The agreement
When the gap is the deal
The difference between two working weeks is a real cost. It can be priced, asked about before signing, and written into the agreement.
Who is working when, for the people on this page
The supplier who quoted eleven per cent less
Two hours of overlap a day
The supplier who quoted eleven per cent more
Seven hours of overlap a day, and the same weekend as ours
two parties · five days of the seven are working days for all of them · Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri
The two quotations were compared on price, lead time and references. The right-hand column was in neither comparison and was worth more than the eleven per cent.
Writing the Time Zone Into the Agreement
Five lines in an agreement settle most of what otherwise gets discovered during a dispute, and they cost nothing while nobody has an interest.
Service Levels Measured In Their Working Days
A response time written in hours and delivered in working hours produces four different customer experiences from one level of service.
Pricing the Overlap
The difference between a supplier two hours away and one seven hours away is a real cost that appears in no quotation and is usually the larger number.
Choosing a Supplier By Their Calendar
A supplier's working week, holidays and overlap are assessable before an order is placed, and they belong in the assessment alongside price and lead time.
The Handover That Uses the Gap
An offset can work as a second shift, but only if the end of each day is written down for the start of the other, and most of the value is in two lines.
What the Gap Is Worth In Money
On most international orders the time spent making the thing is a minority of the elapsed time, and the majority is distributed across items nobody prices.
What to Ask Before Signing
A short list of questions asked before signature settles most of what otherwise gets discovered in the first difficult month of a relationship.
What This Is Actually About
The whole of this collection reduces to one asymmetry: you can change your own week and nobody else's, and everything useful follows from that.