There is no doubt that the custom apparel industry is constantly surprised by rush orders. In fact, one of the great things about running other jobs earlier if you can, is that you open up space for potential rush orders.

In this article you will learn how to charge a rush fee without upsetting your customer, as well as understand why you have to charge extra for rush orders.

Some customers can put you under tremendous pressure.

In the screen printing, embroidery and DTG Printing industry, we sometimes get orders for very specific events. These orders come with a deadline. You cannot deliver shirts after an event is already done.

Some orders like staff shirts for everyday wear can always be delayed a day or two, and not that your customer is going to be happy about it, but you can delay them without huge consequences. However, when it comes to event shirts you are pretty much forced to get it out in time.

In many cases customers don’t understand the screen printing or embroidery process. Some think you simply press a button and “voila” the shirts pop out, like it’s a Xerox machine. This means, your customer could have a relaxed attitude about placing orders on time or, genuinely forget to place the order until the last minute, and then you are stuck with the rush work, stress, risk etc.

This begs the question, should you charge for rush orders?

I see so many people asking, on Screen Printing and Embroidery Facebook groups, if they should charge a rush fee and how much they should charge. Some members want to know, how to charge a rush fee, without upsetting or losing their customers.

After reading this article you should know the answers to the following questions.

• Should I charge extra for rush orders, and why?
• How much should I charge?
• Are there any exceptions to the rule?
• How to charge a rush fee without upsetting your customer.

What are rush charges?

A rush charge is a specific charge that you add to your order to compensate for work that you have to do in a very short period of time.
This is not overtime. It is a rush charge and it is important to understand the difference.

The difference between a rush charge and overtime

Overtime is not something you always pass on to your customer. If your screen printing or embroidery shop is very busy, then you may run extra hours to make more money, and therefore you will incur overtime charges. That does not mean that your customer’s order was a rush order and you are not necessary getting compensated for that.
Overtime is still worth your while if you consider the “fixed vs variable cost and” theory. (Learn more about fixed vs variable cost and how to determine your break even point )

Your fixed cost per print diminishes the more output you can do in a set time. Even though your variable costs such as labor goes up, it can still be worth your while to run overtime or eventually two shifts, if you get that amount of orders. Overtime simply means you have a lot more work.
If you run overtime to get a rush order out, then it becomes a rush order and thus the additional cost is directly linked to the that order.

Why should I charge rush fees?

Other than getting more money which is always nice, the obvious reason why most Screen or DTG Printing and Embroidery companies ask more money for rush orders, are to cover direct cost such as additional labor and incoming shipping cost.

In some cases your printshop may nor incur these additional charges, and then you think you should not charge the rush fee since, in any event, you would not have had any work for that day. This can lead to a very negative and costly trend.

It may be true that you don’t have any direct costs, but there are other factors to consider, and some of them do result in indirect costs.

Below are 5 reasons why your custom apparel company, should charge for rush orders (And yes, direct costs is one of them)

Reason #1: The additional direct cost of rush orders.

Direct costs are always a fact. These are tangible costs that immediately affect the money you will have in your bank account, after paying them.
Direct costs are normally in the form of overtime, express shipping from SanMar, AlphaBroder or any one of your favorite vendors. Maybe there are additional express charges, that you have to pay your vendor for rushing the shirts to you.

These costs are real and directly impacts your cash flow and they need to be passed on to your customer. Shipping and overtime are normally the biggest of them all. If you do your own heat pressing or embroidery from home, then don’t dismiss the overtime amount. Your time is valuable too. You could have pumped out some profitable quotes or do some social media marketing in that time.

Direct costs are the most obvious reason why your printshop should charge for rush orders, and most companies find that to be the only reason why they can justify charging more.

“But wait, there’s more!” – (R.I.P Ron Popeil)

Reason #2: Rush work can conflict with other jobs.

Taking on rush orders can conflict with other work. Planning production is not always easy and having a full time scheduling person to move jobs around will eventually become a reality, if you take on too many rush orders.

Even with scheduling software like FastManager, Printavo, InkSoft, YoPrint and Teesom, you will need a human being to intervene. You will need to accommodate and plan around these rush orders. This person may need to make some tough choices, like moving other orders to a later date, maybe even calling other customers with orders, that are not event driven, and come up with some trumped-up reason to postpone their work.

If you cannot postpone some orders, you will have to revert back to overtime. In some cases if the pressure is too high you may even forget about a less critical job and upset another customer when delivering their order late.

Remember screen printing, DTG printing and embroidery, is a “production line of surprises”. There are torn screens, needle breaks and, who knows what can happen next. This could mean that the rush orders that you are interjecting into production, may take much longer than initially anticipated, and subsequently affect the turn around time on orders that you already had in production. This can come at a huge price and therefore you need to make provision for these additional costs.

Reason #3: Rush orders and your opportunity costs

Opportunity costs is the cost of choosing not to take the next best choice.
“Because by definition they are unseen, opportunity costs can be easily overlooked.” – Investopedia

Opportunity costs are something that people often underestimate, but it it’s real. If you quoted on a job with a tight margin, and now it becomes a rush order you won’t be able to take on other more profitable jobs.

If you don’t add a rush charge then the suddenly there is a cost of opportunity. Now you may not have any other orders lined up right now, but in the future you may have, or a sudden surprise order may pop up.

The added rush charges over time will or could compensate for loss of future opportunities.

Reason #4: The risk of making mistakes.

Like anything in life when adding pressure, you are more prone to making mistakes, especial in the screen printing and embroidery industry, where we have so many variables to contend with. Drying or burning screens too fast so they are not properly hardened is just one of many examples I can think of. But you get it. Rush orders increases our risk of making costly mistakes and there is no doubt about that. Just think back to some of the mistakes you made on orders, because you were rushed. We all get flustered, even veteran printers do.

Even if the print job seems easy, a simple mistake could cost you thousands of dollars. It is important to do a good job, and this may lead to overtime if you plan and do things properly. You need to accommodate for potential mistakes on rush orders.

Another thing to consider. Let’s say you are doing a direct to garment printing job. it is unlikely that you will order extra shirts in the event of a spoiled print. If for some reason you have a spoiled print and need to order another shirt, you cannot order the replacement shirt using standard shipping. You will need to overnight the shipment or order extra shirts in advance which you would not have done if it was a standard order.

When doing rush orders you need to make provision for every contingency, and that comes at a higher cost.

Reason #5: Setting a precedent.

If you really don’t see the need to charge for a rush job, remember you are setting a precedent. Once you grow your business and you are in a situation where the direct cost of doing rush orders impact you cash flow even more, it will be so much harder to start charging your existing customers for rush orders. This could really upset them. It is important that customers understand you are not Kinkos and in order to deliver an outstanding print or embroidery job, takes time, effort and meticulous planning. Don’t fall into that trap. It’s the very same reason, when raising kids, that your No stays No (Unless you’re totally not fair ha ha ha)

How much should you charge for rush orders?

Some people charge a flat amount, but because the cost of rushing an order, can vary based on the size of the order, I would not recommend charging a flat fee.

At Teesom we recommend that you charge a percentage of the order value, based on the turn around time of the order. Teesom’s 3 tier pricing system will give your customer 3 pricing options, and each option is the standard price plus a percentage added for s shorter turn around times.

If the order is only slightly rushed a small percentage like 3 or 5 % would be sufficient. You really don’t want to rip off your customer just because of a slightly shorter deadline, and you may not have even charged him extra, before reading this article, but again to avoid a precedent you have to charge something. If not this could become a slipper slope.

If you have to start shipping things overnight you can go as high as 25% and I’ve even seen some of our customers go as high as 50% for overnight orders. Many of them have these shirts in stock and take full advantage of Teesom’s software to increase their bottom line.

I would have a standard percentage based rush charge. This way even if you keep stock of the items, and don’t have to ship overnight, there will be a set charge that your customer will grow to accept.

How to charge a rush fee without upsetting my customer.

If I charge a rush fee, won’t that damage the relationship with my client? Yes it can, especially if your tone of voice changes to one of reprimand and you give your customer that stern or nervous look. This will be uncomfortable and an uncomfortable situation could lead to a lost customer. It all depends on how you handle it.

How to tell your customer about rush charges.

Tone of voice is always important, you have to be relaxed but honest and explain that your cost will increase.

The best way to tell your customer, is to do it is in writing. If you use software like Teesom then it is easy to blame it on your system or company policy.

Present your customer with different options. Don’t say “You will have to pay more” say something like “Here are 3 different prices based on different turn around times, which option would work best for you?”.

As mentioned before, Teesom automatically does that for you. At first some of our customers were resistant to implementing the 3 tier pricing in their business, but listen to the clip below from one of our customers and how this helped them.

Of course Teesom can also do a standard quote with only one price, but this is normally used when all the deadlines, including the date of placing the order, and other parameters were agreed upon before creating the quote.

By giving your customer a quote with 3 options you will create the impression that it is nothing personal and merely company policy. The fact is you are in business to make a profit.

“Even I am not above the policy” – Seinfeld
Remember even if you are a small company, it is justified to charge extra for rush orders.

When do I tell clients about rush charges?

The sooner the better. At Teesom we recommend you provide your customer with 3 prices, based on the order turn around time, when quoting your customer.

This is why in Teesom we have the industry’s only 3 tier pricing system, to let customers know upfront that it is more expensive if they have a rush order.

Letting your customer know before they can even ask, will motivate them to place their orders in a timely manner. The science behind this is phenomenal. Giving your customer 3 prices up front from day one will establish the “rush order boundaries” that is necessary to turn a decent profit.

Are there any exceptions to the rule?

There will be circumstances when you have a good or big customer, who never puts you in the predicament of rushing their print jobs, but one day they really have an urgent job and a tight budget.

In this case you can probably avoid charging them extra, especially if there are no additional direct costs for your pocket, but you still have to show that normally there would be a rush charge and that this is a one-time exception.

That will not only make them feel happy, but also establish the rules for future rush orders.

In summation.

Rush charges are very important for your company’s bottom line and more so for your sanity. I know, in these times, we are all fighting to get work, but establishing these “rush order boundaries” are important.

By adding a rush charge your customer will feel more confident, that they are working for a professional company.

Personally when I get things at a bargain, I have to think where are they going to cut corners in order to be profitable.

Your customer will feel more comfortable that you are committed to getting their product out in time since you charged for it.
Avoid that late-night, feeling of resentment, because you did not charge enough!

Further Reading

• Cost impact analysis of rush orders using line simulations