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submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Two days after taking a job for Tesla, owner of The Giving Pies got a simple text message canceling the order

A catering contract to celebrate Black Heritage Month turned into a tough lesson for a Black-owned bakery in the South Bay earlier this month.

What started as a $16,000 deal ended up costing the small business owner thousands of dollars instead.

On Valentine’s Day, the owner of The Giving Pies in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood received a pretty sweet call from a representative with Tesla: a catering job for thousands of mini-pies for a Black History Month event.

Owner Voahangy Rasetarinera, who started the business out of her home in 2017, says both sides agreed on a quote and exchanged an invoice for 4,000 pies for delivery this week. Because of the tight turnaround, Rasetarinera asked staff to work extra hours, she bought ingredients and packaging supplies and declined at least three other catering jobs.

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[-] dustyData@lemmy.world 228 points 9 months ago

This sucks but it is a hard lesson about dealing with large companies. If any company wants anything that doesn't comes off the shelf of the store, they have to pay upfront. Pay has to be by a certain amount of days in advance of delivery date or the date is not guaranteed and will be late. Work doesn't start until payment is done. If they want to pay after delivery, sign a contract, require an advance of at least half of the bill or materials cost (whichever is highest), non-refundable, include a cancellation fee. Put this shit up as terms of service on a website and direct everyone to that page whenever you are contacted by a new client. The larger the client company, the more important it is to be this strict. For you it might be a bankruptcy inducing amount, but to them it will be immaterial pocket change, so you have to hold your ground.

[-] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 159 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I was a small business owner in this same situation. I got a contract, I got partial payment up front, then they reneged upon my finishing the job and asking for the rest of the payment. They said they'd pay me 10% of what they owe, AND demanded additional services for free. I took my contract to a bunch of lawyers, all who said the same thing "They're too rich to sue. They will delay, stall, and after years, even if you won, they still probably won't pay." What they owed me, they bragged about paying every time they flew their private jet. They could easily have paid, but instead they decided to destroy me and my company.

This isn't something the small business owner can protect against. To the rich, none of us or our laws matter.

[-] The_v@lemmy.world 79 points 9 months ago

The partial payment wasn't large enough if it left you wrecked at the end. Generally the partial payment should pre-pay to cover all of your expenses and labor. The final payment is the profit margin. That way you are never on the hook for a potential loss and will always break even.

So for the bakery, they should have had a full prepay policy on all special orders. Even if "customers" walked away because of the policy.

[-] someguy3@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I don't know what you think profit margin is but it's not much. At the point of getting full expenses you might as well ask for full payment.

Yeah then at least everyone gets paid, and the workers walk away with a shitload of free pies!!

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this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2024
545 points (98.1% liked)

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