A drill full of seed, but whose?
At autumn drilling, the drill goes from farm to farm. On one farm the customer has seed bags on pallets in the shed. On another, you bought the seed through your supplier because the customer asked you to. On a third, the customer supplied most of the seed but ran out, and you topped up with a couple of bags from your own stock. Spraying is the same: products are in the customer's store, or delivered to you for their job, or taken from your stock.
At invoice time, nobody quite remembers which was which. The seed invoice from your supplier covers several customers. The two bags of top-up seed were never written down. Some customers end up paying for seed they supplied, and some get seed for free.
Why supply gets muddled
The operator knows at the time, but the question of who supplied what is rarely part of the job record.
- Seed and product supply is agreed by phone, often by the boss, not the operator.
- Your supplier invoices you for several customers' seed on one invoice.
- Top-ups from your stock are small and not recorded.
- Products delivered to your yard for a customer's job sit with your own stock.
- Leftover seed or product is returned, kept or used elsewhere.
What seed or products to use, and how to handle and store products, is for the customer, their agronomist and your own trained operators. We do not advise on it. The admin question is simply who supplied what, and who pays for it.
What mix-ups cost
Seed and products are expensive. Supplying some without recharging, or recharging the wrong customer, is a direct loss or a direct dispute. Invoices that recharge seed the customer supplied are an embarrassment and a delay in payment.
Mixed arrangements are the hardest. A customer who supplies the herbicide but asks you to bring the adjuvant, or supplies seed for two fields but not the third, produces exactly the kind of small line that is forgotten at month end. Each one is minor. Together, over a busy autumn, they are not.
Stock suffers too. If top-ups from your own stock are not recorded, your stock figures drift from reality, and a product you thought you had is not there when the next job needs it.
Supply recorded on every job
What we build is a record of seed and product use on each job, with the supplier of each item.
- When a job is booked, supply is agreed and recorded: customer supplied, contractor supplied, or to be decided on the day.
- Seed or products you buy for a specific customer are recorded against them from your supplier's invoice when it arrives, with a person confirming the split where one invoice covers several customers.
- On the day, the operator records what went in the drill or sprayer: product, quantity or bags, and who supplied it. Top-ups from your stock are one extra tap.
- Your stock goes down when your own supply is used, and up when leftover product is returned.
- Contractor-supplied items are added to the customer's invoice, at cost, cost plus a margin, or a set price, according to your terms for that customer.
- A report shows, for each job, what was used and who supplied it, which also goes into the customer's work record.
| Supply | Recorded as | Invoice |
|---|---|---|
| Customer's own seed | Customer supplied | No charge for seed |
| Seed bought for the customer | Contractor supplied, from purchase invoice | Recharged at your terms |
| Top-up from your stock | Contractor supplied, from stock | Recharged at your terms |
| Leftover returned to you | Stock returned | Credited if agreed |
Autumn drilling with supply recorded
At autumn drilling, each job records its seed. On the farm where the customer ran short, the operator added two bags from your stock with a tap. At month end, the invoice for that customer shows the drilling and the two bags. The invoice for the farm that supplied all its own seed shows only drilling. Your supplier's invoice for seed bought for three customers has been split and recharged to each.
Your stock list shows exactly what is left in the yard.
Is supply a guessing game?
- You are not sure which customers supplied their own seed or products.
- Top-ups from your stock are not recorded.
- Supplier invoices covering several customers are not split.
- Customers have queried recharges for seed they supplied.
- Your stock does not match what you think is in the yard.