Charging For Pick Up And Delivery Charges??

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A question for all the welding/fabrication business owners. I have a small fabrication business. A few of my steady clients are CNC machine shops which I do piece work welding for, weld part A to part B, etc.... The jobs vary in size from a few hundred to thousands of weldments. Typically, when bidding, I alloy for travel, pick up and returning parts, one round trip. Lately, when I go to pick up parts, the shops will have produce only a partial amount of the order.........Any way, I end up making 3 or 4 trips, loading/unloading, etc. The shops are 20 and 40 miles from my shop. Should I start charging a set amount per trip in addition to my quotes? How do you guys handle this??ThanksMiller TrailBlazer 251Miller HF-250-1Miller MaxStar 150 STLHyperTherm PowerMax 380 plasmaLincoln PowerMig 180Millermatic 252Miller Diversion 180
Reply:Time is money,  I have much more fun ways to waste time than waiting on someone else.     In this economy i try not to be too greedy but if they are starting to needlessly waste your time charge accordingly.      or simply ask "how many of them are ready"  and if they want to drag their feet wait till all the parts are ready then go pick them up.Vantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:Do you like that type of work?  Is it fairly steady?  Are they easy to get along with?I guess my thinking is that if you like what you're doing, don't make waves.  Or politely request that they have enough parts ready to make the trip worth while, otherwise you'll have to charge them for it.I have to drive 25 miles one way just to go to the store, so if I have to make the trip to make a few hundred bucks it doesn't bother me.  I just work it into my grocery shopping schedule.  If they demand you go right now, it's a different story.  That's my two cents....My name's not Jim....
Reply:Originally Posted by DualieTime is money,  I have much more fun ways to waste time than waiting on someone else.     In this economy i try not to be too greedy but if they are starting to needlessly waste your time charge accordingly.      or simply ask "how many of them are ready"  and if they want to drag their feet wait till all the parts are ready then go pick them up.
Reply:look at it from their side, they have a large order to fill and getting it all out the door at the same time and then waiting for your turn around will delay final delivery what a few days possibly a week.  you have a few options, live with it and you have to ask yourself do they pay quickly and send alot your way, or just bump the bid enough to cover the hassle, gas, and down time and say nothing, or a fuel surcharge like ups.timJust some stuff in my shop.
Reply:When I'm doing shop work that I have to pick up and deliver, I always charge mileage.  It's an added convenience that, at 10 mpg in the truck, costs me time and money.  Those charges need to be passed on to the customer - they are a variable expense directly related to the job.  Since they're all business people too, I haven't had a customer yet that didn't understand this.  I often offer them the option of bringing the parts to my shop so the travel fees are waived, and some of them do.  I have a known dropoff point that parts can be left at if I'm not around.If you perform quality work on time, most people don't mind paying a fair travel rate.  Those that do are probably the same one ones who try to haggle at Wal-Mart.
Reply:Thanks for all the great advice. There are many different ways of viewing, addressing this issue. I'm currently dealing with this with a shop that is 30 miles away. My bid proposal I submitted specified that the bid price per unit was based on 800 weldments and a few more direct stipulations. Today I made the forth trip. The Shop is being pressured by their client for the products so they are asking me to pick up and return each partial batch they produce. I understand the time crunch and absolutely want my clients to be able to please their clients. But this was not expressed by and considered in my bid. Th shop is a good, steady customer but this partial crap is becoming common place. I guess I need to add stipulations on this issue in my future proposals.ThanksMiller TrailBlazer 251Miller HF-250-1Miller MaxStar 150 STLHyperTherm PowerMax 380 plasmaLincoln PowerMig 180Millermatic 252Miller Diversion 180
Reply:i find it weird the machine shops your using dont have their own fabrication shop.. most of the ones around here have atleast 1 or 2 welders and the needed equipment... i wouldnt push it to hard, but you have to make enough to cover your added time and fuel.. i would say they are feeding a machine after your welding them.  they might have some type of blanket orde.. when the machine gets low on parts, their calling you to come get more to weld so they have more to stack up in front of the machine.. just my guess... sounds like poor managment on the machine shops part actually..Last edited by brucer; 11-24-2010 at 09:27 PM.tackleexperts.comwww.necessityjigs.comhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/mach...dingequipment/
Reply:I would ask if they can bring them to you? You pick up the first batch they deliver the second returning with the first... Most business owners will understand.
Reply:If you know eachother pretty well it may be a good idea to just light into them next time they call you to take a delivery, in a nice way of course. If you bid, say, 3200 parts and every week they keep sending you back to your shop with 800 parts to do just ask them, "Where's this 3200 part order I bid? I like getting these 800 part orders that I still need to bill you for, but I'm ready to take ALL your money on the big order! I'm wearing my poor old truck out and I'm on my second set of tires this month picking these things up."  Something like that, they'll get the point and it may put things in perspective for them, but don't do it if you can't pull it off in a joking way with them or they'll just think you're being a dick.