Effective August 1, 2022, Walmart is charging two new fees to Collect suppliers with monthly deductions in arrears beginning in September.
The first fee is a fuel surcharge based on daily fuel price changes that are matched against geographic locations and each shipment day. Walmart analyzes fuel charges using the Breakthrough Fuel (BTF) program which Walmart Transportation has used for third party carriers.
BTF uses fuel costs based on the freight movements and real-time fuel costs, capturing daily fuel price changes by geographic location and each day. BTF also calculates state and local taxes based on route data and captures regional price differentials across the U.S
Fuel data is aggregated, billed, and deducted at the 6-digit vendor number level
The second fee is a Collect Pickup Charge calculated as a percentage of the cost of goods picked up by Walmart. The derivation and application of this percentage remains unclear at this time.
Walmart is also evaluating its Collect Program’s trailer utilization and shipping lanes to improve efficiency and lower costs.
Collect Suppliers may elect to switch to Prepaid Shipping, where suppliers arrange and pay for the freight costs to deliver their goods to Walmart.
As a Prepaid supplier you will be responsible for on-time deliveries (OTIF), warehouse allowances, returns, etc.
The deadline to switch to Prepaid without COO charges has already passed. You will incur these charges until you switch to Prepaid freight terms.
We are monitoring developments and watching for any transparency and calculations of these fees.
