[cookiecaper]

I've never worked with Walmart directly, but to be fair, I experienced this kind of thing all the time as a contractor. It seems to be sort of an unspoken thing in accounting departments that you allow vendors to complain before you pay too much attention to the particularities of any given invoice.

It doesn't excuse the practice and I always appreciated the clients who paid correctly and promptly, but I don't think it's limited to a specific company, and small businesses in general should be prepared for this type of short or delayed payment, from both financial and legal perspectives (credible legal backing can go a long way to establishing yourself as a vendor whose invoices are to be respected).

The problem with behemoths like Walmart is that they know you're not going to be able to stand up for yourself in a meaningful way. The relationship means a lot more to the non-behemoth, for whom it may well be life and death, whereas the behemoth can probably get a replacement vendor set up within a couple of weeks.

Lots of huge companies exploit such advantages aggressively; in many cases, it crosses the line between aggressive business and cost savings to outright bullying.

[randcraw]

I work in the IT division of a Fortune 100 pharma. About four years ago I was astonished as a senior business director proudly bragged to us about the company's successful accounts payable strategy of paying all vendor bills as late as possible. This allowed the company to earn a higher yield on overnight investments, despite the continuing outcry from business partners.

I imagine most giant corporations now behave this way, with only the little guys playing by the rules, and paying the price.

[086421357909764]

I see most firms start with NET30 now, but many have begun pushing NET90. We started putting terms in our contract that show bill due prior to work commencement, most don't pay attention and expect you'll just fall in line. Those are usually customers we don't want. The smart ones that actually pay attention will usually counter with a tiered approach. 50/50 or 40,30,30 with milestones. It can easily make or break a firm. Nothing more frustrating than a small business that has issues with finances not because of money, but because of erratic clients.

[tyingq]

Doesn't work all the time, but my approach to this is to pad rates 10% beforehand, then offer a 10% discount on any invoice that follows one that was paid NET10. Whatever bean counter is pushing for NET45 or worse usually sees the benefit of going to NET10.

Discounting only the single invoice that follows one paid on time keeps them honest. Short or late pay me, and the next invoice gets no discount.

[clhodapp]

If ever there were a use case for a lawsuit punitive damages, some poor company that is driven out of business by a well-documented case of this would be it. I know I'm being naive here but I feel that it should be clear to anyone with a sense of propriety that the big company should have to pay the liquidation cost for the small one!

[astrodust]

Yes, suing your biggest distributor is a great way to succeed in business.

[clhodapp]

That's exactly my point! That and the fact that lawmakers are too weak willed (or have too little leverage) to take a stand against stuff like this is why big businesses are able to get away with this blatantly unethical behavior. Anyway, my example was an already-failed business for a reason!

[emodendroket]

If you're liquidating the business, as the OP describes, I doubt that's your biggest concern.

[astrodust]

Lawsuits are expensive and utterly pointless if you can't see them through to completion.

[emodendroket]

I don't see what one objection has to do with the other.