Dates & time zones
Clipp runs its business calendar on New York time (Eastern, America/New_York) for every supplier, wherever they or their customers are. A "day" (the invoice date, the due date, "today" for overdue checks, and a report period) is a New York calendar day. Some dates are calendar dates with no time at all, like the invoice date: October 3 is October 3 on every screen and document, for everyone.
Who uses it
- Supplier staff set invoice dates, payment terms and estimated delivery dates, filter invoices by date, and chase overdue invoices.
- Restaurants read invoice and due dates on the PDF, the pay page, statements and reminder emails, and get reminders before or after the due date.
The two kinds of date
| Kind | What it is | Examples | Same for every viewer? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calendar date | A day, with no time and no time zone | Invoice Date, Estimated Delivery Date, a sales report period | Yes, always |
| Moment | An exact point in time, shown in a time zone | When the order was placed, delivered, paid; the due date's deadline | Shown as a day in New York on documents. Some screens use the viewer's own zone (see Known limitations) |
New York is the business clock
- There is no time-zone setting. Every supplier is on New York time, including suppliers elsewhere. The business record has no time-zone field.
- "Today" means today in New York. At 11:30 PM in New York on October 3 it's still October 3, even though it's already October 4 in UTC. At 9:30 PM in Los Angeles on October 3 it's already October 4, because it's 12:30 AM in New York.
- Each invoice records the time zone it was issued in, so documents already issued would keep their dates if per-supplier time zones are ever added.
Invoice date
The day printed as Invoice Date. Payment terms count from it.
How it's set
- Automatically, on the New York day the order is marked Ready for Delivery.
- If the order goes straight to Delivered without Ready for Delivery, it's the New York day it was delivered.
- By the supplier, in the Invoice Date field (see below). Once a person has set a date, the app never overwrites it. A sold order always keeps a date: if the supplier clears it once the order is Ready for Delivery or Delivered, it goes back to the day the order was dispatched.
| What happened | Invoice Date |
|---|---|
| Marked Ready for Delivery at 4 PM New York, Oct 3. Delivered Oct 4 | Oct 3 |
| Marked Ready for Delivery at 11:30 PM New York, Oct 3 | Oct 3 (it's Oct 4 in UTC, but the business day is Oct 3) |
| Delivered Oct 4, never marked Ready for Delivery | Oct 4 |
| Supplier set the date to Oct 1 before dispatch, then dispatched Oct 3 | Oct 1. A person's date wins |
| Supplier cleared the date before dispatch, then dispatched Oct 3 | Oct 3. Clearing a date hands it back to the app |
| Order Ready for Delivery Oct 3, supplier clears the date | Oct 3. A sold order can't be left without an invoice date |
| Marked Ready for Delivery Oct 3, then moved back to Packing | Blank again. An automatic date goes with the dispatch it came from. A date the supplier typed stays |
Where the supplier sets it
| Place | Field | Default | When it can be edited |
|---|---|---|---|
| New order dialog | Invoice Date | Today, on the device's own calendar | While creating |
| Order detail, product details toolbar | Invoice Date (date picker with clear, cancel and accept) | Whatever is set | Until the order is Delivered or Canceled. Then the field is read-only |
The picked day is saved as that exact day. Changing it moves the due date with it.
How it's shown
The invoice date is shown exactly as stored, with no conversion: on the invoice list, the invoice preview, statements (PDF, the restaurant's statement link and the restaurant app) and the overdue email ("Invoice Created On").
Due date
Due date = invoice date + the payment terms' days, counted in calendar days (weekends and holidays included). The invoice is due by the end of that day, New York time.
Payment terms
| Shown in the app | On the invoice PDF | Days |
|---|---|---|
| COD | COD | 0 |
| Net 7 Days | Net 7 days | 7 |
| Net 15 Days | Net 15 days | 15 |
| Net 30 Days | Net 30 days | 30 |
| Net 45 Days | Net 45 days | 45 |
| Net 60 Days | Net 60 days | 60 |
| Net 90 Days | Net 90 days | 90 |
- Default: COD.
- Per customer: the Terms box on the customer's page sets the customer's default terms. A new order takes them when it's created, and a restaurant's cart takes them again when it's sent if the order is still COD. A later change to the customer's terms doesn't change orders already placed. Vendors have their own default for purchase orders.
- Per order: the Due Date select on the order. It's hidden once the order is Delivered or Canceled.
- Changing the terms or the invoice date moves the due date. Nobody types a due date in directly.
Worked examples
| Invoice date | Terms | Due date | Due by (New York) | Overdue from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 3, 2026 | COD | Oct 3 | 11:59 PM Oct 3 | Oct 4 |
| Oct 3, 2026 | Net 30 | Nov 2 | 11:59 PM Nov 2 | Nov 3 |
| Oct 20, 2026 | Net 15 | Nov 4 | 11:59 PM Nov 4 (the day after daylight saving ends still counts as one day) | Nov 5 |
| Dec 15, 2026 | Net 30 | Jan 14, 2027 | 11:59 PM Jan 14 | Jan 15 |
| Feb 28, 2026 | Net 7 | Mar 7 | 11:59 PM Mar 7 | Mar 8 |
| (none yet) | Net 30 | No due date | Can't be overdue |
The app adds the days to the date first and only then attaches New York time. A daylight-saving change can't shift the due date by a day. (#2362: a COD invoice dated 09/16 had printed "due 09/15".)
How it's shown
| Where | Due date shows |
|---|---|
| Invoices page, invoice preview | The date, e.g. 11/02/2026, once the order has a due date |
| Order not yet invoiced | The terms, e.g. "Net 30 Days" (verify on the orders list) |
On the invoice PDF: Terms, Order Placed, Invoice Date, Due Date (and Est. Delivery on a packing slip only).
Overdue
An invoice is overdue from the day after its due date, judged on the New York calendar, while all three hold:
- Today in New York is after the due date.
- It isn't fully paid: it's Unpaid, Partially paid or Processing (a bank payment still clearing).
- The order went out: it's Ready for Delivery or Delivered.
A canceled, fully paid or never-dispatched order is never overdue. Full rules and where the badge shows are in Overdue.
| Due date | Today (New York) | Paid? | Overdue? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2 | Nov 2, 11:00 PM | No | No. It's still the due day |
| Nov 2 | Nov 3, 12:05 AM | No | Yes |
| Nov 2 | Nov 10 | Paid in full Nov 9 | No |
| Nov 2 | Nov 10 | $40 of $100 paid | Yes (Partially paid) |
| Nov 2 | Nov 10 | Bank payment still clearing | Yes (Processing) |
| Nov 2 | Nov 10 | Order canceled | No |
Payment reminders
Suppliers can turn on an automatic reminder on the Notifications tab of Profile Settings (the manage-account page): "Set Due Reminder". "Sends an auto payment reminder to the customer via email and SMS before and after the invoice due date."
- One reminder rule per supplier: On due date, or a number of days Before due or After due, up to "Maximum 30 days".
- The reminder goes out on the New York day that matches the rule. A rule of 3 days after due on an invoice due Nov 2 sends on Nov 5.
- The automatic reminder doesn't cover current orders yet, so a rule set today sends nothing for them. Use Notify to Pay instead. See Known limitations.
- When in the day: the job runs every hour from 11:00 to 16:00 UTC (6–11 AM New York in winter, 7 AM–12 PM in summer). Each reminder is sent once, so it normally arrives in the first run, early morning New York time (verify against live sends).
- Separately, staff can send an overdue reminder by hand with Notify to Pay. Its email subject is "Payment Reminder: Overdue Invoice #…".
Estimated delivery date
Estimated Delivery Date ("Est. Delivery") is a calendar date the supplier sets for their own planning.
- Supplier-only. It prints on the packing slip, never on the restaurant's invoice.
- New orders default it to today. It can be changed on the order until the order is Delivered or Canceled.
- There is no requested delivery date, delivery window or order cut-off time anywhere in the app.
Date ranges in filters and reports
| Where | How the range is read |
|---|---|
| Sales report period | Calendar days, sent as days and read as New York days. The default period starts Jan 1, 2023 |
| Invoices page, invoice date range | Calendar days, compared as written |
| Invoices page, due date range | Start and end of day on the viewer's device |
| Invoices page, "Overdue Invoices" switch | The overdue rule. It turns off the due-date range |
| Statement list filter | Start and end of day on the viewer's device |
| Accounts Receivable / Payable "As of date" | Aged by due date into Current, 1–30, 31–60, 61–90 and 90+ days |
Where it shows up
Order detail (Invoice Date, Due Date, Est. Delivery) · New order dialog · Invoice list (filters and Overdue Invoices switch) · Invoice preview · Invoice PDF and packing slip · Statements (PDF, link, restaurant app) · Overdue and reminder emails and SMS · Pay page (due date in New York, "Overdue" badge) · Sales report · AR and AP aging reports.
Permissions
Anyone with order edit access can change an order's Invoice Date, Due Date terms and Estimated Delivery Date until the order is Delivered or Canceled. Customer default terms are changed on the customer page by anyone with full customer access (verify). Reminder settings are on the Notifications tab of Profile Settings (verify which roles can change them).
Decisions
- The invoice date is a calendar date, never a time. A time shown in another zone printed the day before. (#2500)
- The invoice date is set at Ready for Delivery, else Delivered. The invoice exists from dispatch. Evening dispatches used to be reported against the next day. (#2202, #2499)
- A date a person set or cleared is never overwritten. The system only fills a blank it owns.
- The due date is worked out, never stored on its own. It can't drift from the invoice date and terms. (#2362)
- Due by the end of the day, New York. COD printed the day before the invoice date until this changed. (#2362)
- Overdue starts the day after the due date. A restaurant has the whole due day to pay. (#2499)
- Report periods are sent as calendar days. Non-Eastern users saw their sales report shifted by a day. (#2333, #2204)
Known limitations
- Every supplier is on New York time, including suppliers in other time zones (confirm this is intended).
- Some screens and documents show moments in the viewer's or server's own zone, not New York. (verify) The supplier app's due-date column, the statement PDF and email, and the reminder email format the due date without New York time. A due date can then read a day later (east of New York, and on documents produced on the server in UTC) or a day earlier (west of New York).
- Statement aging and the statement's Overdue status count days on the server's clock (UTC). (verify) An invoice may move into a later aging bucket a day late.
- The invoice PDF prints the Invoice Date as 2026-10-03 while Order Placed and Due Date print as 10/03/2026 (verify).
- The new order dialog's default Invoice Date is the device's today, not New York's. Near midnight they can differ.
- The "By Delivery Date" filter on the Invoices page filters by invoice date.
- Automatic payment reminders don't cover current orders. The "Set Due Reminder" job still reads the old order store, not current orders. Staff can still use Notify to Pay. (Reported to engineering.)
- Purchase orders still treat their invoice date as a moment, shown in the viewer's own zone.
FAQ
The due date is a weekend. Is it still due that day? Yes. Terms count calendar days, weekends and holidays included. See Due date.
I'm in California. Why does the invoice say tomorrow's date for an order I dispatched tonight? After 9 PM Pacific it's already the next day in New York, and invoice dates use the New York day. Set the Invoice Date by hand if you need a different day.
Why isn't my invoice showing as overdue on its due date? The restaurant has until the end of the due day, New York time. It becomes overdue the next morning. See Overdue.
I changed the payment terms and the due date moved. Why? The due date is always the invoice date plus the term days, so it follows the terms.
The invoice has no due date. It hasn't been invoiced yet: it has no invoice date until it's marked Ready for Delivery (or Delivered), or until someone sets one. The terms show instead.
I cleared the Invoice Date and it never came back after dispatch. That's on purpose. Clearing it counts as a person's decision, so the app won't fill it in. Set the date by hand.
Why did my customer get a reminder at 7 AM? Reminders go out early morning New York time on the day the rule points at. See Payment reminders.