Fuel, freight, and energy charges are some of the many items distributors are discovering some customers are willing to pay for. The key word is “some.”

Brent Grover, author of the new book, "Strategic Pricing for Distributors: Tools and Rules for Building Higher Margins," recently spoke with MDM about his new book for the latest issue, and he says that the key for any add-on to an invoice is to do it in customer segments that are least likely to resist those charges. "It’s not a matter of being tough and putting in an across-the-board change," he says. Distributors should not want to lose a customer due to an add-on charge.

"The ability to recover outbound freight charges is a big profit lever for distributors," …