Today I stopped in a number of Walmarts to look for Wally the Hauler. While at one of the Walmarts, I asked a nice department manager for help. She actually headed up Sporting Goods, but was glad to help me. She had one of the Walmart scanner guns that gives you all sorts of great info. She knew nothing about Cars, but was able to tell me the Haulers were Direct Imports from her computer access. She was more than happy to tell me how their system worked.
The interesting thing is she gave me insight into the Distribution problem we're all fedup with! She told me getting popular things could take up to four weeks minimum, regardless of the department. She felt the problem with so many things that are "OUT," has to do with the transportation of goods. As we've all joked, but are unfortunately correct about, Cars are literally on a slow boat from China!!
A Slow Boat from China Delivers Cars Toys to the U.S.
Trains transport the Containers to the Distribution Centers
Trucks also haul the Containers to Distribution Centers
The Walmart Distribution Center Sorts & Redistributes!
A rousing Yeah! as Shoppers Descend Upon Walmarthttp://CarsDieCastToys.Blogspot.com
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2 comments:
Direct Import typically means that the items never hit the Wal Mart distribution center and would go straight from the port to the store via a third party shipping channel, like UPS or FedEx. In theory this should be faster, but apparently not. I can't wait to see my son's face when he gets his Jerry!
Michael, I know I mentioned that the Walmart manager could see the trucks were Direct Import, but the focus of my article was to point out how the "Mainline" distribution has been a problem, even though I was out looking for Wally. You are correct about Direct Import and how it is shipped. You are also correct that it doesn't seem to matter. The Walmart manager also pointed out how using the third party shipping was annoying and costly. She knew her stuff.
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