Kosten durch mangelhafte Wareneingangskontrolle (Beschädigungen erst beim Kunden entdeckt)

Definition

Furniture retailers explicitly require customers to inspect goods on delivery or pick‑up and note any issues immediately; once signed as accepted, they refuse responsibility for later claims, showing that damage at or before delivery is a recurring and material cost risk.[2] Under the Australian Consumer Law, wholesalers/retailers must provide remedies (repair, replacement, refund) when products are not of acceptable quality or arrive damaged, often including redelivery and collection at their own cost.[ACL ss54–56] In practice, when receiving inspection at the warehouse fails to catch transit damage or manufacturing defects, the defect is only discovered after delivery, leading to: free replacement units, two additional freight legs (pickup of damaged item and delivery of replacement), discounting or full refunds, and potential scrapping of bulky items that are uneconomical to return to the supplier. For large furniture, metro delivery fees in Australia are commonly AUD 80–200 per trip, with higher rates to regional areas.[1][2][4][8] If even 1–2% of outbound units from a wholesaler handling 5,000–10,000 items per year are later deemed damaged that should have been rejected at receiving, this equates to 50–200 incidents annually. At an average direct cost of AUD 400–800 per incident (two freight legs plus margin loss on discount/refund or write‑off), the annual loss is roughly AUD 20,000–160,000 for a mid‑size wholesaler. This does not include handling time or reputational damage with retailers. Strengthening dock‑level inspection with scanning, mandatory photo capture, and clear segregation of quarantine stock sharply reduces the number of defects that slip through to the customer stage.

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Wholesale furniture players in Australia 🇦🇺 easily waste AUD 50,000–150,000 p.a. on returns, replacements and write‑offs because damage is only found after delivery. Automation of photo‑based receiving, digital condition reports and exceptions handling at the dock eliminates most of this risk.

Affected Stakeholders

Warehouse manager, Goods receiving staff, Quality inspector, Customer service/claims team, Sales account managers, Finance/credit control

Related Business Risks