When Does Cutting Edge Doors Bill You For Accessorial Charges?
Cutting Edge bills you for accessorial charges after the carrier confirms the fees. You’ll get an invoice within two weeks of delivery.
At A Glance
When Will You Be Billed For Extra Freight Charges?
If accessorial charges apply to your shipment, Cutting Edge will invoice you within two weeks of delivery. We wait for the freight company’s invoice to ensure accurate charges. This prevents inaccurate billing caused by carrier changes, combined shipments, or different delivery needs.
You’re preparing to order cabinet doors from Cutting Edge Doors & Woodworking when you learn that accessorial charges are not included in our covered shipping costs. Now, you wonder when you will be billed. Why can’t Cutting Edge include these fees on your original quote? Will you receive another invoice after your cabinet doors arrive? You need to understand these costs before ordering so you can budget for your project and avoid surprises after delivery.
At Cutting Edge Doors & Woodworking, we manufacture and ship hundreds of cabinet doors each day from Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, across Western Canada and into Ontario. As a result, our team works with freight carriers, shipping invoices, and accessorial charges every day. We have also changed our shipping policies as carrier rules and pricing have changed. That experience has shown us why quoting accessorial charges before an order ships can be difficult and, in some cases, inaccurate.
By the end of this article, you’ll understand:
Why Does Cutting Edge Send A Separate Bill For Accessorial Charges?
An accessorial charge is an extra fee from the freight company for a service outside standard shipping. It is separate from the regular cost of moving your order from our facility to your destination.
At Cutting Edge, we cover the regular shipping costs for orders over $1,250 going to standard destinations. We also cover some shipping costs for qualifying orders over $1,250 going to non-standard destinations. However, this coverage does not include accessorial charges.
There are four main reasons we bill these charges separately. Together, these factors make it difficult to give you an exact accessorial cost when you place your order. Sending a separate invoice after your cabinet doors arrive solves each of these problems.
- Accessorial charges are difficult to predict. We do not always know which fees will apply before your order ships. Waiting for the freight invoice allows us to bill the amount the carrier actually charged.
- Accessorial fees vary between carriers. Predicting these fees becomes even harder because different freight companies can charge different amounts for the same service. For example, Manitoulin charges Cutting Edge $35 if you use a power tailgate. By comparison, Jay’s Transportation Group charges $65 for the same service.
- When possible, our team combines multiple orders. Imagine you have two orders scheduled to ship around the same time. If we added a power tailgate fee to each order, you would pay $70. However, if we combine those orders, you should only have to pay $35.
- Accessorial charges can increase rapidly because multiple fees may apply to the same delivery. Depending on the services required, these charges can exceed $150.
When Does Cutting Edge Doors Send The Invoice For Accessorial Charges?
If accessorial charges apply, Cutting Edge will invoice you within two weeks of receiving your order. Often, you’ll receive the invoice within 3 business days.
We bill these fees after delivery because we first need the freight company’s final invoice. Your cabinet doors will arrive before that invoice reaches us. Once the carrier sends its invoice, our team can see whether accessorial charges applied to the delivery and how much they cost. We then pass those charges along to you.
Because of this process, an accessorial invoice may arrive after you consider your cabinet door order complete. The delay occurs because we are waiting for the carrier to confirm the actual charge.
So why do we wait? Why not estimate and charge a flat rate on all orders? While we could charge a flat rate, this would result in overcharging some customers and undercharging others.
If accessorial services may apply to your shipment, plan for a possible invoice during the two weeks after delivery. This is especially important if you are a contractor or cabinet maker working with tight margins. Budgeting an allowance for accessorial charges can help prevent an unexpected cost from affecting your profit on the job.
Can You Ask Cutting Edge To Include Accessorial Charges On Your Quote?
You can ask, but we may not be able to provide an accurate accessorial charge before your first few shipments.
The same factors that make accessorial fees difficult to predict also make them difficult to quote. The carrier could change, its rates could change, or your delivery could require a different service. We could also combine your order with another shipment. Adding an estimated fee to your original order does not remove these unknowns. In some cases, it could even result in duplicate charges.
For example, suppose you place two orders, and we add an estimated accessorial fee to each one. Before shipping, we combine both orders into one shipment. The carrier only charges us once, but you have already paid the fee twice.
However, this can change once we have enough shipping history for your location. After several shipments, a clear pattern may develop. For example, we may find that the same carrier consistently charges a rural route fee. If this occurs, you can ask our team about adding the expected charge to future orders. This can make your costs easier to predict while reducing the risk of using an inaccurate estimate.
To be clear, there is no fixed number of shipments required before we can look for a pattern. Our shipping team assesses these patterns on a case-by-case basis.
Even with a consistent history, freight companies control their own rates and policies, so future charges may change. We can consider adding accessorial charges upfront when your shipping history gives us enough information to make a reasonable prediction.
Understand Your Accessorial Charges Before Your Cabinet Doors Arrive
Accessorial charges can be frustrating when you do not know when they will appear or why they were left off your original quote. If an accessorial charge applies to your Cutting Edge shipment, you can expect the invoice within two weeks of delivery. We wait for the carrier’s invoice so we can bill the actual fee rather than relying on an estimate that could be inaccurate or duplicated.
Clear costs and communication matter when you are trying to keep projects on budget and protect your reputation with customers. Now that you know how accessorial charges work, download your guide to working with Cutting Edge so you know what else to expect before placing an order. At Cutting Edge Doors & Woodworking in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, we manufacture and ship cabinet doors and related wood products across Western Canada and into Ontario. Our goal is to give you the information you need to decide whether our process fits your business and helps you deliver quality work on time.
