Notes for owners · Industry-Specific Software Guides
Where a 3PL Loses Money Between the Contract and the Invoice
A 3PL loses money wherever work is done but not recorded against a client’s contract. The usual gaps are detention, extra handling, vehicle hire margin and late delivery proof. Record each event against the contract when it happens, and the invoice at month end becomes a check, not a rebuild.
Ganesh HS, Strategy and Technology, GullySystem · · 3 min read
Start with what each contract actually says
Every client contract carries its own rate card. One pays per pallet per day, another per carton handled, a third per trip or per tonne. Special terms hide in the notes: free days, minimum space, waiting time and re-delivery.
Put each rate card on one sheet with validity dates. If the biller has to remember which client pays which way, errors are certain. A rate that is not written down cannot be billed.
- Storage basis: pallet, square foot, CBM or SKU
- Handling basis: per inward, per order or per carton
- Transport basis: per trip, per tonne or per kilometre
- Free days, minimum space and detention terms
- Validity dates for every rate
Find the extras that never reach the invoice
Detention, waiting time, relabelling, special packing and re-delivery are work done for a client. They are usually noted on a chit, a call or a message. Few reach the bill because nobody owns the step of writing them down.
Pick one person per shift to log each extra against the client, whether it was detention at a gate or a relabelled pallet. A short list a day is enough. At month end, the extras are already sorted by client.
- Detention and vehicle waiting time at client sites
- Relabelling, kitting and special packing
- Re-delivery after a failed attempt
- Weekend or night loading
Compare hire cost with freight billed
Market vehicles are booked through brokers, and the hire and advance are settled in the broker’s ledger. The client’s freight is billed elsewhere. The margin on a lane stays unknown until someone puts the two side by side.
Link each hired trip to the consignment it carried. Then hire, fuel, toll and labour can be read against the freight billed for that lane. Lanes that earn less than they cost show up quickly.
Chase proof of delivery and claims early
Signed delivery copies come back late, by courier or as phone photos. Until they arrive, a consignment is open and a client may query it. Damage and shortage claims follow weeks later.
Keep a list of consignments without proof, sorted by age and client. Keep the inward count, the loading record and the proof of delivery together. A claim then needs one lookup, not three registers.
- Consignments delivered but without a signed copy
- Shortage or damage noted at the door
- Claims open, with the records behind each
Make the invoice a check, not a rebuild
When storage, trips and extras are recorded as they happen, the month’s invoice becomes a sum of events already on file. The biller then checks it instead of rebuilding it from registers kept in several places.
A client statement of orders, deliveries and dues can then go out with the invoice. Disputes shrink to the items in the list. GullySystem builds this kind of connected record for 3PL companies as custom software, scoped to your contracts.
Contract-to-invoice leak sheet
A sheet with a row for each client and one column per billable item: storage, handling, trips, detention, extras and hire. Mark where each item is recorded today and who writes it down. Blank cells show where billing leaks.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Do we need software to bill per pallet and per trip?
Not always. A 3PL with a few clients on simple rates can manage with sheets and a careful biller. Software helps once many contracts, trucks and extras need to agree.
Can a ready-made transport package do this?
Often, for road freight on a standard rate list. Where storage, trucking and extras are billed together under varied contracts, a custom build may suit better.
Will it send invoices to Tally?
No live link is built in. A file for your accountant can be scoped separately once the ledger layout is decided.
Should clients see their own delivery status?
It helps, since it cuts status calls. A client login to see orders, delivery status and statements can be part of the build. Live vehicle position needs a GPS feed.