gm dropping return reserve?

[gm man]

i just received a call today from the regional parts operations manager. his question asked. did i think parts managers
would accept a 1% return reserve for additional discounts, not optional.
of course i said no, but his indications are
that something is going to bejammed down our
throats. we must all protest any reductions
in return reserve allowance.

[Chuck Hartle]

GM Man,

Ford had a national broadcast on Friday to announce their new parts program to be implemented by region over the next year or so. They include the following:

1) Daily Stock Orders
2) 5% Discount goes to 1% Discount
3) 5% PIPP (Return Reserve) goes to 2%
4) 30 Day return program will now have the open or written package policy that GM now practices.

Ford's reasoning for this is that only 40% of their purchases from dealerships, on average, had the 5% discount / 5% PIPP earned. Based on daily replenishment orders, basically 85% of all orders will now get the 3% that was previously offered on daily orders. The net effect, as it was explained to me, would be a loss of .02 pecent of total PIPP and discounts.

There will apparently be a 5% bonus initative to maintain a certain percentage of inventory level.

Ford is planning on 4 or 5 new "high density" depots which will carry 84% of the fastest moving inventory. These are where Ford dealers will get most of their stock orders from. The larger, slower moving parts will come from regional depots and take two to three days to receive.

These new terms and conditions will take effect only after a region has been implemented to the high density depots and it will be approximately 8 to 10 months before this takes place.

I guess it all boils down to this one question regarding Ford's new program and GM's current program.

Ford offers 1% discount on DROs
GM offers 3.75 discount on DROs and CSOs

Ford offers 2% PIPP on DROs
GM offers 6% Return Reserve on DROS and CSOs

Now the question......

If Ford can do this, why can't GM? It is going to be a whole new ballgame. Large Ford dealers must be comatose right now! Anyone got some more feedback on this?

Chuck Hartle'