How Walmart conducts contracts with private farmers:

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

As a former employee of a vegetable farm, let me give you an explanation of how selling vegetables to Wal-Mart works.

First you make an agreement with Wal-Mart to sell them X bushels of produce at Y price/bushel. You spend the entire week ramping up production, bringing in more pickers and hiring more packers to ensure you get your X bushels of product. You are especially picky about the quality of your product, because Wal-Mart's business represents a dynamic increase in sales and you want to impress them. You have everything picked, packed and prepped for Wal-Mart's pick-up (they always want to make the pick-up, rather than pay you to deliver) on Friday.

Next, Friday comes and goes, Wal-Marts truck never shows up. In fact, it doesn't show up for 4 days, all the while your fresh produce, which Wal-Mart has signed an agreement to buy and pick up on Friday, is rotting in the box. Nobody at Wal-Mart knows why the truck hasn't arrived, but they're rerouting to you immediately, assuring you that you will not be held responsible for the losses. Tuesday rolls around and the Wal-Mart truck shows up at 6pm an hour after you usually close up and go home. You've now paid your entire company for an extra hour of work, as you wait for the promised truck to arrive. It finally does arrive, and it comes with a Wal-Mart inspector.

Now the fun begins. The Wal-Mart inspector starts going through the produce that you picked and prepped for a Friday pick-up, at 6:30pm Tuesday. He/she immediately begins marking crates as below agreed upon quality, assuring you that you will be compensated full-price for these crates, and that he/she is just marking them so that the produce that is below grade is sent to Mexico or something. Finally, the inspector allows the fruit to be packed into Wal-Mart's non-refrigerated truck at about 8 o'clock. Again, you're paying your employees to wait to do this the whole time. They close up the truck, and tell you that you should receive your payment in a few weeks, and have you sign a receipt.

This is where it gets fun. The truck doesn't take the fruit to the nearest refrigerated Wal-Mart Distribution Center. Instead, it goes another day out of its way, to unload. When it gets there, the unrefrigerated fruit is inspected again. It's now been 5 or 6 days since it was supposed to be delivered to the refrigerated distributorship and there's been about a 30% loss of product. You're contacted by Wal-Mart and told that the product was not in the agreed upon condition and that they will be deducting a loss-penalty of 50% to your agreed upon price and will not be paying for the 30% of lost product. However, they will keep that lost product and use it in some sort of paste or juice or other form of private label Great Value product that can use the product. You protest Wal-Mart's unilateral negotiation and they tell you that they can refuse delivery of the product and have it shipped back to you, but you'll pay for the shipping (Pay Wal-Mart's trucks, not yours). You threaten to sue, and they remind you that they have a 100millon dollar retainer with the very best lawyers money can buy, and that while you will probably win the case, you'll be in litigation for at least 10 years (because Wal-Mart's already paying these guys anyways) and at best you'll get your agreed upon price, while paying your own lawyers $400/hour for 10 years to sue them for what amounts to $50,000.

So you swallow your pride, you take your 75% loss on the signed contract and then they ask you if you'll be able to make your next shipment, as per your contract, Wal-Mart has the ability to extend, however, because China is selling them Lead contaminated produce at 10% what you're selling, they're renegotiating the prices for "market value"

And thats when you send them the stuff you throw out when you sell to Krogers.


TOO LONG; DID NOT READ: Wal-Mart screws their suppliers, laughs at lawsuits, and then demands you uphold your end of the contract, all in the name of saving you money.

[mick silver]

i have of heard of this . i am glad i grow and sale at the local markets

[beefsteak]

Thanks for sharing, Egypt. The wife just said, "This rings true. Wal-Mart's produce is ALWAYS the worst looking stuff I've ever seen. And it's always been this way!"


beefsteak

[madfranks]

So the answer for the vegetable farmers is, don't contract with Wal-Mart. Problem solved.

[freespirit]

So the answer for the vegetable farmers is, don't contract with Wal-Mart. Problem solved.

...and the answer for the rest of us is to support your local farmer's market! or grow your own.

for the record, i occasionally shop at walmart, but only out of necessity, not out of preference. when money is tight, you gotta stretch it out...and i NEVER buy produce or any other foodstuffs there.

[Cebu_4_2]

A few years back I read something about how they contract suppliers. Once they sign the contract they make you agree to continue to drop the price by 10% each year. It was about pickles and how you can buy a gallon jar for less than the smallest jar in any supermarket. Was a big legal thing and finally walmart agreed that the supplier would get a break, selling a 3 quart jar of pickles for the agreed upon price (tiny jar). Using this practice guarantees to put any company that is not a conglomerate out of business within a few years.

[freespirit]

when walmart came to town they located in a fairly busy mall, and after a few years, the rest of the mall started looking like a ghost town. walmart then left the mall, had a brand new stand alone store built with mechanics bays, etc., and are always busy. the mall they were located in however, is all but vacant, with more than half the available store fronts empty.

thanks, walmart.

[Dogman]

when walmart came to town they located in a fairly busy mall, and after a few years, the rest of the mall started looking like a ghost town. Walmart then left the mall, had a brand new stand alone store built with mechanics bays, etc., and are always busy. The mall they were located in however, is all but vacant, with more than half the available store fronts empty.

Thanks, walmart. d.i.t.t.o.!

[Korbin Dallas]

As long as the sheep continue the constant, steady parade in and out of CrapMart, buying the cheap Chinese made shit, the show will go on.

[solid]

As long as the sheep continue the constant, steady parade in and out of CrapMart, buying the cheap Chinese made shit, the show will go on.

I'm telling ya folks...boycott them. Don't spend a dime of your hard earned money in their stores. If everyone worked together, those bastards and their criminal actions would die.

We, collectively, feed them. Pisses me off, to no end. Want to raise my blood pressure? Say Walmart. Those evil assholes are raping our country, and the American people bend over for it.

[MNeagle]

What's the deal with Big Lots! ?? Grand opening of one here, the first time I've ever seen them.

Another prep forum has several members that swear by them, going there weekly for their 'prep runs'. Seemed very similiar to ChinaMart imo...

[solid]

What's the deal with Big Lots! ?? Grand opening of one here, the first time I've ever seen them.

Another prep forum has several members that swear by them, going there weekly for their 'prep runs'. Seemed very similiar to ChinaMart imo...

Uh oh. Get ready to watch your favorite local Mom and Pop shops go belly-up. Boycott!!!!

[MNeagle]

ironically, they moved into a vacant Target site. Target moved out of the mall & into their own space for a SuperTarget.

[freespirit]

target has been keeping busy as well....


http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/01/13/target-zelles-takeover.html

U.S. retailer Target said Thursday it is buying the store leases of Canadian discount retail chain Zellers from the U.S. investor who owns the Hudson's Bay Co. assets for $1.8 billion.

Under terms of the deal, Minneapolis-based Target will make two payments of $912.5 million in cash, in May and September 2011, to acquire the leasehold interests of 220 Zellers locations in Canada.

The Zellers locations will continue to exist under that brand name for "a period of time," HBC said in a release. But Target will convert 100 to 150 of those Zellers locations to Target stores in 2013 and 2014 and possibly sell the rest of the current Zellers network of store leases to other retailers.

"I think there would be a number of U.S. retailers that would feel that there is opportunity to make some inroads in Canada," said Paul Taylor, chief investment officer at BMO Harris Private Banking.

But the fate of the 70-odd Zellers stores that aren't destined to become Targets is far from clear. "The company still has plans to operate a portfolio of Zellers stores in some communities across the country," HBC spokeswoman Freda Colbourne told The Canadian Press.

"The company is still going to run a chain of Zellers stores, it just might be a little bit different than today, but for the next 12 months nothing is changing," Colbourne said.

P.O.V.:
Do you want to see Canadian stores remain as Zellers, or be rebranded as Target? Take our survey.

"This transaction provides attractive long-term value and will allow us to invest substantial capital into our department store and specialty store businesses to continue to drive growth," HBC governor Richard Baker said in a news release.

A typical U.S. Target location employs between 100 and 200 people, so the deal should see the creation of some jobs. And Target estimates it will make an aggregate investment of more than $1 billion updating and renovating Zellers locations.

The Target chain currently has 1,752 stores in 49 states across the United States.

Baker's company bought all of HBC in 2008 for $1.1 billion. Selling the underperforming Zellers unit at a profit allows the company to focus on the iconic Bay brand, an initial public offering of which is much anticipated.

Target has long held ambitions in Canada, but the company was waylaid by the economic slowdown. A dearth of good locations for potential stores was a problem and the economic slowdown reined in consumer spending. Buying the Zellers infrastructure now helps it work around some of those issues, experts said Thursday.

"The Canadian consumer went into the recession in much better shape than the U.S. consumer," Taylor said.

[hoarder]

All the big box stores seem to be owned/controlled by a single entity. They have the same kind of advertising, The same methods of processing human cattle, the same demoralizing music (I call it big box music) that makes you yearn for the days of "elevator music" you hated back then.

If you try to wholesale any merchandise to them, they'll try to coerce you to put bilingual labeling on it.

[gunDriller]

All the big box stores seem to be owned/controlled by a single entity. They have the same kind of advertising, The same methods of processing human cattle, the same demoralizing music (I call it big box music) that makes you yearn for the days of "elevator music" you hated back then.

If you try to wholesale any merchandise to them, they'll try to coerce you to put bilingual labeling on it.

don't they kind of coerce people to have their food products be Kosher-certified ? a bribe for the Rabbi ...

[Korbin Dallas]

What's the deal with Big Lots! ?? Grand opening of one here, the first time I've ever seen them.

Another prep forum has several members that swear by them, going there weekly for their 'prep runs'. Seemed very similiar to ChinaMart imo...

Big Lots buys all the second-hand reject crap that even WalMart doesn't want. Most of the shit they carry is so fucked up, noone else will sell it.

[hoarder]

don't they kind of coerce people to have their food products be Kosher-certified ? a bribe for the Rabbi ... I don't think so. They sell both goy food and chozun food. I don't buy processed food that made for us by them, do you? I think killing us slowly is the reason for Kosher food, rather than profit.

[gunDriller]

I don't think so. They sell both goy food and chozun food. I don't buy processed food that made for us by them, do you? I think killing us slowly is the reason for Kosher food, rather than profit.

i guess the closest i have gotten to processed food recently is elbow macaroni, from a Macaroni & Cheese box.

i put Parmesan on it (aged 10 months, pre-Fukushima). the cheese packet - if i feed it to the chickens, is that cruelty to animals ?

[lapis]

Big Lots buys all the second-hand reject crap that even WalMart doesn't want. Most of the shit they carry is so fucked up, noone else will sell it.

That's true, but they also sell organic food sometimes that would cost at least twice as much at the health food store. I've found organic teas, peanut butter, snacks for the kids, and skin and hair products. Once I found one of my favorite conditioners for a dollar a bottle and I was hooked.

[lapis]

target has been keeping busy as well...

They have but even they are scaling back. All my local Targets have replaced the old gardening section with a fresh produce department, and are cutting down on the size of their other non-food departments. I can't imagine selling apples and lettuce would be as profitable as selling sofas, toys and designer clothes, but I'm sure sure they see the writing on the wall as far as what people are now willing to spend their money or food stamps on.

[Santa]

All the big box stores seem to be owned/controlled by a single entity. They have the same kind of advertising, The same methods of processing human cattle, the same demoralizing music (I call it big box music) that makes you yearn for the days of "elevator music" you hated back then.

If you try to wholesale any merchandise to them, they'll try to coerce you to put bilingual labeling on it.

I think you're right. I think all the big box stores are in effect "company stores" and they're all supplied by the same distribution conglomerate. And all this of course under the pretense of them being shining examples of competitive capitalism.

A couple years back I bought a cheap cell phone from Target. I couldn't get it to work. The code was wrong, so I took it back and the clerk at the returns area looked it up and the computer said I had purchased it at Walmart while my receipt said Target.

Boycotting is almost a useless gesture anymore. If you need a pair of socks and shoes, where are you gonna go when every store receives their supplies from the same international distribution network...

Walmart, Target, K-Mart, Sears, Costco, Home Depot, Lowes, etc etc etc... they all sell the same crap in different packages.

[freespirit]

Boycotting is almost a useless gesture anymore. If you need a pair of socks and shoes, where are you gonna go when every store receives their supplies from the same international distribution network...

Walmart, Target, K-Mart, Sears, Costco, Home Depot, Lowes, etc etc etc... they all sell the same crap in different packages.

very true, santa...sad but true.

[AndreaGail]

I didnt think it was possible but the stuff these stores peddle is getting even progressively cheaper.

perfect example, storage bins. I was needing a couple more for various prep and non prep items. Well the rubbermaid ones I had from a few years ago were made out of a sturdy plastic with a lid that locked all around the top

well go to target a few weeks back looking to get something similar and all i can find from all the brands are these similar thin cheap flimsy tubs with the only locking mechanism being these two snaps on opposite ends of the top. Totally unsecured when you put the lid on. Probably for the same price (or more) as they were when I last bought them to boot.

But hey as long as the shareholders are happy ::)

[woodman]

I didnt think it was possible but the stuff these stores peddle is getting even progressively cheaper.

perfect example, storage bins. I was needing a couple more for various prep and non prep items. Well the rubbermaid ones I had from a few years ago were made out of a sturdy plastic with a lid that locked all around the top

well go to target a few weeks back looking to get something similar and all i can find from all the brands are these similar thin cheap flimsy tubs with the only locking mechanism being these two snaps on opposite ends of the top. Totally unsecured when you put the lid on. Probably for the same price (or more) as they were when I last bought them to boot.

But hey as long as the shareholders are happy ::)

It is getting tough to find anything of quality anymore. We are being sold crap. Tools break the first time you use them. I bought an air conditioner four years ago and it took me three times to get one that actually cooled a room. I bought a beer fridge and it wouldn't even get cool. I don't know how the stores can even make money when they are taking stuff back all the time.

[palani]

The Morlocks and the Eloi have something of a symbiotic relationship: the Eloi are clothed and fed by the Morlocks, and in return, the Morlocks eat the Eloi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morlock#Morlocks_in_The_Time_Machine

[mick silver]

i wonder how sam would feel about whats happen to the company he build

[hoarder]

I don't know how the stores can even make money when they are taking stuff back all the time.It isn't about money it's about control. If they need more money to operate, they simply issue it out of thin air. Can't pay back the loan? Issue a larger one. Eventually all the competition will be dead.