I can't say exactly where, but
one of our suppliers has an abnormally slow invoice issuance process—they're supposed to invoice on the 20th with payment due the 10th of the following month,
but the invoices usually arrive around the 29th.
If the 20th falls on a Friday,
sending the invoice on Monday the 23rd and arriving by the 24th or at the latest the 25th would be barely tolerable,
but when it arrives on the 29th, I've usually already paid all the other suppliers,
so I got frustrated and started calculating the invoice amounts myself
and paying before the invoice even arrives.
This is possible because the packing slip includes the total amount including tax,
so I can just add them up.
However, there are cases where this doesn't work—
for example, with Bridg○stone Cycle and similar companies,
even if the total for baskets, fenders, and racks for regular bikes happens to be exactly ¥3,000 before tax,
the tax-included amount isn't ¥3,240...
instead they use their own calculation method where individual items are rounded differently,
resulting in a combined total of ¥3,241 on the invoice.
Monthly differences can add up to about ¥20,
so in those cases I absolutely need to see the amount stated on the invoice to pay exactly right.
So when I started paying this supplier ahead of time before their invoice arrived,
they actually pulled off the bold move of
stopping invoice issuance altogether,
and for about six months after that they didn't send any invoices.
It was so bad that when their sales rep came by, I complained,
but since nothing improved,
I deliberately overpaid December's bill by ¥1,000.
Then, finally realizing they'd have to issue an invoice showing the overpaid amount,
an invoice arrived for the first time in a while,
but it was still around the 29th, so the following month—
since it was January (New Year's) anyway—I overpaid again by ¥1,951 to
make the carried-over amount exactly ¥2,951 (good fortune).
It's the kind of amount you often see as temple donation check amounts at New Year's visits.
I was planning to keep adding to it from the next month onward in stages—
¥4,129 (good luck), ¥11,104 (great year), ¥19,190,930 (iku-iku oku-sama)—
but the other day that supplier called me up and said
"You've had overpayments for two months straight, so please adjust this month."
Why the heck am I the one getting yelled at?
When I told this story to the sales rep the other day, they said they'd get their act together starting this month,
and the invoice arrived on the 23rd. So you can do it when you try.
By the way, I've already paid it. I've also adjusted everything. Please check.
one of our suppliers has an abnormally slow invoice issuance process—they're supposed to invoice on the 20th with payment due the 10th of the following month,
but the invoices usually arrive around the 29th.
If the 20th falls on a Friday,
sending the invoice on Monday the 23rd and arriving by the 24th or at the latest the 25th would be barely tolerable,
but when it arrives on the 29th, I've usually already paid all the other suppliers,
so I got frustrated and started calculating the invoice amounts myself
and paying before the invoice even arrives.
This is possible because the packing slip includes the total amount including tax,
so I can just add them up.
However, there are cases where this doesn't work—
for example, with Bridg○stone Cycle and similar companies,
even if the total for baskets, fenders, and racks for regular bikes happens to be exactly ¥3,000 before tax,
the tax-included amount isn't ¥3,240...
instead they use their own calculation method where individual items are rounded differently,
resulting in a combined total of ¥3,241 on the invoice.
Monthly differences can add up to about ¥20,
so in those cases I absolutely need to see the amount stated on the invoice to pay exactly right.
So when I started paying this supplier ahead of time before their invoice arrived,
they actually pulled off the bold move of
stopping invoice issuance altogether,
and for about six months after that they didn't send any invoices.
It was so bad that when their sales rep came by, I complained,
but since nothing improved,
I deliberately overpaid December's bill by ¥1,000.
Then, finally realizing they'd have to issue an invoice showing the overpaid amount,
an invoice arrived for the first time in a while,
but it was still around the 29th, so the following month—
since it was January (New Year's) anyway—I overpaid again by ¥1,951 to
make the carried-over amount exactly ¥2,951 (good fortune).
It's the kind of amount you often see as temple donation check amounts at New Year's visits.
I was planning to keep adding to it from the next month onward in stages—
¥4,129 (good luck), ¥11,104 (great year), ¥19,190,930 (iku-iku oku-sama)—
but the other day that supplier called me up and said
"You've had overpayments for two months straight, so please adjust this month."
Why the heck am I the one getting yelled at?
When I told this story to the sales rep the other day, they said they'd get their act together starting this month,
and the invoice arrived on the 23rd. So you can do it when you try.
By the way, I've already paid it. I've also adjusted everything. Please check.