Every logistics leader knows rejects and delays are frustrating. But what often gets missed is just how expensive lost time really is. Unlike damaged goods or overtime costs, true lost time figures rarely shows up neatly on a balance sheet. Instead, it shows up as missed deadlines, frustrated customers, and staff firefighting problems instead of adding value.

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Why Lost Time Hurts More Than You Think

Here’s the kicker… there is still ONE CRITICAL ITEM MISSED, and you will discover it with one question:

If one employee is working on one of these:

• Managing Customer complaint communications
• Managing Customer returns (at business cost, not Customer cost)
• Carrying out rework of a rejected (full or part) deliverable

Then every accumulated hour is one hours overhead cost, plus any applicable materials and/or consumables costs, PLUS the hour lost not doing work that makes your profit.

If a person is employed to work on delivery targets but is pull away to manage returns, it’s a double loss. Is that a clear line in your operational costs?

If a person or role is created to work specifically on any of the above issues, then this is has a direct negative impact on your operating profits.

The impacts you and your teams see

• Productivity impacts – operations planners see carry over to other shifts, or overtime to keep to plan

• Productivity drops – operatives spend time fixing rejects or chasing delayed shipments.

• Costs rise silently – trucks idle, staff stand waiting, and overheads keep ticking while nothing moves forward.

The impacts you and your Customers see

• Service suffers – Customers feel the knock-on effect of slow responses and missed commitments.

Lost time isn’t just an operational inconvenience. It’s a profit leak.

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Common Causes of Lost Time

1. Rejects and Rework – A single quality error can double handling time.

2. Delays in Decision-Making – Waiting for approvals or missing information stalls the flow.

3. Bottlenecks – When one weak link slows the entire chain.

4. Poor Communication – Teams working with incomplete or outdated information.

5. Lack of Accountability – Problems repeat because no one owns the fix.

6. Poor Root Cause Analysis – Not finding the TRUE UNDERLYING CAUSE, is the biggest issue with many businesses, resulting in these two phrases
   1. “It keeps happening…”
   2. “I keep telling them”

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“How do I stop the cycle?”

The good news? Lost time can be prevented.

Here are five practical steps:

1. Track Time Lost, Not Just Units Shipped / Rejected / Returned

   If you only measure output, you’ll miss the hours wasted fixing errors. Introduce KPIs for lost hours.

2. Build a “Right First Time” Culture

   Shift the mindset from “fixing rejects” to “preventing rejects.” Prevention is always cheaper.

3. Improve Information Flow

   Clear instructions, shared systems, and real-time updates reduce waiting time.

4. Identify and Remove Bottlenecks

   Review where work piles up and address the constraint — it’s usually process, not people.

5. Make Accountability Visible

   Give every team member ownership of quality at their stage. Problems stop repeating when accountability starts.

6. Be diligent with Root Cause Investigations

Many teams rely on one tool, or method for finding causes, and often stop at ‘people problems’, when the are a mix of tools and methods that used together can give a better outcome. AND, focusing on people will get the wrong answer. If it truly is a person, ask how they have been recruited and how they are being managed.

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The Takeaway

Lost time is the biggest invisible cost in logistics. Left unchecked, it quietly drains productivity and service levels. But with the right culture, clear measures, and a focus on prevention, businesses can recover those hours and turn them into competitive advantage.

👉 Want to see the cost of lost time in your business?

Use our Cost of Lost Time Calculator and find out how much wasted time is really costing you.