Minimum Order Blues

[Waxman]

I just secured a couple new credit lines with some suppliers. One is Sonny's, which has been super in every way. Kudos, Sonny's.

The other is another company that does not sell parts, but ancellary and vending items mostly. I got their sale flyer, called to order a couple flags and a tire brush and they said :"you're not even CLOSE to our $500 minimum order amount".

I wanted to say:"well, you might as well cancel my account then because I will likely never order $500 worth of smelly trees at once".

How does it make sense for a company like this to have a $500 minimum order?

 

[Danny]

Waxman I am not sure but does this company offer "free shipping"? The $500 minimum order maybe what they need you to buy in order to cover the freight costs no matter what the order is.

 

[mac]

It sounds like their marketing department never talked to their accounts receivable department. Someone there should have realized a normal operator will never order that much. Most companies today have a minimum, even Sonny's is $50. If their prices are good you might call the head of sales and let them know how our business works.

 

[Washmee]

It sounds like their marketing department never talked to their accounts receivable department. Someone there should have realized a normal operator will never order that much. Most companies today have a minimum, even Sonny's is $50. If their prices are good you might call the head of sales and let them know how our business works.

Sonnys has never demanded a min order of $50 from me.

 

[Waxman]

I have no minimum order amount with Sonny's.

 

[mac]

This is why I love this site. I have been buying from Sonny's for many years. About a year or so ago they started a 50 minumum for me. I usually order more, sometimes a lot more, but on smaller items they try to ding us. I'll give them a call to see what's going on.

 

[mac]

Well now, believe it or not, I am more confused than ever. After reading the posts about no minimum at Sonny's, I called them and asked why I have a 50 min. Someone that said he was in charge of customer service said we have always had it, they are just now trying to enforce it. Most of my direct mail order now goes to Kleen Rite, Arcadian, and Kip.

 

[PaulLovesJamie]

ok, thats funny - somebody in charge of customer service told you that you have to batch your purchases together into $50 minimums. Doesnt matter if you have a bay down due to a $5 part, you have to wait until you need more parts, close the bay until you're ready to buy more. LOL

You would think that customer service would be apologizing for that policy, hanging on to their stones and telling the bean counters they will not enforce it.

And just in case somebody from sonnys is following this thread, yes, I am too dumb to understand why you might want a $50 minimum - we all are.

 

[RykoPro]

I just spoke to the "head of customer service" at Sonny's on Thursday, he stated his name was Juan. I need to call him back on a conveyor dolly manufacturing problem (poor welding) and I will inquire about the min. order at that time.

 

[Back4More]

Sonny's has had this charge for years. It even lists it in the terms section of their Big Book. If you haven't seen the charge, then you order over $50.00 most of the time. If you're trying to find the charge, look at the freight when you order something under $50.00. I've only seen this charge once, when I ordered a part for a customer that had a competitor's equipment we were working on. The freight amount and the weight just didn't add up to me. I couldn't understand why the freight was so much for a light item. When I called, they said what I was seeing in the freight was the handling charge to bring the order up to the $50.00 minimum, and I hadn't seen it before because I have never ordered less than $50.00. I can understand why they charge it, but don't think most customers will go for it. Not given today's level of competition.

 

[MEP001]

Companies that do this claim that it costs them more to process a small order than they make on it. I don't buy that, but it's their prerogative to do so.

 

[Greg Pack]

I could envision that in some circumstances. I have been told margin are relatively thin on many parts at the discount mail order companies. If you buy a 15.00 widget with a 20% margin, for the 12.00/hr guy to pull it, box it, label it and invoice it- I don't see much profit.

 

[Back4More]

I've been told it costs $20.00 to process and invoice, no matter what the amount of goods is. That was by American Management. I don't know that I buy that or I'd be losing money all over the place on small orders. Look at Costco for example, don't you pay an annual fee for the right to buy there at a discount?

 

[Danny]

I don't buy that either I would lose money everyday also. Maybe someone misspoke and they need atleast a $20 sale to cover their overhead on each invoice?

 

[pitzerwm]

The $20 might be high, but I have read that there obviously is a cost to do the paperwork for anything. Due to inefficiency the bigger the company the more it cost. Years ago that number was $7 per invoice on average.

 

[Back4More]

I'll go with Bill on that one. So say for an example that the sale is $50.00 of which there is a 10% profit margin. We're talking $5.00 profit. So we hypothetically lost $2.00 on the sale. Wait, let's make it even better. Hit me with a credit card so I can pay 2.5% or more. That makes it even nastier. I like selling at a loss. On the bright side I think I'll make it up in volume.