The rush job paid a premium. Three other jobs paid for it.

Expedited work almost always looks profitable on its own line. The cost lands somewhere else, on an invoice nobody connects to the request.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for The rush job paid a premium. Three other jobs paid for it.

A customer calls on Tuesday and needs it by Friday. The normal lead time is three weeks. Someone agrees a premium, a percentage uplift, overtime covered, a courier instead of the usual carrier, and the job goes in at the front. On the job card, it looks like one of the best pieces of work the business did that month: same delivery cost, higher price, better margin. The question worth sitting with is where the rest of the cost went. Because the resources used to deliver Friday were not idle.…

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