31/05/2024
As we approach another weekend, and the last day of May, I am writing a post I have written hundreds of times & then deleted. It is one about something I never see talked about here, cash flow & non payment for small businesses. As a small business, especially one which husband & wife run together, this is not an extra income for us, it is our income. We have kept most of our prices the same, despite rising costs from every single one of our suppliers, for the 14 years we have owned Sid Horner & Son. We go out of our way constantly to turn work around fast for our customers, to deliver free of charge, we work 6 days a week and never turn a job down even if it means having to work nights & weekends.
Despite all of this, each month we are finding we are overdue thousands of pounds from customers. Yes, thousands! This is frustrating in SO many ways. It means I have to chase those payments, often multiple times, not only is this awkward but it is also taking up more of my precious time. It means we can’t budget because we have no idea when those payments are coming in. It means we sometimes can’t enjoy our weekends/school holidays/bank holidays because we are waiting on that money coming in. It means we have to pay for the materials and products to produce that printing despite not being paid for it. It has sometimes meant we have had to cancel plans because we simply haven’t been paid for jobs done, delivered and used. It means we haven’t had a holiday in 7 years.
In all honesty it just makes me sad, mad, frustrated, and fed up. It is the only thing that has ever caused us to want to give up printing and go and get a “proper job”. Our children should be able to know their parents working means their parents are being paid.
We have therefore decided we will no longer be allowing any printing to leave without being paid for up front. We accept cash, card payments or bank transfer before collection. We hope that all our lovely customers understand & know this was not an easy decision, we have built the business on trust & those who know us hopefully know we go above and beyond and would help anybody who was struggling, but we simply can’t keep going as things have been recently 🫶 lots of love from The Horners x
