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Tuscola, IL | I recently had an interaction with a customer about his bill. Among his many complaints was the charge for shop supplies. I know this has been discussed a number of times but I'm wanting to get some opinions from you guys, the customer, as well as anyone that has ever done billing, on what might be a fair way to handle this.
I don't have the bill in front of me right now, but it was roughly $1000 total. Labor was right at $450. The shop supplies came out to $22 and change. With the job involved, we used penetrating oil, brake clean, oxy/acetylene torch, a number of rags, some electrical connectors, and crimped 4 ends on 2 hydraulic hoses. The customer was not billed for any of these items except for the hoses and ends. Everything else was covered under "shop supplies".
Obviously, there is no way to bill out 1/100th of a can of brake clean. The electrical connectors we do have part numbers for, but have found that it takes more time to write down the part number (or go back and find it if you forgot it) than to just consider it a shop supply. Higher end connectors like Deutsch and Weatherpak we do bill separately. On this specific job, it was a number of heat shrink butt connectors and ring terminals.
My question is, what is your opinion on "shop supplies" and how would you like to see it billed. I suppose we could bill each can of brake clean, penetrating oil etc to the ticket and give the customer the remaining, unused, can. But what about oxygen and acetylene? Or welding wire or rod?
For what it's worth, I have no control over the percentage that calculates the shop supply charge. The only thing I can do is add it or subtract it completely. Let me know what you guys think or what your experience is with this. | |
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Billing Issue - Shop Supplies
