Through the course of working with a newsagent over the last few weeks on returns processing questions and observing the handling of newsagent returned product at the Sydney warehouse, a senior customer service representative from Network provided me with the following observations which are valuable for newsagents to take on board:
During my stint in the returns dock I noticed a real problem with returns sent back via logistics providers. Many of these returns were consolidated onto a single sealed pallet with other store’s returns for both G&G and Network.
The pallets are then dumped in either the G&G area or the Network area without being separated. The G&G returns are processed in Victoria so any pallets dumped in their area are taken away (in full) by G&G and never received by Network. This makes these stores look like they simply aren’t returning stock at all and therefore likely to receive reversals of credits.
Newsagents need to ensure their agreement with their courier company is clear and it involves two separate drops, one to G&G and one to Network.
Ultimately the stores are responsible for their stock getting back to the correct place, so they should be asking questions of their service providers. We don’t want these people on our reversal lists, we only want those who are taking advantage of the system…problem is it’s impossible to tell them apart because their returns simply don’t show up in the system.
Why don’t the distributors consider a firm sale model. Give us 35% margin with total control over our own supply we accept 10% unsold for the same net profit but both sides save a huge amount on no returns.
Would be helpful if they even signed a docket book from couriers as requested. That would go a long way to stopping this possible scenerio.