Rush orders may win the customer—but they often wreck your bottom line.
When a kiln line goes down or a glazing job runs behind, your phone rings—and the customer needs that box of zirconia parts or laminated glass panels tomorrow morning.
Expedite requests are part of life in the distribution business. But too often, they’re absorbed without analysis. What looks like excellent service can quietly corrode your profitability.
In the glass, ceramics, and refractories sectors—where freight costs, handling labor, and order batching all matter—last-minute fulfillment has real costs. It’s time to start measuring them.
The True Cost of Expedited Orders
Most distributors underestimate how expensive an expedite is. Here’s a snapshot of hidden costs:
Freight premiums: LTL or courier charges 3–5x the usual rate
Overtime labor: Warehouse staff pulled into off-hours or reprioritized mid-pick
Lost efficiency: Small orders break batching and routing logic
Order errors: Faster cycles = higher error rates and returns
Opportunity cost: Your best people spend time on unplanned work instead of value-driving activity
All of these eat into the margin of what is often a small order. You might book $600 in revenue and lose $200 in hidden costs.
Why It Keeps Happening
Expedites become habitual when:
Customers know they can get away with it
Sales teams say yes reflexively
There’s no pricing signal to discourage it
The company lacks a real-time cost model
Without visibility, what feels like great customer service becomes a margin drain.
Building Guardrails
Here’s how leading distributors are getting control of expedites:
Track Expedite Frequency and Margin
Start by flagging every rush request. Measure time to ship, margin impact, and frequency by customer and rep.
Charge for Expedite Service
Create a structured fee—flat or percentage—for orders pulled forward. Waive it selectively for strategic accounts, but make it the default.
Set Order Cutoff Times
If orders after 2 p.m. require next-day shipment, make that a paid premium. Communicate this clearly in order confirmations and contracts.
Give Sales Tools to Push Back
Equip your reps with options: “We can ship it regular on Thursday or expedite it tomorrow for a $150 fee.” That shifts urgency back onto the client.
Reward Operational Planning
Celebrate clients who place scheduled, forecasted orders. The fewer fires you fight, the better your margin and the happier your team.
Reframing Expedites as Strategy
You don’t have to eliminate rush orders—but you should decide when they make business sense.
Expedites for a strategic account who gives you $2M annually? Probably worth it.
Expedites for a customer who nickel-and-dimes you and buys once a quarter? Maybe not.
:
Distributors in the glass and ceramics industry must protect their margins as carefully as they protect their inventories. By tracking, charging for, and strategically managing expedite requests, you can deliver on customer expectations—without sacrificing your bottom line. Expedite service doesn’t have to be a loss leader. With the right structure, it can be a value-added offering that pays.
