Employee Mistakes Costing Businesses

Roughly 6 or 7 months ago granny ordered some fans that were on special in a 2 for 1 deal for roughly R525 which is around $30 which equates to $15 per fan. Cheap and it included delivery so you know whoever is selling them is not making huge profit and is more likely an introductory offer to get their brand out in the market in the hands of customers. Those customers will often give some type of feedback which will help others decide on future sales when they read the reviews to see what they are going to purchase.

This purchase I mentioned was in the middle of last year and we received 2 boxes and had put them away for when we night need them. Next week a family member is staying with us for a few days and we decided to put a fan up in the guest room. This is the one room that does not have air conditioning so at least having a fan will make them feel more comfortable.

Only when we opened the box did we notice there was 2 fans per pox so we actually received 4 fans for $30 which is bad news for the supplier and good news for us. I would have contacted them at the time if I had known and now it is too late.

This happens quite frequently and more than you might think due to staff not being bale to read and more importantly not being supervised. This order would
have been picked by one person and then double checked by another person before being dispatched and no one would have picked up that there were 2 fans per box. The box is clearly marked, but obviously not clear enough and you have to understand the caliber of staff you have employed.

Years ago we had issues with hundreds of gyms that were delivered to the Walmart DC. The DC staff dispatched gyms to the stores without reading or double checking what they were sending. Most gyms are sets so they will have multiple boxes and in this case 7 boxes made 1 complete gym. the boxes would be clearly marked box 1 of 1 right up to box 1 of 7. Many of the stores would have received gym boxes, but never complete sets. I can recall one store only having the weights and no gym itself which if I recall correctly was box number 7.

What the DC had done was create total chaos and had made hundreds of thousands of dollars in unsellable gym equipment. Yes you can find them and match them up but by the time you do the boxes are destroyed because again no one cares and their is no accountability.

These fans never came from Amazon, but from the biggest online platform in South Africa called Takealot. Over the last year our distribution warehouse has received return items we do not stock or have never stocked. Air fryers, microwaves are some of the items that come to mind and it beggars belief how this is even possible. Companies out there are relying on others to do their jobs correctly and this is definitely not happening. In this case I would guess Takealot is in for a large bill due to their incompetence.

Last week we had a case of someone not receiving their treadmill due to the courier not delivering on time and we dispatched a second treadmill to keep the customer happy. In the meantime whilst this was ongoing the original order was delivered so they in fact received 2 treadmills. We had both waybills signed stating this as proof and when contacted they denied receiving the 2nd treadmill. This has been sorted now as we have shown them the proof and have had it collected, but they were also taking a chance. At the time we were unaware of what was happening behind the scenes and had not authorized the second delivery because you follow up on the first order with the courier first before making that call as they are the ones who are liable for the costs.

Staff are your biggest strength and weakness and you are only as strong as the weakest link in the chain. the person who authorized the 2nd treadmill delivery is from our clients head office and will receive a good slapping for interfering. The intentions were right, but the execution and thought process was wrong and the good part is it was only 1 item for lessons to be learned.

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