Check your grain settlement against your contract
The contract says one price. The cheque is almost always less. Put in the contract, your scale tickets and the settlement, and see where the difference went: price, weight or deductions, and whether the statement adds up.
Your contract and tickets
Add up the net weight on every scale ticket this settlement pays for, before dockage.
The settlement
Copy these off the statement.
Every deduction on the statement: check-offs and levies, drying, cleaning, trucking, and anything else. Include any tax charged on a deduction.
| Where it went | Amount | Per delivered |
|---|
Still tracking this in Excel? I’ll set up your book for you, from your spreadsheet or your contracts.
Where the money goes between the contract and the cheque
A settlement pays less than the contract for three different reasons, and it helps to keep them apart, because each one is argued about differently.
Price
The price paid per tonne is below the contract price: a grade, protein or other quality discount, or a different price than you agreed.
Weight
The buyer paid on fewer tonnes than your tickets show: dockage, moisture shrink, or a weight you'd want to check against the tickets.
Deductions
Money taken off the gross: check-offs and levies, drying, cleaning, trucking, and any tax on those charges.
The checker values everything at your contract price. What your grain was worth on the contract, minus the three, is what you were paid.
A worked example
The sample loaded above is a canola contract at $655.00 a tonne. The scale tickets add up to 41.280 tonnes. The settlement pays on 40.785 tonnes at $650.00, takes $132.55 in check-off and $3.00 a tonne for cleaning, and pays $26,255.34.
| Where it went | Amount |
|---|---|
| The contract, on your tickets: 41.280 t at $655.00 | $27,038.40 |
| Price: $5.00 a tonne less, on 40.785 t | −$203.93 |
| Weight: 0.495 t not paid for, at $655.00 | −$324.22 |
| Deductions: check-off $132.55, cleaning $122.36 | −$254.91 |
| Paid | $26,255.34 |
That is $783.06 less than the contract was worth, or $18.97 a tonne across what was delivered. The biggest piece is weight, not price. Here it is 1.2% dockage, and it cost more than the grade discount.
These figures are an illustration, not any buyer's real rates.
How to check one, step by step
- Find every scale ticket the settlement covers. The statement usually lists ticket numbers.
- Add up their net weights. If a ticket is missing from the statement, that is worth a phone call on its own.
- Compare the price paid with the contract. If it is lower, the statement should say why, usually a grade or quality discount.
- List every deduction and make sure you know what each one is.
- Check the arithmetic: price times quantity, minus the deductions, should give the net. The checker does this for you.
Questions
What weight should I put in from my scale tickets?
The net weight off each ticket, before dockage, added up for every load on the settlement. If the buyer then paid on less, the difference shows up as weight, which is where dockage and shrink land.
Where do grade discounts go?
Into the price. If the settlement pays a lower price per tonne than the contract because of grade, protein or another quality discount, put in the price it actually paid and the difference shows up as price.
What if the settlement doesn't add up?
First check you typed every deduction, including any tax on a charge. If it still doesn't add up, ask the buyer to explain the difference line by line. The checker only does the arithmetic on what you enter; it can't see the buyer's records.
Is anything I type sent anywhere?
No. The checker works in your browser. Nothing you type is sent or stored.
Every settlement, checked against its contract
In GrainPosition, you photograph a settlement and the quantity, price and every deduction fill in for you to check. It then shows what you contracted against what you were actually paid, crop by crop, and which settlements are still unpaid.
There is a live demo with nothing to sign up for, and a two-minute video.
Have a lookSources and method
Method: arithmetic on the numbers you enter. The contract value is the contract price times the weight on your tickets. Price is the contract price minus the price paid, times the quantity paid on. Weight is the contract price times the difference between your tickets and the quantity paid on. Deductions are added up as entered, per unit times the quantity paid on or as a total. The contract value minus those three is the net the settlement should show.
No buyer data is fetched; every number is one you type.
Still tracking this in Excel?
I’ll import your spreadsheet or your contracts and set up your book in GrainPosition for you, so you can try it on your own numbers. Nothing is charged today, and nothing starts without your yes. See how it works in two minutes.