hours of inactivity. A mansion with the security upgrade prevents raids on your CEO warehouses entirely. If you don't yet have raid protection, consider switching to active sourcing once you hit 77 crates — filling quickly and selling before the raid timer fires is cheaper than losing stock. There is also a ghost raid bug that can trigger in invite-only sessions on return from a hosted mission; the mansion is your only reliable insurance against both.
Five large warehouses in the southern part of Los Santos. Proximity to the port and LSIA minimises sell vehicle travel time to delivery points. Cluster your five warehouses to reduce dispatch visit time if you don't have GTA+. Fewer than five warehouses is leaving passive infrastructure idle — each warehouse fills and sells independently, and your active sell time per unit is fixed regardless of how many you own. More warehouses, same time per sell, more net per session.
Per-crate values by milestone: 1 crate = $10,000; 16 crates (small max) = $15,000; 42 crates (medium max) = $17,500; 77 crates (large raid threshold) = $18,500; 100–110 crates = $19,500; 111 crates (large max) = $20,000. Staff dispatch: $7,500 per dispatch, 60/30/10% probability for 1/2/3 crates = 1.50 average. Active sourcing: $18,000 per run, 3 crates, ~5 min. Sell vehicles: small and medium = 2 vehicles, large = 3 vehicles. Crew sell time includes reciprocity — small: 10 min sell + 10 min reciprocity = 20 min; medium: 10 min sell + 20 min reciprocity = 30 min; large: 10 min sell + 20 min reciprocity = 30 min. Solo: flat 30 min, no reciprocity. HDB: +50% in public session. 2× event frequency: approximately once per year for all players. Raid window: 5–10 hours after crossing 78 crates. Mansion security upgrade confirmed to prevent raids on CEO warehouses. Special item sale: ~$150K, one vehicle, ~10 min, no HDB.