A crane lorry for three bags of cement
A customer phones for a small order to a site across town: a few bags of cement, a roll of DPC and some lintels. The counter keys it as a delivery. It goes on the crane lorry because that is the one heading that way, and nobody adds a delivery charge because the customer is a regular and the counter was busy.
Elsewhere the same day, a timed delivery before eight is promised without the timed delivery charge, and a failed drop is redelivered free because nobody told accounts it failed. None of it is a decision anyone made. It is just what happens when the charge depends on someone remembering to add it.
Why delivery charges slip
Most merchants have a delivery charging policy. The trouble is that applying it needs information the counter doesn't always have when the order is taken.
| Charge | Why it gets missed |
|---|---|
| Small order delivery | Threshold not checked at the till |
| Crane offload | Vehicle chosen later by transport, not by the counter |
| Timed or before 8am | Promised verbally, not keyed |
| Redelivery after failed drop | Failure not passed to accounts |
| Out-of-area delivery | Postcode zone not checked |
| Waived for a good customer | Waiver not recorded, so it becomes the norm |
Waivers are a legitimate commercial choice. The problem is that most missing charges are not waivers at all, just omissions, and you can't tell the two apart.
What the missing lines add up to
Transport is one of a merchant's largest costs, and delivery charges are how part of it is recovered. Every missed charge is pure margin lost, and it is lost on exactly the orders that cost most to serve: small drops, crane jobs and repeat trips. Customers who get free deliveries also come to expect them, which makes charging later harder.
There is also a planning cost. When delivery is effectively free, customers order small quantities more often, filling the lorries with drops that barely pay for their fuel.
A delivery charge check before every invoice
- Your delivery charging rules are set up once: thresholds by value or weight, zones by postcode, vehicle and offload charges, timed delivery charges, redelivery charges and any account-level exceptions.
- When a delivery order is keyed, a check reads it from your merchant system and applies the rules, using the vehicle and run from the transport plan once that is known.
- Missing charges are added automatically where your rules allow, or flagged to the counter or transport desk for a decision.
- Waivers need a reason and a name, recorded in a couple of taps, so a waiver becomes a deliberate choice.
- Failed drops recorded by drivers trigger the redelivery charge check on the rebooked order.
- A weekly report shows charges applied, charges waived and by whom, and accounts where delivery is regularly free.
What you charge, and for whom, stays your decision. The check applies the policy you already have and makes exceptions visible.
After the change
The counter doesn't have to remember the policy, because the check does. Transport sees crane and timed charges on the orders that need them. Accounts sees redelivery charges without chasing drivers. And the weekly report tells the branch manager whether free delivery for a particular customer is a considered choice or an old habit.
Signs your delivery charges are leaking
- Nobody can say how many deliveries last month went out with no charge.
- Crane offload charges are applied inconsistently.
- Redeliveries after failed drops are rarely charged.
- Waivers are given verbally with no record.
- Small, frequent deliveries fill up the lorries.