I get that manufacturer's reps usually take folks out to lunch/dinner after making a large sale.

That never bothered me.

I'm copied on the receiving email address - some person, who we never used, just sent one offering to take "you and your team" out to "fairly high end restaurant" for lunch, if he was given some shipments.

Debating about how angry this should make me/if it should make me angry.

That’s bullshit. If he wants to take you to lunch as an introduction, no problem. Making it contingent on your future business is slimy.

It should never be quid pro quo. Back many years ago when I was in charge of such things, freight peddlers had enormous entertainment budgets which some of the less scrupulous vendors used to buy business.

We did have one carrier that we did give some freight to that held a "customer appreciation" night every now and again. All of the warehouse crew were invited as were like employees from other local shippers. This worked out pretty well and they even watched over the folks to make sure non where overdoing it.

quote:

Originally posted by NavyGuy:
It should never be quid pro quo.

It should never be obvious, if it happens it needs to appear without obligation even though it may be a thankyou for the order but never a requirement.
Smoozing always has and always will happen.
When I was a buyer I had reps take me to lunch/dinner but never as a condition of an order.

In this particular case, I think the word we're all looking for here is 'unethical'...Just sayin'

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
In this particular case, I think the word we're all looking for here is 'unethical'...Just sayin'

THIS!

In 40 years in procurement I saw various policies. Best policy is for buyers, purchasing agents etc, as well as employees of other departments, is to accept no lunches or gifts from potential vendors.

I’ve worked for companies who would immediately terminate employees who did. Some firms are ok with it.

The purchasing association I belonged to considered it a breech of ethics. My opinion is that there should never be an appearance of possible bias.


It’s absolutely unacceptable in government.

My employees understood that it was unacceptable in my dept and grounds for immediate termination.

Is he going to provide the hookers too?

quote:

Originally posted by maxdog:
It’s absolutely unacceptable in government.

Agreed. And yet, lots of folks still try, and some seem shocked when their offers are rebuffed.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
Is he going to provide the hookers too?

Of course, and blow...

OK. Thank you for being a reference to ensure that it seemed as scuzzy as I thought.

I will be sure he gets blackballed.

He's a slime ball or a dipshit, either way that's a no-go for me.

The context in this one is everything.

Scuzzy wrote: “I'd owe you and your team lunch from “High End Place” if you had anything in or out of the area.”

I have been taken to lunch while testing equipment, at the same regular place the engineers etc usually had lunch, but I figured that was more about us dropping a few grand to run the test as rather than trying to bribe me.

Over 30 years ago, the company I worked for in California used to do most of their business overseas. It was a cotton marketing cooperative and we shipped the cotton bales in containers. We used mainly two different freight forwarders back then but the relationships were always on the up and up. The company was sometimes approached by a new freight forwarder but it was always our decision as to whether or not we did business with them; no pay for play. Regarding the two that we used most often, I do seem to recall that if they visited us, we would take them to lunch and if we visited them, they would take us to lunch.

The best thing I ever scored out of those relationships was when we had a huge shipment going out and two of us went down to meet up with the FF. They took us over to the dock where the ship was being loaded and we got a short tour of the vessel while also watching the containers being loaded. This was an Italian registered ship and we were then treated to a 7-course Italian meal. They had to roll us out afterward! However, that was only the beginning. After we left there, my coworker and I took a drive into Los Angeles. You see, the FF had given us two Club Level seat tickets to Dodger Stadium and it was game 6 of the NLCS (Dodgers vs Mets). We sat about 20 feet to the right of Sammy Davis Jr., and about 20-25 feet to the right and behind Joe DiMaggio! That was a day I'll always remember.

If the rep offered to take you and your team out to lunch to discuss getting some of your business that would seem like a reasonable marketing approach. However, I could totally see companies having policies forbidding their employees from accepting such offers.

Putting it as described is a boldfaced bribe. I wouldn’t be mad, but that rep and that company would be on the never list. If I had a contact at the company, I’d let them know they were on the never list and why.

As a freight rep myself, I take customers and potential customers to lunch every week. In fact, it’s a company requirement to have 3 lunches or entertainments per week. It can be breakfast, lunch, dinner, golf or a ball game. I have never made it contingent on getting business. It’s an opportunity to get to know the customer and discuss their business. I have close friends who were customers originally.

Good advice in earlier responses.

As for getting angry about the email? Not worth the effort. I would make a note in your daily log. I was in another field but had similar emails/approaches. In a few cases the person made inroads with C level folks in other areas and there were the typical "why not do business with them?" questions. Being able to document the decision always put those questions to rest.