Too big for their shoes

[tonypep]

Heres one for you. Back in the day JC Penneys started a trend where they automatically held back 10% in anticipation that you would be charged back due to non-compliance with the routing guide. I believe that in the end someone took it to court and the practice was ruled to be illegal

[mk162]

Tony, can you put that in plain english?

[Frog]

It's like moving the Raiders back ten yards at the beginning of a play merely assuming that they will commit an offense, and get that penalty anyway.

[printguy]

I think what Tony means is that when doing work for major retailers, typically there is a routing guide that covers everything from soup to nuts for the printer. Most important is the specific instructions regarding packaging & how the boxes need to be labeled with all the pertinent information. Any deviation from the routing guide instructions will result in a "charge back" against the invoice that the printer submits.

[mk162]

Ahh, the routing guide was what I was wondering about.

[tonypep]

The bean counters at JCP tracked charegebacks from their vendors and in their infinite wisdom came to the conclusion that the average rate was 10%. A CB is issued when a vendor does not comply with the routing guide. A routing guide is an often long and complicated document which explains, in detail, exactly how to produce and ship their order.
If you're late; thats a CB. Early; CB. Boxes labeled incorrectly; CB. Pallets too high; CB. Box wrong size; CB. That's just getting started but you get the picture. So the accountants decreed that 10% from all invoices would be with held in anticipation that a vendor will screw up. Then you had to jump through hoops to get it back once you passed muster.
Not understanding or disregarding the routing guide can cost dearly. We had an order for K-Mart and used the wrong type of hangtag on an 80K order. Lost $8,000 right there. I actually wrote an entire article on all this about eight ys ago.

[3Deep]

That all BS just a slick azz way to screw the printer out of money, I hate dealing with large companies, I,ve learn not to let my eyes cost my butt money.  I print for a few colleges here and there and have learn to deal with only one person get POs before I do anything and keep all emails until I get a check, its a shame how big companies strong arm the hell out of you and get away with it.

Darryl