I saw a documentary that talked about how they did this to Rubbermaid once. I don’t have a link but that might be a good starting point for research.
Comment on Anon gets banned from Walmart
Gloomy@mander.xyz 4 weeks agoAnd they only can provide that useless compulsive junk so cheaply because they bulk order everything and then just change their offering price after the product is manufactured. So the manufacturer can’t just say “No deal” when they already produced massive quantities that they don’t have the logistical means to sell to other buyers.
I’m not saying that this isn’t true, but how does that work more than once? Wouldn’t any manufacturer not quit working with them after this happens once? Isn’t agreed price for a bulk order set down on writing before the manufacturing starts?
Have you got a source for this?
lightnsfw@reddthat.com 4 weeks ago
someguy3@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Once.
lightnsfw@reddthat.com 4 weeks ago
Yes, I watched the documentary one time. Not sure why that needs to be highlighted.
someguy3@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
I thought you meant they did it Rubbermaid once. As in Rubbermaid didn’t let them do that again.
lowered_lifted@sh.itjust.works 4 weeks ago
Walmart’s literal trainings when you work for them reference this by a different name. They call it “everyday low cost” and say that when they “get a volume discount from a supplier” they can “roll back prices” and they offer scenarios in which this happens which are identical to the process timeworntraveler is accurately describing. I worked there 5 years in many different positions around the store and made sure to learn everything I could and I can indeed confirm this is how Walmart works. It’s actually a really easy to understand business model. For all its flaws and despite being quite dated the documentary “The High Cost of Low Price” www.bravenewfilms.org/walmartmovie from all the way back in 2005 is still a good explainer of how Walmart became so dominant as to be able to completely set prices for all aspects of its suppliers and often its labor market. I personally witnessed everyone on my team get a $3 raise overnight when Fred Meyer threatened to poach some of our employees as scab labor to fight their union which was on strike. Now I am a union worker set to make a couple bucks more an hour than I did at Walmart but they always try to keep it competitive.