Calculate landed cost to compare domestic and overseas suppliers
A side-by-side landed cost model covering freight, duty, inventory carrying, and risk so the cheapest unit price isn't mistaken for cheapest.
The prompt
Help me compare the true landed cost of buying the same item from different suppliers.
Item and annual volume: [PART, UNITS PER YEAR, ORDER SIZE]
Supplier options: [FOR EACH: LOCATION, UNIT PRICE, CURRENCY, INCOTERM, MOQ, LEAD TIME, PAYMENT TERMS]
Freight costs per shipment: [OCEAN / AIR / TRUCK QUOTES, IF KNOWN]
Duty and taxes: [DUTY RATE, TARIFFS, BROKERAGE FEES - or "unknown"]
Our inventory carrying cost rate: [e.g. 20-25% per year]
Other costs: [PACKAGING, INSPECTION, TOOLING, TRAVEL, QUALITY RISK]
Exchange rate assumption: [RATE OR RANGE]
Build the comparison per unit and per year, including:
- Purchase price converted at my exchange rate.
- Freight, insurance, and handling based on the Incoterm (who pays what).
- Duties, tariffs, customs brokerage.
- Pipeline and safety stock carrying cost driven by longer lead times and variability.
- One-time costs amortized over the volume.
- Payment term cash impact.
- A risk allowance for quality, disruption, or currency moves, clearly labeled as a judgment.
Rules: use only my numbers; mark assumptions [ASSUMPTION] and missing data [ADD]. Duty and tariff rates must be confirmed with a customs broker; flag them [CONFIRM].
Return:
1. A table: Cost element | Supplier A | Supplier B | Supplier C (per unit and annual).
2. The break-even: at what unit price or exchange rate the ranking flips.
3. A sensitivity check on the 3 inputs that matter most.
4. A short recommendation with the non-cost factors to weigh.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Data & Analysis prompts
What to fill in
- PART, UNITS PER YEAR, ORDER SIZE
- OCEAN / AIR / TRUCK QUOTES, IF KNOWN
- DUTY RATE, TARIFFS, BROKERAGE FEES - or "unknown"
- e.g. 20-25% per year
- PACKAGING, INSPECTION, TOOLING, TRAVEL, QUALITY RISK
- RATE OR RANGE
- ASSUMPTION
- ADD
- CONFIRM
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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