This article will discuss Out of Application End of Month Warehousing Billing Invoices, including calculation, general contractual services, and invoice submission.

Calculation

Monthly Statements become available at the EOM and are used to calculate the services according to our signed contract. This is due to the Whiplash app rate features not supporting the same contractual rates and therefore, a billing model is used.

Below are a few of the differences pertaining to in app contract rates:

• Only support Cu. Ft. rates
• Returns are charged at the same rate as the Outbound Rates
• Inbound rates are not part of Whiplash In App Contract Rates
• Flat Minimum Storage Fees are charged
• Marketing inserts always charged

General Contractual Services

Receiving (Inbound)

Some agreements have two types of inbound rates which are not supported in app: unit and master cartons.

The Whiplash app cannot differentiate unit (cartons mixed) vs master cartons (cartons with a single SKU). Therefore, Ops must manually track them both to bill properly.

Pick and Pack (Outbound)

Wholesale orders cannot be differentiated from D2C orders unless the client drops orders with a pre-fix under the orders description. Therefore, Ops must manually track them to bill properly.

Contract rates usually expire after one year. The Billing Model must be updated to calculate the charges at the current/valid rate.

Returns

Returns are charged at a different rate than Outbound rates. The Billing Model calculates the total units to apply proper rates because rates in app cannot be updated overnight or when new rates are in effect.

Packaging

If any, packaging is internally validated by Ops since packaging supplies are already invoiced at cost plus the percentage established in the contract. 

Scancoding Fees

These are charges related to Inbound and Returns barcode labels generated and applied to pieces when they arrive at the facility and are missing barcodes. 

Projects Fees

These charges are related to any request received from the client to perform a particular task outside the Operations scope, such as folding garments, replacing polybags, changing barcodes, applying new hangtags, etc. 

Assembly Fees 

These are charges related to building kits or bundles out of single SKUs. They are usually invoiced as a project.

Storage

Depending on the contract, Storage can be charged by Cu. Ft or Sq. Ft.

• When a contract charges by Sq. Ft., it is a fixed amount. Therefore, it is charged by accounting at the beginning of the month.
• When a contract charges by Cu. Ft., sometimes it has a minimum agreed and it is charged at the EOM (End of Month). If that is the case, it must be calculated by summarizing the services to be considered prior to its calculation. This is a manual calculation, but the formula is usually part of the billing model.
  • Storage charged by Cu. Ft. is calculated for sellable SKUs only, but since not sellable SKUs also occupy a space in the building, we must manually calculate the Cu. Ft. to calculate/add the charge. The Ops Team provides the pallets count and dims.

Invoice Submission

The warehousing pay term is noted on the invoice and submitted at the EOM. It includes the same services/rates as agreed to on the contract.

We create different types of invoices into an internal invoicing system during the month and they are submitted by different teams in the organization.

• Depending on the agreement, some customers will be charged at labor hours plus 12% during the first few months, which is called the “Implementation Stage" or "Cost Plus Stage". Invoices submitted during this period of time are created/submitted by Ops and charged at the EOM. Once this stage is over, they will be charged per contract rates.
• If there is no "Implementation Stage", the client will be charged at their contract rate. The invoice is created/submitted by either Ops or CSR on site and charged at the EOM.
• If Fixed charges are agreed to, they are created/submitted by accounting and charged at the beginning of the month.
  • Note: Fixed charges are associated to Monthly Fees and Capex (Capital Expenditure).

Related Questions:

How is storage charged?

When are monthly statements available?

How are invoices submitted/created?