The Freight Charge Nobody Agreed How to Handle

I pulled quotes from five reps for a near-identical order once, just to see. Two had built freight into the unit price. One added it as a separate line. One quietly ate the cost “to be competitive.” One forgot to account for it entirely, and the order shipped at a loss nobody caught until the invoice reconciled weeks later.

Every one of those reps was making a reasonable call in the moment. None of them had ever been told there was supposed to be one answer. So margin on paper looked consistent, deal to deal, while the real margin — the one that actually hit the bank account — bounced all over the place depending on who happened to build the quote.

You can’t manage what you can’t see, and freight handling is exactly the kind of small, boring decision that hides in plain sight until someone finally goes looking for it.

If you pulled five recent quotes right now, would freight be handled the same way on all five — or would you find five different answers?