A full large warehouse sells for GTA$2,220,000, 111 crates at GTA$20,000 each, and it costs GTA$666,000 to fill if you source three crates at a time. That is GTA$1,554,000 of profit for about four to six hours of sourcing. Every other number you will read about this business is a variation on those three, so they are worth knowing before you spend GTA$2.9 million on the buy-in.
The crate table
Special Cargo pays more per crate as the load gets bigger, which is the single most important mechanic in the business and the one most people get wrong:
- Small warehouse, 16 crates: GTA$240,000 total, GTA$15,000 per crate
- Medium warehouse, 42 crates: GTA$735,000 total, GTA$17,500 per crate
- Large warehouse, 111 crates: GTA$2,220,000 total, GTA$20,000 per crate
Selling a half-full large warehouse does not pay half of GTA$2,220,000. It pays the lower per-crate rate on fewer crates, so you lose twice. If you own a large warehouse, fill it.
What sourcing costs, and why three crates at a time
Buy missions are launched from the SecuroServ terminal in your office and cost GTA$2,000 for one crate, GTA$8,000 for two or GTA$18,000 for three. Per crate that is GTA$2,000, GTA$4,000 and GTA$6,000, so buying three is the most expensive option on paper and it is still the right one. The mission takes roughly the same time whichever you pick, so the only currency that matters is minutes, and three crates per trip fills the warehouse in a third of the runs.
Filling 111 slots that way is 37 runs and GTA$666,000 in fees, against a GTA$2,220,000 sale. Net: GTA$1,554,000.
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The honest hourly rate, and why ours is lower
GTA$1,554,000 over four to six hours is roughly GTA$260,000 to GTA$390,000 per hour. That figure is arithmetic, not a measurement, and it assumes three-crate buys every time, short travel, no crates lost, and cooldowns absorbed by a second warehouse.
Our ranking publishes GTA$130,000 per hour for Special Cargo, which is roughly half that. The difference is deliberate. The higher number describes a warehouse played perfectly; the lower one describes a single warehouse played normally, with buy-mission cooldowns you cannot skip, flights out to Blaine County and back, and the occasional lost crate. We would rather rank a method below what a perfect run produces than above what a real session delivers, and our methodology explains the rule that leads to that choice.
The gap is itself the finding. Special Cargo is the business where the difference between playing it well and playing it badly is larger than a factor of two, which is not true of Cayo Perico or the Acid Lab.
What it costs to start
GTA$2,900,000 from zero at list prices: an Executive Office from the Dynasty 8 Executive site, cheapest at GTA$1,000,000, plus a large warehouse, cheapest at GTA$1,900,000. Small warehouses start at GTA$250,000 and medium at GTA$880,000, and both are traps if your goal is money: the per-crate rate is lower and you spend the same minutes sourcing.
The office is not a sunk cost either. It is the gate on the whole Executive career, so the same GTA$1,000,000 unlocks Vehicle Cargo and Special Vehicle Work alongside crates.
Is it worth buying?
If you already own an office: yes. The warehouse is the only real cost, it pays for itself in about two full sales, and a filled large warehouse is one of the few things in GTA Online you can bank across sessions and cash in when a bonus week lands.
If you are starting from zero: not first. GTA$2,900,000 is more than the Kosatka, and the Cayo Perico Heist out-earns crates per hour without a warehouse to keep stocked. Cluckin’ Bell Farm Raid costs nothing at all and pays more per hour than Special Cargo does. Build capital on those, then buy the warehouse as the thing you top up between heists rather than as your main earner.
The comparison that settles it for most players is simply the ranked list: our money statistics page puts every method side by side in net GTA$ per hour, and the heist rankings cover what to run while your crates sit in the warehouse waiting for a bonus week.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a full warehouse of Special Cargo sell for?+
GTA$240,000 for a full small warehouse (16 crates at GTA$15,000 each), GTA$735,000 for a full medium (42 crates at GTA$17,500), and GTA$2,220,000 for a full large (111 crates at GTA$20,000). The per-crate rate rises with the size of the load, which is why part-filling a large warehouse and selling early is the single most common way players lose money on this business.
How much does it cost to fill a large warehouse?+
GTA$666,000 if you buy in threes. Sourcing costs GTA$2,000 for one crate, GTA$8,000 for two and GTA$18,000 for three, so three at a time is GTA$6,000 per crate against GTA$2,000 for one at a time. Three-crate runs cost the most per crate and are still correct, because the mission takes about the same time whether it delivers one crate or three. Filling all 111 slots takes 37 three-crate runs, so GTA$2,220,000 in and GTA$666,000 out leaves GTA$1,554,000 of profit.
Is Special Cargo worth it in 2026?+
It is worth it if you already own a CEO office, and it is a slow buy from zero. The cheapest full entry is GTA$2,900,000: GTA$1,000,000 for the cheapest Executive Office plus GTA$1,900,000 for the cheapest large warehouse. At the sustained rate we publish that is over twenty hours of play to recover, which is why we rank Cluckin' Bell Farm Raid and the Cayo Perico Heist above it for anyone still building capital. What changes the answer is a bonus week: at 2X a full large warehouse sells for GTA$4,440,000, and Rockstar boosts this business several times a year.
How long does it take to fill a large warehouse?+
About four to six hours of active play. Each buy mission runs roughly five to ten minutes including its cooldown, and you need 37 of them. The cooldown is applied per warehouse rather than per player, so owning a second warehouse and alternating between them is the one legitimate way to remove the dead time. The sell mission itself gives you 30 minutes.
Why does GrindMap rank Special Cargo lower than the crate math suggests?+
Because the crate table is a ceiling and our ranking is a sustained rate. GTA$1,554,000 over four to six hours works out at roughly GTA$260,000 to GTA$390,000 per hour, but that assumes three-crate buys every time, short travel, no crates lost to raids or other players, and cooldowns absorbed. We publish GTA$130,000 per hour, which is the conservative community figure for a single warehouse played normally. We would rather rank a method below what a perfect run can produce than above what a real session delivers. The gap itself is the useful information: this is the business where playing it well and playing it badly differ by more than a factor of two.
Should you sell Special Cargo in a public lobby?+
Only if the lobby is quiet. Selling in a populated public session pays a High Demand bonus that scales with the number of players, and a full large warehouse sale spawns multiple delivery vehicles that other players can destroy. Losing one vehicle out of a GTA$2,220,000 sale costs far more than the bonus adds. Our ranking has a separate entry for public lobby sell runs so you can compare the two directly.