Hidden costs are polite stealing

Hidden costs are polite stealing

Hidden costs are increasing our daily expenses on a regular basis. Phone companies, cable companies, credit cards, banks, and yes….our company suppliers are all guilty.

Company suppliers/vendors now call it “FUEL SURCHARGE”. I call it stealing.

Let me give you an example, and it might lead you to examine your personal bills more closely to see charges you have overlooked in the past.

We are a printing company so the major part of our purchases is paper. As the prices of paper constantly increase, we try to find suppliers who would offer lower prices in order to stay competitive in this tough market of “price cutting.”

One of our major suppliers of pressure sensitive paper is a prime example of disguising costs. They had been giving us good prices and their service has always been excellent. A few months ago Raflatac visited our Calico, North Carolina plant and offered all our facilities a lower price which included freight if we ordered on line. We told our original supplier that we had an offer of lower prices. As a courtesy to them for being such a great supplier in the past, we told them rather than eliminating them completely, we would like to utilize both suppliers if they could offer us the same price as Raflatac. After reviewing the information we furnished to them, they offered us the same price. At this point, everything seemed agreeable, and everyone appeared to be happy with the arrangement.

When I received the invoice from Raflatac, they had charged us the price they had quoted with freight delivered and no extra hidden charges. We were billed exactly as they had promised. But when I received the invoice from our former supplier, it was a different story. They had the price they had matched with Raflatac, but there was one additional line: “Freight surcharge”. This was not only agreed to during our conversations, it wasn’t even mentioned by them. That is what I call blatant stealing. Matching the price and then finding a way to stick it to you right in front of your eyes crossed the line of business ethics.

I crossed out the fuel surcharge on their invoice and will not pay it. This is a new scheme by all the companies who are adding fuel surcharges. We have found trucking companies who give us discounts, and then they add a line called fuel surcharge to take back a portion of the discount. I call this unethical. All companies have energy expenses, including ours. We do not charge our customers for it. When we issue a quote, that is exactly what our customers expect to be charged. If our vendors want to have an extra charge, they should also include it in their unit price rather than be sneaky about it.

I would suggest that you look at your personal bills. I am sure you will find charges that are almost a joke the way they describe it. The charges may look and sound impressive and many times cryptic or vague, but what it should be listed as is “STEALING CHARGE”.

My hat is off to Raflatac for being honest and transparent in their business practices.