Wal-Mart Fines

Pablo

Pablo

Site Supporter
Jan 25, 2008
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Mississauga, Ontario
www.igosalesandmarketing.com
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I always hate these situations. Contracted a carrier to deliver to Wal-Mart, he showed up late and now Wal-Mart is charging our customer a $1000 fine.

The carrier knew about the fine for late delivery, recieved the instructions in writing about the concequences of being late.

How should I handle this? Carrier is trying to get out of the $1000 fine liability.

I sympathize, but should I eat this? Should my customer?

How do other carriers deal with these situations?
 
No one should ever have to eat fines, unless days late and no really reason for being late. A company I use to work for fault against a Walmart fine last year and won, because it's there is no actual law on it. I will try and get your more information, not sure if the whole charge, customer and such was thrown out as well. I think the biggest thing is if you don't have that there is a $1000 dollar fine penalty for being late at all you have no fight in the carrier being reasonable in paying the fine.
I will get back to you with more details.
But what kills me is even if you arrive at your appt time or earlier at Walmart you can still get stuck there for 6 hours, then there's always a fight to get the waiting time and customers can't understand why you get held up for that long either. I have told brokers/customers who try and book Walmarts with us we will take it but will not be charged $1000 for being late with good reason and if we get held there for other an hour and we are on time for the appt we will charge Walmart $1000 for the late unload.
 
If they are a regular carrier for you and do a lot of loads to customers that have a penalty for late delivery then usually what happens is they charge a little extra on each load so they can pay the fine or you / your customer takes the chance on cheapest rates and pay the fines as they happen. Unfortunately it is not just Wal Mart that has non compliance fines, it is just about every retailer at this point. If you talk to a large carrier like Trans X they will tell you exactly the percentage of loads they will be late on and they are usually right. This is the trucking business and no matter who the carrier there will always be something to cause a truck to be late. If you do not want to have this company not do work for you again do not pay them but I think your customer has to be willing to pay a premium for appointments (that have fines) and if they are not then good luck because this will be an ongoing problem. We deal with every major retailer in Canada and it is only going to get worse.
 
I have to agree with Canadian Bacon. The only way to stop this is for Carriers to refuse Walmart Freight. I will not willingly provide any equipment to these SOB's or Canadian Tire for that matter. I wonder if consumers of their products could fine them when they waste our time standing in long line ups in their stores!
 
Now you know why they have every day low prices!;) American capatalism at it's best....

it all has to do with contractual agreements.
 
Has anyone experienced the "fine" problem with Wal-Mart USA or is it just a Canadian thing? Unfortunately, so much of Wal-Mart Canada's traffic policy is dictated by Supply Chain Management.
 
About 5 years ago Wal Mart had a meeting for carriers that delivered to them on a regular basis. It was a very good meeting they explained everything, how to avoid fines etc. The biggest thing was not to lie be able to back up why you are late and definitely give them warning if you are going to be late with a valid reason, ie: road closed by police which can be verified, a breakdown backed up by invoices etc. The meeting was held by SCM but it was all Wal Mart they controlled the meeting and they started the fines. All the other retailers are getting to be worse, it is a game for sure but if you can figure it out there is money to be made.
 
As a smaller carrier, simply avoid going to these types of drops. There are too many variables that can come into play, and eatting a $1000 fine for a $500 shipment just seems like a ridiculous risk.

I'd probably be more willing to gamble a $1000 fine for delay, if they were willing to provide a $1000 bonus if they can't offload me in time (when we arrive on schedule).
 
A lot of great comments on this issue. I've dealt with the famous $ 1000.00 fine for years and heard of a number of carriers who have went to court and won against Wal-mart.

There are a few points of interest I wanted to continue with.

Giving them a reason does not actually mean that much. I have called them when the road was closed by accident and it was all over the news. The girl re-scheduled and said fine and then 7 months later was fined. Now how is anyone reasonably going to get proof of a traffic accident that late on.

Second, people can refuse wal-mart freight all they want to, but there will always be someone right behind them willing to take it.

As for American Capitalism.... 100 % on the money.... People need to understand that when they shop at wal-mart, they are getting those low prices because fellow consumers who are in the transport or related industries are paying for it through ridiuclous fines, not to mention the effect these fines have on the smaller companies staying in business.

And lastly and I realise I will probably get a lot of flack for this, but if a carrier agrees to the terms and the $ 1000.00 is included, than they are responsible bottom line. IF there is a reason and people are notified, than obviously not, but there are many carriers who don't call and show up a day late and then try and back out of the fine. For those carriers, I have taken the $1000 off their bill each time. Watch what you are signing....it is upheld in court.

oh... and to make things easier... Have a contract with your client outlining what you will accept the fine for and what you will not. The more information laid out in the beginning, the less chance you will have to worry about absorbing the fine to keep your client.... Make everyone aware of who is responsible for what. brokerage doesn't mean sitting on your A** pushing paper... it means taking care of both the client and carrier in a way that both parties gain enrichment through your services....
 
As strict as Walmart is and I agree they are out to lunch we service the Calgary SCM location with ltl every week and sure there are weeks where due to other deliveries or weather we can't make the Appt that I booked before departure but in every case we never show up "late" because rather then arriving late you email them before hand and get the appt changed to a day where you wont be late. Sometimes po's need to be extended etc etc etc but working these details out prior to dock time is much better then the ill will and $1000 fine which is issued after a dock time is missed with no notice. If you don't have someone in your operation willing to send a emergency 4am email walmart freight should be avoided. I add $200 for the B.S. of dealing with them and it makes me feel a bit better when it takes 2-3 hrs to deliver 7 skids that don't need to be broken down.
 
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