UK: Waitrose defends late delivery fines to suppliers
Since last Summer Waitrose has deducted £60 from trading accounts for each late delivery it receives. The practice has been condemned by the Forum of Private Business.
Senior policy advisor for the FPB Phil McCabe told SM: “It’s disappointing that Waitrose is using the stick in this way. It should be building relations with suppliers through dialogue and more understanding. It seems to be typical of the attitude of retailers to small suppliers. By squeezing them in this way, some will go under.”
Small suppliers often have a policy of supplying along with other small companies, in order to share the logistics costs, but Waitrose is charging each supplier for late delivery - even when the deliveries come in on the same vehicle.
McCabe insinuated that retailers were often guilt of late payment to small business and accused them of a hypocritical stance over the late delivery policy. He also urged suppliers to up their costs to build into their prices the potential of lost earnings from the Watrose policy.
A Waitrose spokeswoman said: "Late deliveries cost us a significant amount of money. It is only fair that late suppliers contribute to that and £60 fairly represents the cost to our business. We do not profit in any way from it – it goes in some way to cover the cost of deliveries being late. The £60 charge is calculated as an average cost of late supplier deliveries. It is, in fact, considerably short of covering the annual cost to our business of late supplier deliveries."
Source: www.supplymanagement.com
