Wal-Mart Achilles ’ Heel

To be fair Wal-Mart did revolutionize many things that people today take for granted. But that has led to a major fault in the way they do business. One of the obvious signs is when there are many people waiting to be checked out but with only a couple of registers open. And one of them is for ten items or less. All the while a cashier manager is walking around while talking into a walkie-talkie to see if someone can come up front to pick up some return items.

The one that is not so obvious is going on in the back of the store, particularly the receiving area. Many of them are great to work with but there are a few you wish you’d never met. As many vendors have to wake up around 2 to 3 AM in the morning to get ready for work, pick up their products from their factory and wait for the Wal-Mart receiving area to open up by at least 4:30 AM(ish).

At one local Super Wal-Mart there are two receivers who can’t decide whether they want to work or not. For that matter what mood swing they’ll be in. If they like you then you can be in and out very quickly, But if they hate you, well you can be there for a very long time as other vendors come and go until one of them gets around to checking you in. The threat of being kicked out of the store indefinitely for violating their company policy is forever flaunted about.

One morning as four vendors, who had been waiting since 4:30 AM for the receiver to open up, were told by 6 AM from the store manager that both receivers had called out sick. Someone else would arrive by 7 AM to check in the vendors. The manager couldn’t open the door because of company policy or even check them in because she doesn’t know how to do it. By then more vendors showed up as many simply left to work their other stores.

But the biggest headache comes when trying to do anything within the store. You can get permission for a display in the store but a day after you build it, they take it down to put one of their store brand items in its place. Or you get permission for a display from the store manager but nobody else working there knew anything about it. You end up taking the whole thing to the back until someone can verify you had permission. All the while the receiver is complaining about you having too much product in the backroom.

On another note; not at this store but in a few other Wal-Mart’s, when their delivery truck arrives, they will block the entire backstock area for the vendors so no one can get to it until the next day. Between 2 to 3 PM pallets are everywhere in the backroom as many vendors are unable to properly service the store will end up going home for the day or to work their other stores. All the while knowing they will be lectured the next day for not servicing the store properly.

Wal-Mart seems to forget that the vendors who service their stores are customers too; or were.