Question about retail.

[joe____17]

Has anyone ever worked in retail and you dont sell a product for a certain amount of time so you have to throw it out? I work at a petstore and we had some dog dishes made of porcelain and we had to throw it out. I was told if we get caught taking something that should be thrown out we get into trouble. I had to throw away a whole 55 gallon tank stand because the box was sp badly damaged it had to be thrown out.

 

[meowzer]

I'd be throwing it right into my trunk...LOL
That is really dumb....why not donate it at least...

 

[dragonzim]

I worked part time at Home Depot for a little while and they had a similar policy on items with damaged packaging. The items had to be thrown out under the supervision of the manager on duty to be sure that they were really getting dumped and not just put in the back of someone's car.

 

[ca161406]

Originally Posted by joe____17
http:///forum/post/3012673
Has anyone ever worked in retail and you dont sell a product for a certain amount of time so you have to throw it out? I work at a petstore and we had some dog dishes made of porcelain and we had to throw it out. I was told if we get caught taking something that should be thrown out we get into trouble. I had to throw away a whole 55 gallon tank stand because the box was sp badly damaged it had to be thrown out.
hm if you throw it into a neighboring stores dumpster..teeeeechnically you cant get in trouble from your store if your go after your shift and take it
the only trouble you can get in is tampering with trash, depending on the state of course

 

[kjr_trig]

Interesting....I manage a golf course, including the retail portion. I have never thrown any retail product away other than if it was damaged. We occasionally sell products at a loss, but never have thrown away a non-perishable item. But yes, if I have a shirt that is slightly damaged for example, I will give it to a staff member before throwing it away, however we are a small business, I can understand a large company having that rule.

 

[flpriest]

My wife worked in retail for quite a while, as an assist. manager, 3rd key, manager, etc. I think the reason it must be thrown into the trash is so the store can leagally write it off...

 

[lil.guppy]

Its sad but it can be a liability to the company. Even though you work there they still dont want to risk it.

 

[culp]

Originally Posted by flpriest
http:///forum/post/3012687
My wife worked in retail for quite a while, as an assist. manager, 3rd key, manager, etc. I think the reason it must be thrown into the trash is so the store can leagally write it off...
Bingo!
for a company to get credit for damaged items the item must be destroyed or sent back to what ever company made it. that way the store doesn't get credit for some thing that some one took

 

[culp]

Originally Posted by DragonZim
http:///forum/post/3012682
I worked part time at Home Depot for a little while and they had a similar policy on items with damaged packaging. The items had to be thrown out under the supervision of the manager on duty to be sure that they were really getting dumped and not just put in the back of someone's car.
where we throw everything out it is locked with a padlock and only the person with the key is the shifts store director. if the key goes missing they put a new different lock on that needs a different key.

 

[ruaround]

the whole point is that the policy keeps associates from damaging product to get it at a cheaper price or for free... one doesnt realize the can of worms that is opened up by giving employees freebies or discounts on items that are damaged, out of date, out of season or discontinued... the discount has to be offered to the general public or the product needs to be destroyed or disposed of... the amount of shrink that would be created could drive a company out of business...
the product does have to be recorded going into the dumpster or destroyed to count as shrink or loss...

 

[reefraff]

^^^ Ding Ding Ding!!! WE have a winner.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by ruaround
http:///forum/post/3012731
the whole point is that the policy keeps associates from damaging product to get it at a cheaper price or for free... one doesnt realize the can of worms that is opened up by giving employees freebies or discounts on items that are damaged, out of date, out of season or discontinued... the discount has to be offered to the general public or the product needs to be destroyed or disposed of... the amount of shrink that would be created could drive a company out of business...
the product does have to be recorded going into the dumpster or destroyed to count as shrink or loss...
This is 100% correct. I have worked in retail for quite some time. Any store that has been around for awhile knows that if things can go home with employees then employees will make sure that things are damaged or hidden to become out of date. I currently work in a clothing store, which is my second job. We just discounted the winter stuff to 98 cents. These are jeans, shoes, etc. It was a three day sale. Whatever didn't sell has to be cut to shreds before it can go into the dumpster. It is kind of messed up being that it could be donated. The company is a chain and has seen so many things with employees damaging stuff on purpose just to take it out of the dumpster that they have made this policy. If there is a large amount going out then we box it up and ship it back to the company. They then donate it to things like Salvation Army.

 

[reefforbrains]

Field destroy order (FDO)
Cheaper for everyone concerned.
Company does a Buy back (BBO) but doesnt have to pay for shipping or worry about logistics. So it is cheaper for them to just have the products destroyed.

 

[stdreb27]

LOL what was great about when I worked retail, was that we would typically drive our trash to the dumpster. So while I threw away most of the stuff, some times I just missed some things...
But yeah you are right, there is all kinds of leagal reasons why you can't take stuff home that is being scrapped. You just have to get creative...
When I worked for company X we went through a major transition in product focus, so there was a major liquidation. Stuff that wasn't sold was to be scrapped. I kept some stuff that we would typically sell since we were a unique market for the company. And would sell the stuff as an unknown product. Made them a few bucks. I still have boxes of stuff we have scrapped that I end up using to set stuff up.

 

[darthtang aw]

That is standard Home Depot policy. The reasoning is as stated by a few on here to curb employee "theft" It also helps keep the consumer in line as well...We have a few people that will go down the soil aisly and purposely rip bags of dirt as Home depot will sell them at a cheaper price. They will try to buy them then. What we do now is we will sell them t a discount, but when we want to and when it is convienant. You can always tell who the scammers are.
Also HD no longer donates these goods as the contracts the have with the suppliers may not allow this. Places like habitat for humanity will turn around and SELL these goods for a profit instead of using them.

 

[culp]

Originally Posted by ruaround
http:///forum/post/3012731
the whole point is that the policy keeps associates from damaging product to get it at a cheaper price or for free... one doesnt realize the can of worms that is opened up by giving employees freebies or discounts on items that are damaged, out of date, out of season or discontinued... the discount has to be offered to the general public or the product needs to be destroyed or disposed of... the amount of shrink that would be created could drive a company out of business...
the product does have to be recorded going into the dumpster or destroyed to count as shrink or loss...
most people do not realize that employee theft cost many companies much more money than customer theft.
plus most companies lose most of its money having to throw things out that got damaged or went out of date.

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by Culp
http:///forum/post/3012924
most people do not realize that employee theft cost many companies much more money than customer theft.
plus most companies lose most of its money having to throw things out that got damaged or went out of date.
Employee theft is huge in retailers. But most retailers, at least the big ones, don't lose out too bad when stuff gets damaged in shipping or when they go out of date. A lot of the time, in the purchasing agreement they write in some protection from that type of risk exposure. Like they will have sales stipulations that if they aren't met they can return the unsold product to the manufacturer. And try to expose the manufacturer to the shipping risks.

 

[ruaround]

Originally Posted by Culp
http:///forum/post/3012924
most people do not realize that employee theft cost many companies much more money than customer theft.
plus most companies lose most of its money having to throw things out that got damaged or went out of date.
while the first part is correct the later is not... major chains recieve credits for damaged and product, it would be detrimental to the supplier to not offer some sort of reclaimation program... perishable items would be the exception (although there is till minimal credit given), and this is controlled by having an order writer that is well trained and knows his stores needs... this day in age losses are incured through the back door and not having accurate retails... meaning if product costs and retails are not monitored then your margins are going to be completely out of whack...
some companies offer behind the scenes monies on a corprate level to buy massive quantities and then these monies are distributed accordingly to the locations that need them...