What do you actually do when you realize a customer is costing more to service than you’re charging?
So… I was talking to a guy who runs a mid-size hauling operation a little while back and something he said kind of stuck with me.
He figured out that one of his oldest commercial accounts was running way over on stop time. Like, almost double what they originally estimated when they priced the route! That was six years ago! Nobody had looked at it since.
He wasn’t even mad about it. Just kind of sat there like — yeah, we’ve been eating that for years.
I asked him what he was going to do about it and he got quiet for a second. Said the customer pays on time, never complains, been with them forever. Repricing felt like poking a bear he didn’t need to poke.
I get it. But also — that’s real money walking out the door every single week.
Curious how others handle this. Do you have the repricing conversation? Do you just absorb it and move on?? Try to get more efficient on that stop instead?? Is there even a right answer here??!!