Bell makes its move on freight

Broadliner has sent out letters to managed accounts informing them of increase in freight charges

Bell Micro has become the latest distributor to raise its freight charges in the face of spiralling fuel costs.

The broadliner has this week informed all of its UK managed accounts of its new charge structure. Bell’s internal sales employees have also been told they must now recover freight costs on the products they sell to meet their targets.

Graeme Watt, president of worldwide distributor at Bell, told CRN: “We are no longer prepared to provide false discounts to customers either on a case-by-case or contractual basis.

“We have sent a letter to the vast majority of our resellers in the last few days confirming that we are looking at it and will contact them individually to discuss the impact on them.”

Watt added that no-one would be immune from the changes, which will be rolled out across Europe over the coming weeks.

“Anyone not currently being charged should expect to be charged and those that aren’t being charged much should expect to see charges raised. This will touch everyone,” he said.

The move follows similar moves by Ingram Micro and Computer 2000, and Watt said the majority of large distributors have now tweaked their pricing structure to reflect the recent fuel hike.

“We are doing something that other industries did weeks ago,” he concluded.