Increase Your Win Rate with Shortages and Overages 

[00:00:00] Bekah Tatem: Today, we are talking about how to increase your win rate with shortages and overages. And firstly, we are Supplier Wiki. If you're on this webinar, you probably know that, but we provide free educational content for you, for suppliers. So, if you haven't had the chance to explore our website, we'd love for you to, there's lots of eBooks, more webinars to sign up for and tons of articles, all with the goal of making your life easier. 
 

So that is who we are. And then today, here's our agenda. So first off, we're going to dive into overages at Walmart. We're going to talk about disputing and preventing them. And then we'll move on to shortages, how they affect your business, common root causes for shortages, and then how to dispute those as well. 
 

We will wrap up today with a live QA. So if you have any questions for us, we'll get those covers at the end. And then speaking of questions, these are just a few FAQs that we want to cover before we get started. So will you get a copy of today's slide deck? The answer is always yes. You'll get a copy of the slide deck and a recording to your email inbox in about 3 to 4 business days. 
 

And then if you have a question, what's the best way to ask? So there's two functionalities on zoom. There's a Q and a tab. We would love for you to put your questions for us and there, and I will get them queued up for melody as we go through the content or at the end. And then the chat is the best way to ask questions of your peers or just engage with the rest of the group. 
 

And then lastly, before we dive into the content, just wanted to touch on what supply bike is. So supplier Ricky is part of supply Pike. Which is a platform that enables suppliers to get paid, get better through software to manage deductions. So, we have 500 CPGs or over 500 CPGs that we work with currently, and you'll see some of their logos on this slide. 
 

If you're not one of them, we would love to change that in the future. So I will go ahead and pass it off to Melody to take us through the content. 
 

[00:02:10] Melodie Hays: Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Bekah. And I'm so excited to present this content to you all today. There is a lot, so we're going to spend time really diving into overages and shortages and all the things that Bekah kind of talked about whenever it comes to the agenda. 
 

So if you have any questions, please feel free to just throw them in the chat and we'll try to answer them as they're coming up. Or, you know, we'll wait until the Q& A at the end. All right. So what are overdubs at Walmart? so overdubs are exactly what they sound like. It's when a product actually sent to, to Walmart or to a retailer is in excess of what actually was ordered. 
 

So it's saying that, Walmart purchased a certain amount. So like in this example, they, they They sent a purchase order, for three, then you as the supplier sent an invoice for three grapefruit juice, but what actually they were able to receive, what they received was six grapefruit juice. So, that is an overage. 
 

Walmart has an official definition of the amount of inventory stock exceeds the inventory expected. You sent more than what was expected.there's 2 ways of understanding overages. So we'll use this term throughout this presentation of billable overages and then overage fines. So billable overages are whenever you've just sent too many units to Walmart, and you can actually go and, Recoup basically the amount that you have sent by billing Walmart for that that excess inventory that was sent. So having them actually pay for the extra items that they've received. So that's that's what a billable overage is, is where you can actually go and recoup that money of the excess inventory through actually doing. 
 

Sending them a bill, so billable overages. And then there's also the idea of overage fines. So this is actually, Walmart's way of de incentivizing you as a supplier for, for sending excess items and, and then just billing for it later, they will actually charge you a fine or a chargeback, or, you, you potentially can get a deduction, for the overages that, overages. 
 

any overages that are sent, and then, there still is a way for you to kind of recoup that money and go and fight that overage fine, if it is actually an error, so you didn't send additional items, which does happen from time to time, you can actually go and fight that overage fine, but if it is a true overage, this overage fine is just Walmart's way of de incentivizing you from, from sending extra, Extra items, we'll talk about the program, or we call it swap here. 
 

It's a supplier wiki or the supplier quality excellence program. This is where you're actually going to see it. Those overage finds really come across and. The reasoning that that Walmart kind of gives for that is that you haven't complied with their PO accuracy. So, again, we'll dive into that a little bit later in the presentation, but these are the two different types of overages that we'll be talking about. 
 

Billable, so your, your way of actually going and recouping that money by sending a bill, or overage fines, which is Walmart penalizing you for, for sending too many items, if that is valid. There are two common root causes for overages. So true overages, this is actually like The overage actually did happen. 
 

so this is the amount of product was actually that was sent to the retailer was in excess of what was actually ordered or there's a shortage triggered overages. the reasons why we kind of talk about overages and shortages in the same presentation is because, We do see where there will be a shortage on one particular item or one particular P.O. 
 

And then there will be an overage on another item or another P. O. And typically that's just an invalid overage or an invalid deduction that is happening and so. There it's 2 sides of 1 coin, and we'll dive into that a little bit deeper here later. So reasons why overages may occur again, we kind of talked about the shortage, the 2 sides of 1 coin, but there's other reasons. 
 

So there could be issues in Nova. There could be issues with your labeling and packaging, issues with how your item is actually set up, inaccurate demand planning. You know, you expected for Walmart to order more than they actually did. That's pretty common. Or, even POs being sent to the wrong DCs. So there's, there's a lot of reasons why overages may occur. 
 

Shortages, I will say, is the most common reason, but these other ones do happen from time to time. One of the questions we have in the chat is what other root causes of overages has your team experienced? I'm going to sneeze real quick. 
 

[00:06:59] Melodie Hays: Send that in the chat and let me know what other kind of root causes you're experiencing and we can kind of talk through it, especially if there's there's something that we can dive into from perspective of answering any questions. Okay, let's talk about the ripple effect from shortages. So 1 thing that we see, and 1 thing that we talk about in a lot of our other presentations is that specifically inside of Walmart, there is an opportunity for you to receive. 
 

You know, three to five different penalties on a single, single issue that happened, and it could be valid or invalid. one of the ones that we really dive into is this kind of ripple effect of shortages. So a compounding issue where 11 small mistake, either on your side or on on Walmart side can can then, Cause fines and a variety of the different programs that they have. 
 

So for this example, there was a shortage and DC 2035 where it says that they only received 10 out of the 15 cases. And then there's an overage in DC. 5340, where they received 20 out of 15 of the cases. So there was an error in Walmart's receiving process, and then one of the DCs were actually short, while the other received an overage. 
 

Again, very common, kind of situation that may happen. You could switch this out and say there was a shortage on items, or there was a shortage caused by items. So, I think later on this presentation, we may even. Go through that example, but think of this as again, a ripple effect of one problem causing issues later on in the supply chain. 
 

And we even talk about those 3 different potential fines that you may receive due to that shortage. That again could be an error, either on your side or on Walmart side. So, if 1 DC's order is shortage, then your fill rate compliance would drop. so you would not be paid for the unfilled filled units as well as actually receiving a deduction. 
 

So this deduction code 24 is that AP level code that we'll, we'll kind of talk about later on the presentation, but you may also receive a PO defect fine and then the failure to ship in full. So you would receive not only an AP level deduction, this code 24, you would receive a squat fine or that supplier quality excellence program fine as a PO defect. 
 

And then you might also receive an OTA fine or an on time and full fine, all for it. A single issue. The frustrating thing about this is that you then have to go and fight each of these fines independently because the systems don't necessarily talk to each other, even if it's, again, not your fault and just something that happened on Walmart's end. 
 

So let's talk about preventing and disputing overages. What can you actually do to prevent these from happening? And if they do happen and they're invalid, what can you do to actually go and recoup some of that money? Again, why overages matter. there's those 3 different types of fines that I was just talking about for 1 specific issues, such as overages, which result in triple dipping into your pocket. 
 

I will say that Walmart doesn't necessarily see it this way, but from the perspective of the supplier, it can definitely feel that way where you're getting 3 fines for 1, 1 specific issue. And again, the frustrating thing is you would have to go and dispute and all of these individually and each of their kind of perspectives systems. 
 

So, these are the different types of programs and the specific codes that you might be receiving for. Or an overage. So, the type of Walmart program. These are the deductions or the AP level deductions. Here are the common codes that we will see for those. So, code 22, 24, 25 are all shipping or shortage related codes. 
 

Code 95 is actually merchandise code. we kind of talk about that in a little bit more depth later on, but maybe something Bekah can actually send in the chat, would be our deduction codes explained guide. So that is our, our guide that has over, I think, 70 different codes inside of Walmart, what each of the mean, how to prevent them and how you can actually go and dispute them. 
 

So that's a really helpful guide. If you guys haven't checked it out, it's worth giving in the look and just Referencing it. I know that there are sometimes some codes that I don't I don't see very often and it's really helpful to go and reference that in order to understand what it means and what we can do about it, if anything. 
 

Okay. Another thing we talked about was the on time in full program at at Walmart. We also call this OTIF. One of the main main pieces of that that you would see impacted by overages would be your in full and the bucket that you would see inside of the in full program would be the non OTIF compliant. 
 

So you you shipped too much and or you shipped. You know, the, the shortage related aspect that might come along with that. They may say you're not in full and therefore I'm going to issue a you an OTIF fine. Then we have the supplier quality excellence program. They do have a specific code for overages and there's different phases for the SQEP program. 
 

This was part of the phase one. Oh, perfect. And, and Bekah sent the OTIF fundamentals. That is also a really great article to kind of go and check out to, to better understand OTIF. I bet she can send one on SLEP too, maybe? sorry, Bekah. Oh, and you're, Bekah, it looks like you're only sending it to hosts and panelists. 
 

If you could send that to everyone. Cool. Okay, so let's talk about fighting overtures. so one of your first lines of defense. is going to be actually invoicing the retailer for your excess goods. so that means you're gonna have to send a new invoice. You're gonna have to reference the original po PO number specifically, and you're only going to include the overage amount. 
 

Don't include the other cases in the original order. the invoice might be rejected. some, sometimes it's not. Sometimes it is, but you can actually recover the overage value through Wal Mart's dispute process. And we'll, we'll talk about that here in a second. But first line of defense is actually invoicing the retailer for that excess goods. 
 

you will be expected whenever you're actually going through that dispute process, to Provide additional proof documentation. So if it is a true overage, meaning you actually did send, more goods than you should have, then this is kind of the steps that you would take in order to provide that proof documentation. 
 

So you're gonna and this is specifically in Luminate. If you've Attended one of these sessions before we did a lot of our metrics and our, recipes based on DSS. DSS has now gone away. So this is all focused on Luminate and the new process that you'll need to do based on those changes. So your first step is going to be pulling an inventory receipt report using your DC metrics. 
 

and then you need to provide both of those data data set to verify how much product is actually in Walmart's system that says that it was received. And then when you're actually going to go and dispute, you need to provide both of the invoices. So that new one that you just just did in the last step, your bill of lading or BOL and your MABD report with the rows of the overages and the shortages highlighted. 
 

Are your Illuminate tips specific to the paid version or basic too? Yes, so this should be available in basic. All of this is in the basic, not the charter. Good question. Okay, so here are some more tips inside of Illuminate for that proof documentation. If it is a shortage triggered overages. So, like what we talked about a couple of slides ago where it's not Okay. 
 

It's not you just sending excess goods. It is, actually a receiving error inside of a Walmart DC where they said that you are short on one P. O. or short on some items. this is actually the steps that you would take, in order to, to recoup that money. So again, you're going to use that DC metrics data set instead of luminate. 
 

You're going to want to know, when those POs are shipped to the DCs, basically what the second part is. and so what this is saying is the research that you do in order to determine that this is a shorter triggered overage rather than a true overage, you're going to want to be able to highlight that to the your case manager over on the dispute side. 
 

just making sure that you can, you can tie that shortage claim to that overall overage. So the research that you're doing in order to establish that it actually is a shortage triggered overage, make sure that you also provide that. And 1 of the ways to do that is add fields showing the overage shortage amount by taking the quantity received minus the quantity ordered. 
 

So then if your item is short, it will have a negative quantity. For example, negative 10. and then if there's an overage, there's going to be a positive number. So do this step 1st, you can do it for all of your overages. It will allow for you to highlight which ones are those shortage triggered. Overages or true overages. 
 

And then if it is a shortage triggered overage, say that five times fast, then that's just going to be the extra level of detail that you provide. So here's kind of the workflow that we go and suggest whenever talking about, Really shortages and overages or any types of deductions. we suggest reviewing deductions daily or weekly, depending on the volume that you are managing. 
 

You do that first step of research. So what I talked about in that that last slide, and then you're going to do a little validity check after you've done that research, you're going to review your proof documentation, you're going to communicate with the teams, you're going to go and kind of make a case. 
 

If you think something is valid or invalid. If it's invalid, you're going to take all of that proof documentation that you you just reviewed to do the The validity check and then you're you're going to actually go and dispute that if it is a valid deduction. We suggest you just go ahead and write it off. 
 

You learn you communicate with the other teams of saying, hey, this actually was a valid deduction, meaning that Walmart did not give that to me an error. Give up that to us an error. And therefore, we should probably talk about implementing some steps if it's if it's a big problem implementing some steps to it. 
 

To make sure that this valid deduction doesn't happen again and they focus more on the prevention aspect. if it is a valid deduction, then the, dispute or recovery aspect, if it is an invalid deduction. Let's talk about the OTIF dispute process. So that was for AP, AP deductions. This is for OTIF disputing. 
 

we suggest looking at this on a quarterly basis, disputing and high radius. If there's a fine that's been issued in error and then bringing into your. For exceptions, bringing to your buyer in a case by case basis. So what this looks like is you will, we suggest you check your OTIF score card weekly, but you would only be disputing on a quarterly level basis. 
 

Look to see if there's any projected fines detected. If there are, you would be a projected fine. And they're invalid, you would be preparing any documentation, in order to actually go and dispute in Hybridius. You then look in Hybridius to make sure that your deduction is, either if it gets The deduction or the church back if it the dispute gets approved, meaning that you actually get that money back, then you're good. 
 

you don't need to mess with it anymore. If it gets denied. And this is something that you, have all of the documentation for and it's worth, from a financial and a social capital perspective to go and review with your, your buyer, then we suggest You know, potentially using your social capital to bring that up to your, your merchant or your buyer and, move forward with that, potentially getting that money back. 
 

Let's talk about swept because, you know, like I said, it's a 3 3 process and all of the deductions are the deductions in charge back are a little bit different.so again, kind of look at this, expect to be doing this work on a quarterly basis, understand the different phases, I think, yep, Bekah has sent the SQEP handbook. 
 

we also have a lot of SQEP webinars, on demand webinars, so if you're wanting to better understand, this program, please check out those resources and it goes into the different phases in depth. But high level, we suggest looking at this on a quarterly basis, determining if it's phase one or phase two and three. 
 

If it's phase one, you're going to review the chargeback summary. Phase two you're going to be reviewing. Reviewing it and fix it and the chargeback summary. Do that validity check just like what we talked about. So reviewing all your proof documentation and communicating with your other teams. Very similar to the deduction process. 
 

If it's valid, you're going to write it off. If it's invalid, you're going to be organizing your proof documentation and instead of Disputing it and, AP DP, like what you would do for, your AP level deductions, you would actually be disputing and high radius or fix it. And then 1 of the main things that we talk about in swap is just thinking about the documentation, thinking about prevention and then sharing your learnings across cross functional teams. 
 

So thinking all of this as kind of a loop, even if it is an invalid deductions, Or an invalid charge or a fine, you're still going to want to be thinking about, okay, what can we do in order to prevent this may be invalid fine from happening in the future. So, some of the prevention tips that we have for fighting this overages 1 of the more common. 
 

Kind of tips that I see, especially for smaller or medium sized suppliers that have really agile, you know, warehouses and logistics. We really suggest actually using different colored stickers on boxes for all the different PO's in a stack. To avoid receiving errors. So using different colored stickers or some type of denotation, I've had the chance to actually be inside of a Walmart D. 
 

C. and a lot of it is still very manual. So you actually have a person in a D. C. who is receiving your pallet, receiving your order, and then they are counting, you know, how many items go to each P. O. or how many items go to each P. O. Order and sometimes they make mistakes, especially if it's not very clear in that instance that they're, you know, just quickly trying to scan. 
 

If it's not very clear what they are looking at, then sometimes, you know, humans make error, even if they're, even if they're, you know, trying their best. So I'm trying to eliminate that as much as possible, making it very clear to the person who is receiving it that this Subsection of the pallet is going to something different than maybe this subsection of the pallet. 
 

Another thing that we suggest is confirming that your fulfillment information is correctly storing from the warehouse. So just check your EDI. Sometimes EDI is set up incorrectly and it's not something that is. Very easy to get, access to, depending on the systems that you're using. So, that if you're having a, a almost a systematic error where you're having the same type of thing happen, you know, every PO with a specific item, maybe it's something with your EDI that you should go and look at. 
 

And then another thing, if it is a specific item that you're continuously having problems with, just go make sure that your items are set up. Correctly and item 3 60. sometimes, you know, you might have like a case pack, quantity issue that just needs to be addressed. And then you're, you're not going to be having these, these overages issues talking about how to dispute. 
 

So you are going to submit in high radius like I've. I've, I've discussed and you, you do want to make sure that your shortages or see if a shortage matches an overage. If that's correct, you're going to want to actually talk to your buyer or dispute with the information about the shortage in high radius. 
 

I would suggest. Personally disputing with the information about the shortage and high radius first again because you know your relationship with your buyer your relationship with your merchant is really important and if there's something that you can resolve on your own without having to pull them in, that probably is a better use again of your social capital with that merchant of the buyer, and then if it is a large enough error, that is impacting your business in a big way. 
 

That's when I would bubble it up to your merchant. And then lastly, you can use that Luminate data kind of like what we talked about, to match up invalid overages. So, ones that you shouldn't, you shouldn't have received. Okay, how do shortages impact your business? So what is a shortage deduction? 
 

So we've kind of talked a little bit about this, but, Let's let's dive into a little bit deeper. So a shortage is in any scenario where the retailer withholds payment from an invoice claiming that they did not receive some or all of the goods. So the retailer is saying you didn't give me everything that I ordered. 
 

Therefore, I am not going to pay you what you've invoiced me because I didn't receive what you're saying I received. Here's an example of a shortage at Walmart. So this is an example of a code 24. The supplier's invoice is deducted for a shortage. The code 24 stating that the pomegranate juice or the grapefruit juice is missing. 
 

So, the supplier in this example, invoiced for all nine of these items, three of the orange juice, three of the grapefruit, and three of the pomegranate. But Walmart on this example is saying that they only received, the three orange juice. And so they're gonna deduct a code 24 for these other two items, which makes up a quantity of six. 
 

why do shortage deductions happening happen? so could be poor late labeling could be that receiving error error that we've talked about. So, again, just a human in the D. C. who is is confused or just is moving so fast that they mark something incorrectly. It could be mismatched pack types, so items shipped differently than what is actually in item 360. 
 

That happens a lot that that is very common, along with the receiving error. And then, if the invoice actually arrives before the shipment, that's something that I usually see for people who've just switched EDI providers or, are very new suppliers, maybe their, their invoice is, arriving. 
 

Too soon, and so they're getting a code 25 and what we'll dive into that a little bit deeper. But here are some benchmark data. So what we actually see with, Walmart is that shortages are 1 of the most common, shipping related Walmart, AP deductions and honestly, they're the most common deductions that are. 
 

Supplier might be receiving. So by far, the most common deduction is going to be that code 22 of Guild goods built not shipped. I fast follow is the carton shortage freight built shine sign short. These are sometimes used interchangeably. You can think about them very similarly, but we'll we'll talk about the nuances of them. 
 

And then that code 25 is actually if the entire, entire invoice is. Or they're saying that they received nothing on the invoice. So there are no goods that were received for that entire invoice versus 24 or for partial. So they didn't receive some of what was on the invoice. Let's talk about common root causes. 
 

So this is when we're going to dive into it a little bit. deeper. So one of the common ones that we see is shipped quantity matches invoice quantity on PO. Who is the likely point of error? This is typically going to be the retailer. So this is whenever you're going to have that receiving error. So, you're receiving error because what was ordered on the, what was ordered on the PO, what is on the invoice and what is on the ASN, all match, but then what the retailer is actually, showing on this shipment is, was received short, that's usually going to be a retailer issue and something that you can actually go and, means is likely invalid and you can actually go and dispute. 
 

If the received quantity matches the invoice quantity on the PO, that's usually, again, going to be a retailer issue, usually going to be a receiving error, because your data on the quantity match or or exceeded the invoice quantity across the PO. So this is a possibility that the shortage is connected to an overage at another receiving facility. 
 

You're usually going to want to dive into that a little bit deeper. And then the steps that we talked about a few slides ago, that's when you're going to show the shortage and the overage, and then you're going to go into SPUDA. If the received quantity matches the invoice quantity on the deducted items, again, this is usually gonna be a re retailer receiving error similar to the previous one, where this received quantity matches the exceeded or the invoice quantity. 
 

in this case, the nuance here is whenever it's measured against the deducted items rather than the the purchase order. Okay. If the shipped quantity matches the invoice quantity on the deducted. Items and y'all don't feel like you have to screenshot all of this or or anything like that. We are going to be sending this this deck to you. 
 

Because I know that a lot of the terms I'm saying right now are very repetitive. the idea behind this is that, A lot of the, if you're shipped quantity and your invoice quantity, if that is all matching and you're still receiving a deduction, it's usually going to be a receiving error on the retailer side. 
 

There's just slight nuances on the information that you would provide in order to actually go and dispute the deduction that's coming across. So, based on the use case, you would be showing slightly different. Documents or pieces of information inside of those documents in order to go and dispute that. 
 

So, for this example, if your ship quantity is matching your invoice quantity on what is actually being deducted, then you're going to take your ASN shipped quantity. And you're going to show how that matches against the invoice quantity on those deducted items and then provide that to the retailer whenever you actually go and dispute it. 
 

So if there are overages and shortages on a PO, again, this is probably a retailer receiving error. there was a mix up. It's probably because there was a mix up that took, two of the accurately shipped orders and then over and under on each of those POs causing two invalid fines. you're going to show that and then you should be able to. 
 

either bill on the overages, or you can actually just go and dispute the, deduction and the shortage AP level deduction and the shortages and as well as the swap line. Okay, so if your invoice quantity exceeds the shipped quantity, so what you actually invoice for is higher than what is actually on the ASN, this is probably going to be an issue on the supplier. 
 

It's more likely an issue on the supplier end rather than a receiving error. In this case, this is whenever you're going to invoice for more cases, so you're going to do those billable overages like what we talked about. For the more cases on the product than what's actually on the ASN, usually this is due to just a miscommunication between the sellers and logistics team about how much is going on an individual shipment. 
 

So if your invoice quantities, what you actually billed for is higher than what was actually shipped, there was a miscommunication and you're, you're. It's usually going to be an issue on your end as a supplier. If your vendor pack quantities different or differ, this might be an issue with the retailer issue with the supplier. 
 

So it really depends. this says that it's more likely to be a supplier issue than a problem with receiving and typically how this will will come up is if the vendor pack quantities differ on 1 or more of the items on this P. O. between the P. O. and the invoice. So the total quantities make it difficult to determine the responsibility. 
 

So it's kind of difficult. Difficult to tell. It might be an issue with the supplier, but it also might be an issue with the retailer. Go and look at your, your, maybe your item setup to see why, there's different vendor pack quantities on the PO versus the invoice.the vendor back quantity difference might be the reason for a deduction, but it's. 
 

It's possible that it's unrelated. Note there's a possibility that the item setup discrepancy has created miscommunication between the retailer and the supplier. Again, go look at your item 360. Make sure that your items are set up how the retailer is expecting for your items to be shipped. Let's talk about disputing shortages real quick. 
 

so be prepared for invalid shortages. I can not say this enough. It is the most common deduction that we see, for suppliers, and it is the most frequently paid back. So, here at SupplyPipe for just kind of our, our benchmark of users, we see that it's about 80 to 90 percent of our customers will, sorry, it's Our customers will win back 80 to 90 percent of shortage related deductions depending on kind of how their, their business is set up. 
 

So we, we see this as the most common invalid deduction that a supplier might be receiving and it is the most frequently paid back. So how usually has the highest win, right? for invalid shortages, there's a couple of different things that you're going to want to do. You're going to want to generate and store your packing list that match your ASN and your invoice. 
 

If you're collect, you're going to want to make sure that all your carriers are signing your BOL. You're going to want to store these documents in a system that is easy for you to reference later on and understand, be able to find if you need to. Refer back to it. If you're prepaid, you're going to want to collect your proof of deliveries or your PODs ahead of time. 
 

Make sure that your carriers are, or if your carriers and 3PLs do not store these. Files forever. We see that some carriers and three PLS will only store it for like 30 days. The likelihood of you getting a deduction outside of those 30 days on a specific order can be really high. You don't want to be in a situation where you're the proof documents that you need actually go and dispute an invalid shortage are not available anymore because you didn't you didn't get those documents. 
 

in the time frame that your carrier 3PL actually stores them. So we suggest actually going and collecting all of your, your PODs and storing them. even if you don't have a deduction, just because there is a situation where you might receive a deduction or post audit way after, your, your carrier is actually storing those. 
 

Other kind of tips and tricks is we want to make sure that your shipping documents include all the necessary info. So some high level ones or your PO number, seems like a kind of a duh, but it's really important because that's one of the ways that you and your retailer are going to be matching that shipping document to the overall order. 
 

You're going to want to make sure you have your ship to Africa. Address as well as your item and shipment info and then those signatures are really important because that's kind of the agreement the handshake between you and the retailer receiving that item. If you are collect, one of the things that we suggest is that you avoid shipper loading count when possible. 
 

Retailers will always make mistakes. Like I mentioned, Shortages are one of the most common deductions that we see a supplier getting, and they are the most frequently won back, leading us to believe that they are the most frequently invalid. so if you do shipper load and count, it actually makes it very difficult for you to fight those invalid shortages because it's you as the shipper who's doing the counting. 
 

So Walmart has no way of saying like, yeah, I, I. Agree with you, you know, there's no accountability. There's no real handshake that you're doing with Walmart or the retailer, which is 1 of the reasons why we, we suggest you avoid shipper loading count and might make it easier for your items to, you know, get offloaded and into a. At DC, but it's going to make it really difficult for you to go and when when any money back on that. 
 

I don't know if Bekah can send the shipper load and count article that we have, but there's a really great resource that we have on supplier wiki talking about shipper load and count and or SLC and the benefits as well as the potential cons to that level of shipping. 
 

So, what do you need to dispute a shortage deduction? In general, you're going to need basic information about the claim. so your invoice, your shipment, all of that, and then the proof documentation that you need to support your dispute. Perfect. Thank you for sending that in the chat, Vicka. Go check that out on Shipper Load, Shipper Count if you. 
 

If you want to get more information about that, or if that applies to you, one of the things that we talk about just in general, whenever doing business with the retailer is typically for any retailer, you as a supplier are guilty until you're proven innocent, and the retailers are really placing the burden of the proof on you. 
 

so that means being prepared, with all of the relevant documentation. At all times, because you don't know necessarily when a dispute or a charge back or fine might might come up and you don't want to be left where you're unable to fight something that that that may be incorrect. 
 

So we've talked a lot about shipping documents. we've talked about collect. You're going to want your signed bill of lading prepaid. You're going to want your signed or stamped proof of delivery, drop trailer stamps. So the main thing here is however you get your shipping documents, however you ship, you're going to want to have some sort of, proof that you shipped and they received what you said that you You invoice them for, and it really depends on how your business is structured on what document you need. 
 

if you're not familiar with the different terms of collect and prepaid, there's also a lot of information on that inside of supplier wiki. but. However you ship, you're just going to want to make sure that you have the documentation to say the retailer received what you what you invoice them for. 
 

Here's an example of a BOL. so, and here you can, we kind of outlined where the destination versus the purchase versus actual item information and actually a signature. So here's an example of all of the kind of different boxes that we have, BOL stands for bill of lading. You'll usually have this at the top. 
 

You can see this person's collect. All of that really helpful information. Here is an example of a proof of delivery. so it's usually a stamp on, it's a section or a stamp on the BOL. So you'll usually have a document that looks like this. That has a stamp like this or a section like this actually in it, that is filled out, it's filled out whenever the, the, trailer is unloaded, typically by someone on the receiving end inside of Walmart. 
 

So it will designate if the PO was received in full or if the quantity was over, short, or damaged. So over, short, damaged. Signed date all of that stuff. Here is a gate or a dropped trailer stamp. This is what it looks like. so usually it's a sticker rather than a stamp or a section and then it's signed by the driver. 
 

It will prove that the shipment arrived at the retailer DC and does not prove the quantity that was received. And then the burden of proof is actually on the retailer. If a dispute is denied. So that is one good thing about our drop trailer stand. Usually that's what it looks like. Let's talk about some best practices for avoiding shortages. 
 

So if you're wanting to avoid that, code 25. So thinking back a few different slides, that code 25 was the one that I was saying it's the entire order, that is saying that it's not being received. This typically is an EDI order or a, like a business process issue that I, I'll see. So I, Helping suppliers. 
 

I've seen especially newer suppliers to Walmart where they are trying to get their their invoice and Walmart's hand as soon as possible. And so what they typically have done is they will invoice for the item as soon as the order actually got out of the The door. so as soon as soon as they either handed that order over to Walmart for collect, or they, you know, shipped it prepaid, they sent the invoice right away. 
 

And what would happen is that the invoice actually got received before the order arrived at the Walmart facility. And basically what Walmart does is they will. Take that invoice and they'll hold onto it. I think it's for about five days. And if they don't have any of the, the items for that specific invoice, they'll just issue a code 25. 
 

So typically what's happening is they, they receive that invoice, they wait for five days, they say, Hey, I haven't received any of this item yet. I'm gonna give you a code 25 for this entire order. Even if the items received, you know, came the next day. they're not going to. Reopen that invoice and, you know, remove that code 25. 
 

They're just going to say, Hey, look, free product. and that's just based on how their, their systems are set up. So really what we suggest in the best practice, what Walmart suggests is to schedule the invoices to be sent on the MABD date. If you have a code 25, Do not re invoice the goods once they're delivered because that would cause a code 30, which is duplicate billings, I believe is the description for that one. 
 

Instead, you're going to want to dispute the existing code 25. So this one is really unfortunate because, again, typically where I see this happening is suppliers wanting to get their money as fast as possible. And typically what it will actually cause is You know, your money is tied up and in Walmart system because you're actually having to go through and now dispute on the original code. 
 

Really unfortunate. Just wait, send that invoice whenever your must arrive by date or maybe date is, that will get your, you, your money as, as fast as possible, rather than having to go through this, this complicated process.Tips and tricks on avoiding standard deductions, especially the valid ones. 
 

Let's talk about item setup and invoicing. We really only want to send one invoice per PO whenever possible. Make it as easy as possible for Walmart to match your invoice and your PO together. You're just wanting them. Their systems basically are just doing as much one for one matching as possible. So if there's any complications where there's two invoices, you know, sometimes the systems will catch it, sometimes they won't, so making it as easy one for one, PO and invoice that you can, that will avoid a lot of these system generated, errors. 
 

You're going to want to confirm your item setups, specifically your vendor pack quantities, specifically your warehouse pack quantities. Make sure that the, what you have set up in the system is actually what you and Walmart have agreed to and what you're actually shipping. you're going to want to transmit your invoices with the retailer's item numbers. 
 

Again, a lot of the deductions that you might be receiving are going to happen because It's, it's a system that is matching your PO to your invoice. And so if your invoice has your SKUs and your item numbers, that is not what Walmart is expecting, then you might get a deduction just because computers can sometimes be dumb and not realize that this is supposed to go with that. 
 

Lastly, you're going to want to match your invoice to the P. O. Don't make adjustments on your invoice that don't match the P. O. This specifically is referencing allowances. You know, if you remove an allowance on your, your invoice that was on the purchase order, that's typically going to cause a deduction. 
 

It may not be a shortage related deduction, but you will typically see like, an allowance related deduction come through across that. Okay. Some other I, just tips and tricks to avoiding shortages packaging and labeling. Do not master pack. Do not master pack. You'll see in all of our documentation that we have and all of the resources, usually we will, put it like this, master pack, meaning putting separate items and a, like a vendor pack or warehouse pack that has been getting shipped. 
 

To the retailer, they will typically the retailer is not going to open any of your packs to count. And so if you have different items that are in kind of a vendor pack that isn't getting received at the DC, the retailers not going to know that and they're not going to catch that. And then that's going to cause more issues for you later down the line. 
 

So do not master pack. it will cause More headaches for you, then solve problems. we typically suggest avoiding that whenever possible.we suggest using slip sheets between purchase orders if you're palletizing freight. So just, again, talking about that earlier suggestion of using kind of different stickers for different POs if it's on a pallet. 
 

this is another kind of suggestion just to, again, help the person who's receiving those items kind of differentiate between, The sections that you're wanting them to be able to differentiate, identify PO number and facility number on the label. So just making sure that is provided on the labels like they're expected to make sure that your labels are clearly applied. 
 

Don't damage them or cover them in any way. I have seen that or or suppliers, maybe put a label on the package and then they Saran wrap it and really darkly covered something or it just It gets covered and then again, the person who is receiving it, they're not going to take your items off of the palette and check for all of the labels. 
 

It's either there or it's not. And they're going to they're going to, you know, just skip over it. If they can't see the label again, use that color coded. Imagery or color coding in some way to differentiate between the products and the orders again, I've seen smaller to medium sized companies have a lot of success with this. 
 

I have kind of push back on some larger enterprise suppliers are like. Melody, do you know how much product I am dealing out of my warehouse every day? This is not. not very feasible with how our, our warehouse is set up, which I completely understand. it's just something that we suggest if you are able to do it, we've seen it had a, a very big impact on preventing deductions and shortages from happening. 
 

if you are able to do it, this can be a, a very powerful tool and kind of in your toolbox. Look at that live Q and A and I'm right on time. Wow. All right, Bekah, come back. 
 

[00:46:21] Bekah Tatem: Thank you, Melody. Great work getting through the content. so, yeah, now's a great time to drop any questions in the Q and a, if you have them also wanted to highlight some other resources we have, you can find all of these on our website under ebooks and cheat sheets and then 1st question we have, which I'm happy to answer this 1 melody. 
 

It's do we ever offer trainings like this for other retailers, such as target? So, yes, we offer them for many retailers. Actually, there are lots of on demand webinars on our website. I will drop the link in the chat for the group and you can actually filter by retailer on that page. 
 

So you can kind of hone in on what you're looking for. And then if you have any. Specific questions on target, you are always welcome to email. 1 of us. I'd be happy to send you resources applicable to your situation. Or if we don't have resources on it, we can track down answers for you. We love doing that. 
 

So, yeah, anything else you would add to that melody? That was great. Okay. Yep, our emails are on this slide. So, feel free to reach out to either of us. Let me drop that webinar link in the chat. So this will take you to all our, previous webinars. I'm not seeing any other questions. 
 

So we all get, you know, 10 minutes back in our day.

Thank you everyone for joining. really appreciate it. Thank you for, for hosting with me, Bekah, and I hope everyone has a great rest of their day.