Walmart Suppliers Face New Fees to Use Retailer’s Transport

Walmart plans to charge some suppliers a new fee to transport goods to its warehouses and stores, as businesses across the country try to combat the rising costs of transportation and fuel, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday (July 5).

According to a memo viewed by the Journal, companies using Walmart to transport goods to the retailer’s warehouses and stores will face a new fuel surcharge, as well as a “collect pickup charge,” as of Aug. 1.

The report noted the collect pickup charge will be calculated as a percentage of the costs of goods received by Walmart, while the fuel surcharge is based on how much fuel cost to transport the goods. According to a Walmart spokesperson, the fees would help Walmart accommodate itself to the current challenging economics while keeping prices as low as possible.

Some suppliers were critical of this, though, frustrated that the retail giant is not providing more detailed information about the charges, as suppliers now have limited time to account for the additional costs.

Per the report, suppliers have the option of quitting Walmart’s collect shipping service, in favor of switching to prepaid shipping where the supplier arranges and pays for shipping into Walmart’s supply chain.

This update comes after big companies like Walmart reported big sales increases earlier in the pandemic, though they recently saw more diminished profits, with consumers going back to older, pre-pandemic buying patterns.

At a June investor meeting, executives for Walmart said they wanted to pass on some of the costs that were added to suppliers. PYMNTS reported that Walmart’s annual open-sourcing event “Open Call” had over 1,100 businesses pitching products this year.

Read more: Walmart Wraps Biggest-Ever ‘Open Call’

The report noted that the retailer said over 330 such pitches were resolved with a deal for the businesses, meaning the products have received a place on the shelves at Walmart or Sam’s Club, online at Walmart.com or at Walmart’s Marketplace.