Truck Tales

You see the most interesting things when you unload trucks. The other day we got in a pallet of compressed toilet paper. Never heard of compressed toilet paper? We don't actually sell it. When they loaded the truck at the warehouse they had a pallet of toilet paper, the 24 roll package. These do not come in cardboard boxes, but are put on a pallet and are shrink wrapped for shipping. On top of the toilet paper they placed a pallet of 12 pack soda. the result was compressed toilet paper. Had they reversed it there would have been no problem. The bad thing at Wal-Mart is the warehouse has no accountability. Damages can be charged off to them but it is very difficult to get the credit for it. The small grocery stores I worked at in Illinois were able to return any damages to the warehouse. At Wal-Mart, the store has to write it off. I have seen cases of broken glass bottles put in the middle of pallets. It was obvious they were damaged at the warehouse because the item hadn't leaked all over the pallet.

Wal-Mart isn't the only company this kind of thing happens at. When I was receiving manager at K Mart a driver told me about delivering a load and when he opened the door water came pouring out. The warehouse workers had placed a pallet of sand on top of a pallet of water.

Another fun thing unloading trucks is when the workers miss pick an item. We don't find that in grocery because the cases are not labeled, but general merchandise is. I have never worked that side at Wal-Mart, but my 2 favorite miss picks at K-Mart were:
instead of a case of Preen And Green, a lawn fertilizer, we received a case of 22 caliber bullets. It may not have helped the lawn grow, but mowing sure would have been interesting.
We were supposed to get a case of tampons. Instead they sent a case of Martha Stewart garden nozzles. I don't think they would have been very comfortable.
It would be a little more understandable if you were supposed to get black spray paint and received brown instead,(and that did happen) but those picks were ridiculous.