Elmburg felt he needed Walmart's cooperation because the gas cans produced by Blitz and sold through Walmart had been connected to dozens of explosions, serious burn injuries, and deaths. In their contracts with Walmart, suppliers must agree to accept any financial or criminal liability resulting from the sale of their products. Elmburg felt that Walmart, given its size and as the point of purchase, had an ability to influence consumers in a way that Blitz could not.
A Perhaps because it was protected from liability, Walmart failed to act on Elmburg's proposal. The basic problem with the Blitz gas cans is that when gas is poured from them, there is a risk that gasoline vapors will connect with an ember or other fire source, and the fire will run up the gas flow into the can and explode. (While all Chinese Overseas America Number Data of the data that I am using about the Walmart stories are from publicly available sources, it should be noted that I served as an expert witness in the case of Melvin v. Walmart, Inc.) This had occurred in many dozens of cases, and a large number of lawsuits against Blitz had followed.
A former Blitz employee has testified that n to Walmart that would prevent the burn injuries by installing an "arrestor," a device that would prevent a flame from flowing into the can, at a cost of between cents and per can. According to this testimony, Walmart rejected Blitz's design on the basis of the price increase, and Blitz halted its redesign project because it would be difficult to launch a national product that Walmart refused to purchase. “MOST PEOPLE DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE HARMS CREATED BY INDIRECT ACTIONS” The flip side of Walmart's policy of providing everyday low prices to its customers is its goal of securing everyday low costs for Walmart. |
