I think it accomplishes a few things: recurring facetime, but also physical awareness of the magnitude of the point. If the vendor suddenly starts doing $500,00

I think it accomplishes a few things: recurring facetime, but also physical awareness of the magnitude of the point. If the vendor suddenly starts doing $500,000/month, both parties notice "Gee, we're going out to dinner a lot more than we used to." That seems an important fact to highlight.