Archived Revese Log. Question: Damaged wine/liquor protocols?

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Unreturnable

Receiving/Reverse Logistics
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Dec 20, 2012
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I'm only two weeks into working Reverse Logistics as my main job, previous to that I was backroom with training as the backup for Rev. Log. so I'm starting to stumble upon these more in-depth questions that I'd appreciate some help with:

I was told by my trainer and my ETL that we do not do credits or return damaged/outdated beer and wine to the vendor, instead we defect it out and toss it. I've also been told that best practice for disposing of non-ESIM liquids is to pour them down the drain before tossing the packaging into the compactor - we pour outdated juices and leaking waters down the drain in the cleaning crew room before they go into the compactor, BUT beer and wine register as an ESIM even though they can't be disposed of via our ESIM processing. I've seen the ESIM pickup guys find a bottle of wine in a bin, pull it out, and state that they couldn't accept it.

So do I also dispose of the beer and wine the same way? I did check with my trainer, the logistics TLs and ETL and they all said as far as they know that's best practice. I just felt weird cracking open 12 beers in the cleaning crew room, even if I was just pouring them down the drain.

So for those in the know, is the no credits/returns policy I know accurate?

If so, what's your disposal policy? Just throw it into the compactor, or take the time to empty it? And if we really do empty them, where do I get a cork-screw for the corked wines?

I know this isn't a question many people will be asking, I hope someone reads this who can shed some insight - and thanks in advance!
 
Depends on your state laws I believe. I know in Texas at least they are not allowed to take anything out of the store, once delivered its ours. We have to pour it down the drain in the cleaning room and then throw it away as well. If your throwing away alot of expired alcohol you might want to look at the space these vendors are getting. Best practice is 1 pallet per beer vendor and one 4 foot shelve per wine vendor, now this depends on how well you sell it. My area is full of well call them avid beer drinkers, so we let them have a couple of pallets a piece but they are never there for more then a few days.
 
Ours is defected out and then dumped down the drain. I know that there was one time I had to do it for the girl at GS since she was underage and was not allowed to dump it herself.
 
Thanks everyone, that was the info I was looking for. I don't know the state laws and regulations, but I'm in Michigan and during my training I was told once we accept the order it is ours for good (thus why we don't use scan sheets and wind up with something we can't accept) so it makes sense that when it's damaged or out-dated we dump it and toss it instead of give it back. So that's what I'll continue to do, just wanted to make sure other people were doing it to!

Plus, one thing I learned in the process of asking around about this: The reason beer/wine can't be backstocked is because there's a possibility an underage TM might have to pull that batch which is a violation.

Again, thanks for the help all! Adventures in Reverse Logistics, I'll try to keep some memos from my learning process and put them online for other new Reverse Logistics-ers.
 
Beer/wine isn't backstocked at your store? Huh. How do you get stock to the floor, then? That seems massively inefficient.

One very simple way around that would be to simply not hire underage folks to work the backroom, although I suppose that would vary in usefuless depending on what age is considered "underage" there. In IL, you have to be 19 in order to sell and process liquor.
 
I wish they knew how time-consuming and tedious it can be to sit back in the cleaning room and pour defective merchandise down the drain, especially when you hit a jackpot of beverage outdates in SDA.

I know our Budweiser vendor takes his defective merchandise back, but I'm not sure about our wine vendors and our other alcohol vendors.
 
@looseseal: It *is* ridiculously time-consuming to open and pour beverages down the drain, especially when you have packages of multiple cans/bottles that all need to be opened and then drained. That's when I sing the "I'm being paid by the hour!" song in my head. Also, I know several beer and wine vendors at my store try to take back their defectives, but I've been told we just defect it and toss it so that's what I do. I just recently started Reverse Logistics so it's a work in progress, but the order-placers still put in credits for their outdated/defectives, and by the time the order arrives and they want to reclaim the merchandise I've defected and dumped it. Hopefully we iron out the wrinkles soon.

@Snookie: Everything at my store is backstocked except beer and wine due to the "underage" situation, I think it's 18+ to sell beer/wine in Michigan, so most of our staff should be able to pull it but I know Target tends to err on the side of caution. We keep the alcohol in an unlocated section of bulk storage near the receiving desk, each vendor has their own section to store backstock and they employ merchandisers to come into our store on a regular basis and push the product to the floor.
 
This is silly, but actually a big question I haven't had answered yet: I have to dump wine bottles on a regular basis, and I do run into the corked ones. Does anyone else do this, do you use a cork-screw to open it, break the bottle, or say screw-it and just toss it into the compactor? My leadership team isn't sure, I'm trying to figure this situation out.
 
This is silly, but actually a big question I haven't had answered yet: I have to dump wine bottles on a regular basis, and I do run into the corked ones. Does anyone else do this, do you use a cork-screw to open it, break the bottle, or say screw-it and just toss it into the compactor? My leadership team isn't sure, I'm trying to figure this situation out.

I wouldn't recommended breaking the bottle because you could cut yourself. Have a corkscrew requisitioned so you can do your job safely.

Have some straws requisitioned too. Ijs.
 
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