OK, you guys, I was hoping for some wisdom to be passed on, but I may have figured it out all by myself (sorta).

When the asst mgr was scanning my dept, I noticed that when the the order review date was the same as the date that day, he didn't place another order.  In case I haven't mentioned this, I am referring to assembly items, not warehouse.  He told me to scan the item again next week.

In the past, I had problems with getting too much of assembly items at one time.  Then, the overstock would get put on top of the steel, and it wouldn't get sold out, before another shipment came in.  This resulted in lots of overstock, and was very frustrating.

If anyone has another slant on this, or more info that will help me control my freight flow better, please chime in!

 

Mad

I don't think there is really any kind of secret as to when you should order anything.  I think it really depends on how well something sells.  I think we have all done this once or twice... For some odd reason.. the POS system in my dept. doesn't work..hmm... so I have to place manual orders.  I seem to get a lot of stuff that I don't need.. example... I have an item on the shelf   8  total on hand including whats in the back  24 .  Now, there is 6 in transit, 6 in the warehouse and 6 on order... so does this make any sense ?  NO.  In the pets depts its a tough call.  If you are the one working your bins then you would know what you have and what your needs are.  Sometimes having a bit more overstock is a good thing.. which insures that you don't run out.

 

Also, I am finding that if I have an on hand count for something and I want to place another order.. I get a screen that asks me if I want to continue because with the new order and the current one will give me xxx amount.. which could in fact be the extra overstock that you are talking about.

My problem is, that the system doesn't keep up with the sales on my fast movers.  I have to order, to try stay in stock. People like to buy canned cat food by the case, and they tend buy several at a time.  The system doesn't react fast enough, and it really can't, because the sales can fluctuate so wildly.  By ordering manually, I can minimize the damage.

 

Mad

I have gotten in a lot of canned dog food that wouldn't go out yet.  Hmmmm.

Friday afternoon, when I left , my shelves were looking really bad, in other areas of the dept.  It had looked pretty good, earlier in the day.  I hope it looks a lot better on Monday!

 

Mad

Mad,

I think assembly ordering is hit or miss. If I forget one week to scan those items I can miss an ordering date. I order "extra" depending on the rate of sale for the past weeks (I don't include the zero sale weeks) and how many modular homes I have to fill ( and if someone throws the pdq away ). The other issues I have are how close to the inventory date, assembly delivery dates, sales forecast and community events etc. Oh, and let's not forget when I have new modulars and they don't send the merchandise in before the mod drops or there is not enough merchandise to fill all the homes.

I am probably the order queen in the store for several reasons both in assembly, POS and Mclanes. Those reasons being:

 a) 75% of the time I work by myself so I would rather put up 6 or more boxes of the same item then have to work one box every other day or so (remember I'm 82....LOL....D-82)

b)I  need to have freight available to restock on certain days of the week.

c)My freight is not worked correctly, therefore I have to reorder.

d)I can't depend on vendors to work freight.

e)I don't like candy bars sitting on a shelf without a box.

f)I don't like warehouse outs!

g)I don't like missed sales.

h)I hate moving freight from one register to another to fill or moving batteries from department to another etc.

i)etc.

 

This message probably doesn't make sense but it does to me. I have a unique department.

I almost got D 82, when I started in my old store, in 1992.  Luckily for me, they decided that I was a better fit for Pets; what with my veterinary experience, pet ownership history, and desire to manage Pets.  Looking back on it, I feel that I was blessed!

You sound like you're on top of how to handle your dept.  Our D 82 mgr never seems to do much, and she always leaves floats, trash, etc on the sales floor.  I am NOT saying I could do a better job, but I wish mgmt would hold her to a higher standard.

Great to see you posting again; seems like it's been awhile.  I love your sense of humor.

 

Mad