hardlines Digest Tue, 02 Jun 1998 00:00:11 -0400 V01 #27811 Today's topics: 'Take over Triad Lease' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 31 May 1998 20:53:07 -0800 From: robert@rlarson.com Subject: Take over Triad Lease I had one reply to a previous post regarding sale of a Triad system advising it would be difficult to sell. This seems to be entirely accurate so Marshall has asked me to post (he has no email access) the following: =================================================== Take Over Lease Triad Eagle Computer System Purchased November, 1994 System Includes: 33 MHZ 486, 16 MB RAM w/ 150 MB tape drive and 500 MB hard drive 1 POS Terminal with Receipt Printer 1 132 column Report Printer 1 UPS (Uninterruptible Power Source) 1 80 column Invoice Printer (purchased 5/95) System 17 Hardgoods Software Lease runs through November 10, 1999 with monthly lease payments of 418.70. We will reimburse the cost of relicensing the Triad Software (up to $3500,00) to the individual taking over the lease. For more information, call Marshall Martin at 714-532-4677 or FAX 714-532-3781 by June 3, 1998 or after June 3 at 714-447-0471 or FAX 714-447-3446. =================================================================================== Robert Larson http://www.rlarson.com Robert Larson Company, Inc. 15 Dorman Avenue San Francisco CA 94124 USA Phone: 1.415.821.1021 or 1.800.356.2195 Fax: 1.415.821.3786 ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27811 ********************************** hardlines Digest Wed, 03 Jun 1998 00:01:20 -0400 V01 #27812 Today's topics: 'hardlines Digest - V01 #27811 -Reply' 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27809' 'RE: Take over Triad Lease' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 23:25:21 -0600 From: Dennis Chappell Subject: hardlines Digest - V01 #27811 -Reply I am on vacation June 1 thur June 7. Please contact Linda Mango at 941 488-6348 if urgent. Thanks ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 11:26:40 -0400 From: Bill Round Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27809 Dear Folks, In regards to earlier messages, I say protect the plastic owls! Don't use plastic lumber! Protect the plastic habitat! Protect the plastic wetlands! Having said that, has anyone thought about order points as they relate to sales costs lately? My market is hyper-competitive in all areas. Real estate is expensive. Labor is expensive... and might as well be considered unavailable. Every store sells everything. A a poor operator in a good location can trump a good operator in a poor location. Parking and convenience are highly valued by the consumer. We have been reconsidering everything we stock, as well as how we stock it and promote it. One of the things management at the store has been complaining bitterly about is the amount of paperwork which has accumulated at Round's True Value over the years. I've turned a lot of it off. The suggested order report is a critical one which I have hesitated to alter, but alter it we must. It requires too much labor. We have traditionally grabbed the suggested order off the printer in the morning and walked the sales floor with it. Any count problems where noted and order quantities where adjusted. This information was posted to the system, counts changed, and an order was created and sent. We have been working to reduce or eliminate back stock to avoid the expenses associated with picking and pulling it. I might as well ask people to vacuum the store than pick merchandise from the upstairs warehouse. It doesn't happen reliably. The shortest and most profitable path is from the truck tail gate to the salesfloor. Lower handling costs trump lower acquisition costs in my book. We have been slashing standard packs where ever possible to permit the number of items necessary to refill the shelf, but not the number which would force merchandise into backstock. We would like to eliminate the physical inventory work associated with the replenishment process. Lower stock levels make this easier. Location control makes this easier. Cycle counts are nice, but also require a biweekly run through the store to catch outs due to theft, chaos, mis-shipments, etc. Some members of the staff state that they could do a better replenishment order with a hand-held terminal on the floor. I could accept this by doing some variation on the following: - a portable terminal to display description, sku, QOH, appropriate sales data, stand pack and order multiple. -Upload entries to the Triad as New Order quantities for review on an RSO. NOQ's are Questions for the group: 1. Anybody with the same Regards, Bill Round Round's True Value Hardware 290 Main Street Stoneham, MA 02180 Phone: 781-438-0131 FAX: 781-279-9123 Email: billr@roundshardware.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 20:54:59 -0500 From: "David Casaletto" Subject: RE: Take over Triad Lease Again, the point is that the system is out of date. A 486 will not do what you need with level 20 or CAT, etc. The payments total around $7,000 and if it cost $3500 to get the system back on support, you still have a system that will not do what needs done. He saved or made his money when he did not pay support or upgrade as needed. Piece it out, get what you can and go on down the road. (My opinion.) David Casaletto True Value Home Center Pittsburg, KS -----Original Message----- From: owner-hardlines@cornells.com [mailto:owner-hardlines@cornells.com] On Behalf Of robert@rlarson.com Sent: Sunday, May 31, 1998 11:53 PM To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Subject: Take over Triad Lease I had one reply to a previous post regarding sale of a Triad system advising it would be difficult to sell. This seems to be entirely accurate so Marshall has asked me to post (he has no email access) the following: =================================================== Take Over Lease Triad Eagle Computer System Purchased November, 1994 System Includes: 33 MHZ 486, 16 MB RAM w/ 150 MB tape drive and 500 MB hard drive 1 POS Terminal with Receipt Printer 1 132 column Report Printer 1 UPS (Uninterruptible Power Source) 1 80 column Invoice Printer (purchased 5/95) System 17 Hardgoods Software Lease runs through November 10, 1999 with monthly lease payments of 418.70. We will reimburse the cost of relicensing the Triad Software (up to $3500,00) to the individual taking over the lease. For more information, call Marshall Martin at 714-532-4677 or FAX 714-532-3781 by June 3, 1998 or after June 3 at 714-447-0471 or FAX 714-447-3446. ============================================================================ ======= Robert Larson http://www.rlarson.com Robert Larson Company, Inc. 15 Dorman Avenue San Francisco CA 94124 USA Phone: 1.415.821.1021 or 1.800.356.2195 Fax: 1.415.821.3786 *************************************************************** Thanks to our sponsors... CCI-Triad - http://www.cci-triad.com/ National Home Center News on the Web - the News Radio of home improvement retailers. Tune in each day for the latest on a rapidly changing industry. www.homecenternews.com *************************************************************** Hardlines Mailing List is an unmoderated Internet mailing list for hardware and building materials industry members. Back issues are available at http://www.cornells.com/hardlines/ To remove your name from the mailing list, send email to listserv@cornells.com with the following line in your message: unsubscribe hardlines firstname lastname For any other questions, send email to postmaster@cornells.com *************************************************************** ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27812 ********************************** hardlines Digest Thu, 04 Jun 1998 00:01:41 -0400 V01 #27813 Today's topics: 'Re: Bill's RSO treatise' 'Bill Rounds, RSO' 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27812' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 22:37:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Rick Karp Subject: Re: Bill's RSO treatise Bill's RSO issue... I have tried your idea on order points with mixed success. I eventually abandoned the idea in semi-frustration, but often consider going back. I have three stores in San Francisco, all 6,000' and under. We are serviced by Ace three times a week (on different days, so in essence I have 6 day a week delivery into my business). One would think that with 3 orders a week coming into a store, we would be able to reduce our backstock substantially, without running out of merchandise. Well, I must admit, I still have too much backstock, and many outs. For awhile we stopped running RSO's, relying on the old eyeball technique. Worked for the 80%, but bombed for the crucial 20% that the eyeball couldn't see or didn't get to in time. Result was lost sales. Also, it seemed that my staff was concentrating on generating an order rather than on making a sale. Also, now that we have the three orders a week, it is difficult to tell if we are out, or if the product is in a tote waiting to be put away! We have settled on the following flawed system: --Theoretically, my staff diligently goes around the stores filling holes, checking stock, and creating shortcards, preparing for the RSO. Then, a knowledgeable person, such as the manager sits at a desk reading the RSO, determining what should be ordered based on sales history vs. how close we are to order point vs. what we can transfer, etc. The goal is not to order unless we absolutely must. --Meanwhile I play with ROP trying hard to manipulate order points based on popularity codes (ranked by class -- a real pain some years ago, when we built hundreds of ques.). I am down to two weeks safety stock and going lower still. However, simaltaneously, we are big on setting minimum order points so many items will not be driven down too far. --I run an RSO once a week for non-Ace vendors, and basically treat them in the same style as Ace, except that we can more easily audit a small vendor RSO more frequently than Ace. --I like minimum o.p. a lot (I was a huge lobbyist for this field with Triad.) Over time, I can see myself haveing a min o.p. for nearly everything in the store, and drive ROP safety stock to about 1/2 week on all else, thereby relying on min o.p. to keep me from running out of fast movers. Still though, my backstock seems to burst. Yes we cycle count by class, but that is slow just like everything else that we do in between customers. Our qoh accuracy, if I am honest, is probably about 80% at best. It's tough to keep up with the thieves, both internal and external! I, like Bill, would love to know how others treat ROP and ordering strategies. Rick Karp rkarp@colehardware.com At 12:01 AM 6/3/98 -0400, you wrote: >hardlines Digest Wed, 03 Jun 1998 00:01:20 -0400 V01 #27812 > >Today's topics: > 'hardlines Digest - V01 #27811 -Reply' > 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27809' > 'RE: Take over Triad Lease' > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Date: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 23:25:21 -0600 >From: Dennis Chappell >Subject: hardlines Digest - V01 #27811 -Reply > > >I am on vacation June 1 thur June 7. Please contact Linda Mango at 941 488-6348 if urgent. > >Thanks > >------------------------------ > >Date: Mon, 01 Jun 1998 11:26:40 -0400 >From: Bill Round >Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27809 > > >Dear Folks, > >In regards to earlier messages, I say protect the plastic owls! Don't use >plastic lumber! Protect the plastic habitat! Protect the plastic wetlands! > >Having said that, has anyone thought about order points as they relate to >sales costs lately? > >My market is hyper-competitive in all areas. Real estate is expensive. >Labor is expensive... and might as well be considered unavailable. Every >store sells everything. A a poor operator in a good location can trump a >good operator in a poor location. Parking and convenience are highly >valued by the consumer. > >We have been reconsidering everything we stock, as well as how we stock it >and promote it. One of the things management at the store has been >complaining bitterly about is the amount of paperwork which has accumulated >at Round's True Value over the years. I've turned a lot of it off. The >suggested order report is a critical one which I have hesitated to alter, >but alter it we must. It requires too much labor. > >We have traditionally grabbed the suggested order off the printer in the >morning and walked the sales floor with it. Any count problems where noted >and order quantities where adjusted. This information was posted to the >system, counts changed, and an order was created and sent. > >We have been working to reduce or eliminate back stock to avoid the >expenses associated with picking and pulling it. I might as well ask >people to vacuum the store than pick merchandise from the upstairs >warehouse. It doesn't happen reliably. The shortest and most profitable >path is from the truck tail gate to the salesfloor. Lower handling costs >trump lower acquisition costs in my book. We have been slashing standard >packs where ever possible to permit the number of items necessary to refill >the shelf, but not the number which would force merchandise into backstock. > >We would like to eliminate the physical inventory work associated with the >replenishment process. Lower stock levels make this easier. Location >control makes this easier. Cycle counts are nice, but also require a >biweekly run through the store to catch outs due to theft, chaos, >mis-shipments, etc. > >Some members of the staff state that they could do a better replenishment >order with a hand-held terminal on the floor. I could accept this by doing >some variation on the following: >- a portable terminal to display description, sku, QOH, appropriate sales >data, stand pack and order multiple. >-Upload entries to the Triad as New Order quantities for review on an RSO. >NOQ's are > >Questions for the group: >1. Anybody with the same > >Regards, > >Bill Round >Round's True Value Hardware >290 Main Street >Stoneham, MA 02180 >Phone: 781-438-0131 >FAX: 781-279-9123 >Email: billr@roundshardware.com > > > >------------------------------ > >Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 20:54:59 -0500 >From: "David Casaletto" >Subject: RE: Take over Triad Lease > > >Again, the point is that the system is out of date. A 486 will not do what >you need with level 20 or CAT, etc. The payments total around $7,000 and if >it cost $3500 to get the system back on support, you still have a system >that will not do what needs done. He saved or made his money when he did not >pay support or upgrade as needed. Piece it out, get what you can and go on >down the road. > >(My opinion.) > >David Casaletto >True Value Home Center >Pittsburg, KS > >-----Original Message----- >From: owner-hardlines@cornells.com [mailto:owner-hardlines@cornells.com] On >Behalf Of robert@rlarson.com >Sent: Sunday, May 31, 1998 11:53 PM >To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines >Subject: Take over Triad Lease > >I had one reply to a previous post regarding sale of a Triad system advising >it would be >difficult to sell. This seems to be entirely accurate so Marshall has asked >me to post (he >has no email access) the following: > >=================================================== > Take Over Lease > Triad Eagle Computer System > Purchased November, 1994 > >System Includes: > 33 MHZ 486, 16 MB RAM w/ 150 MB tape > drive and 500 MB hard drive > 1 POS Terminal with Receipt Printer > 1 132 column Report Printer > 1 UPS (Uninterruptible Power Source) > 1 80 column Invoice Printer (purchased 5/95) > System 17 Hardgoods Software > >Lease runs through November 10, 1999 with monthly lease >payments of 418.70. We will reimburse the cost of >relicensing the Triad Software (up to $3500,00) to the >individual taking over the lease. >For more information, call Marshall Martin at 714-532-4677 or >FAX 714-532-3781 by June 3, 1998 or after June 3 at >714-447-0471 or FAX 714-447-3446. > >============================================================================ >======= >Robert Larson http://www.rlarson.com >Robert Larson Company, Inc. >15 Dorman Avenue >San Francisco CA 94124 USA >Phone: 1.415.821.1021 or 1.800.356.2195 Fax: 1.415.821.3786 > >*************************************************************** > Thanks to our sponsors... > > CCI-Triad - http://www.cci-triad.com/ > > National Home Center News on the Web - the News Radio of home > improvement retailers. Tune in each day for the latest on a > rapidly changing industry. www.homecenternews.com > >*************************************************************** > Hardlines Mailing List is an unmoderated Internet mailing list > for hardware and building materials industry members. Back > issues are available at http://www.cornells.com/hardlines/ > > To remove your name from the mailing list, send email to > listserv@cornells.com with the following line in your message: > > unsubscribe hardlines firstname lastname > > For any other questions, send email to postmaster@cornells.com >*************************************************************** > > >------------------------------ > > >End of hardlines Digest V01 #27812 >********************************** > > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 02 Jun 1998 23:36:16 -0700 From: Fred Nichandros Subject: Bill Rounds, RSO Bill - In reply to your posting on using RSO and handwritten orders together. I have been thinking along similar lines for letting staff write their own orders, but witout the portable handheld terminal. The procedure that I am considering using is to let the Triad generate an RSO. This can be transmitted with a minimum of checking. Let the staff write orders, feed their orders into new order quantity, and use RSO to add this onto the RSO that the triad created by itself. Duplicate items will not be added on (???), so the only items that I will have on this part of the RSO are items that they ordered and the Triad did not. I will take this RSO and check it against the shelves and adjust inventory accordingly. What do you think of this procedure ??? Fred Nichandros Workbench True Value Hardware Castro Valley, CA ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Jun 1998 07:55:23 EDT From: Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27812 REGARDING THE TRIAD SYSTEM FOR SALE: IT MAY NOT BE SUCH A BAD DEAL, TRIAD IS INTERESTED IN KEEPING CUSTOMERS. WE HAD A SIMILAR SYSTEM, WITH 1 CASH REGISTER, 2 FDT TERMINALS, AND 1 PC ON THE SYSTEM. IN DALLAS I MET WITH TRIAD REGARDING THE COTTER CATALOG SYSTEM. THEY TOLD ME OUR SYSTEM WOULD NOT SUPPORT THE CATALOG BECAUSE MY 486 WAS LIGHT ON MEMORY AND DISK SPACE, THEY DID HOWEVER OFFER TO REFINANCE THE LEASE, BUY BACK MY OLD SYSTEM (PRESUMABLY FOR PARTS) AND UPDATE ME TO THE LATEST SYSTEM. I SAID IT WAS A POSSIBILITY, BUT I DONT KNOW IF WE CAN AFFORD TRIAD PRICES. THEY CAME UP WITH A PACKAGE THAT TOOK MY OLD SYSTEM UPDATED IT TO A 233 MHZ PENTIUM, TRIPLED MY DISK SPACE, TRIPLED MY MEMORY, LEVEL 20 SOFTWARE, ADDED A CD AND A NEW MODEM, KEPT MY LEASE AT THE SAME TERM (THERE WERE 33 MOS LEFT ON THE OLD LEASE), AND MY MONTHLY BILL IS NOW $25.00 LESS THAN BEFORE. WE ARE VERY PLEASED WITH THE NEW SYSTEM AND CATALOGUE, AND CANT WAIT UNTIL OUR WAREHOUSE IS CONVERTED. A POTENTIAL CUSTOMER MAY HAVE TO GO ON SUPORT, BUT IF THIS SYSTEM IS A CANDIDATE, THEN THEY COULD END UP WITH A GOOD DEAL.. POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS MIGHT CONTACT TRIAD BEFORE BUYING, FIRST. MIKE BOCHNER HENDERSON LUMBER JERSEY CITY ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27813 ********************************** hardlines Digest Fri, 05 Jun 1998 00:01:05 -0400 V01 #27814 Today's topics: 'Life In The Fast Lane' 'Re: RSO Thought' 'Galaxy 4 query' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 04 Jun 1998 06:29:21 -0400 From: "Listmanager" Subject: Life In The Fast Lane From: "Rick Schwartz" Hi: Wanta pass on an incident that happened recently: A "young" associate was cutting some chain for a customer and suddenly realized the cut was 3" too short. He immediately asked another fellow associate what to do. The other clerk replied "run out back and get the chain spreader next to the rekeying table". So he runs out back and returns confused because he could not find it. He was then re-prompted to "run out back, the chain stretcher is next to the 2x4 stretcher" in which the he again runs out back........ Has anybody found "blue steam" yet? Have fun Rick Schwartz Schwartz True Value PS: On the Application Form we use, there is a math question "what is 3/4 of a yard" -- only 10% of the applicants can answer correctly, let alone know there is 36" in a yard. To reply: mailto:retailing.51@tools.cornells.com To start new topic: mailto:retailing@tools.cornells.com To login: http://tools.cornells.com/~Hardlines ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 07:41:45 EDT From: Subject: Re: RSO Thought In a message dated 6/4/98 12:03:50 AM Eastern Daylight Time, hardlines- request@cornells.com writes: > > The procedure that I am considering using is to let the Triad generate > an RSO. This can be transmitted with a minimum of checking. Let the > staff write orders, feed their orders into new order quantity, and use > RS Is this Job Security or Job In-Security??? Have fun Rick Schwartz Schwartz True Value Fall River, MA 02724 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 19:22:14 -0500 From: truevalue@chamber.worcester.ma.us Subject: Galaxy 4 query Hi All, Received by snail mail instructions from 3M on re - aligning satellite dish. I did so sat eve 5/30/98 because I would rather have the benefits than not. Alignment went easily. The next business day only one person(an employee) made a comment that the music was back. Now to backtrack a bit. When the satellite went off line I thought it may be fun to count how many people had comments about the lack of music or commercials. NO employees were thanking the demons of gyroscopes that the commercials were silent. My customer,Tom, who religiously listens to the commercials to find "the deals" never even made a mention (in his 8 or so trips into the store) that the system was silent. Do we tune it out? Why was there such a lack of response by everyone? Did this only happen in my store? In summary, yes I'm going to keep my satellite system. There are benefits, some are unmeasurable. What did you people observe? Paul Poirier Park Ave. True Value Hardware Inc. Worcester MA 01603 508-754-1731 508-754-1935(fax) truevalue@chamber.worcester.ma.us http://www.parkavetruevalue.com ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27814 ********************************** hardlines Digest Sat, 06 Jun 1998 00:02:18 -0400 V01 #27815 Today's topics: 'TSN outage' 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27814' 'Excess inventory and RSO generation' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 22:24:09 EDT From: Subject: TSN outage I really felt that our store became a morgue when we did not have the music. Re-aiming the dish was a piece of cake. Sales were down when TSN was down. Sales are up since TSN has been up. I too had little or no comment during the down time except form the employees. This is my first message on my home computer. I just got AOL installed and everything works right out of the box. Only paid $2200 for a great computer form Quantex: 333, 64M ram, 6.4 GB hard drive, DVD, 19" monitor. I also recently installed a Match-rite box that cost $7200 with a tiny monitor, tiny keyboard, a lable only printer that cost $400 (my home printer is a color 720 HP that cost only $300), all this in, I think, a 486. What a deal, huh? If you want a good argument about what happens when there is little or no competition this is it. How can they justify a $5000 difference between these two computers? Oh well, if you are going to be in the paint business you better be able to match your competitors service level Enough already!!! Gary Johnson Johnson's True Value ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 23:27:25 EDT From: Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27814 C.I.S. Ordering system: We are a non automated store, Am interested in either Tru-Start or C.I.S. system. I feel it would be helpfull especially in this time of frustration (transition.) I would like to hear from those of you have experience in either system. Ken Runyan Coast to Coast Boise, ID. KWRun@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 23:58:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Richard Filion Subject: Excess inventory and RSO generation I think that one of the first questions to ask in addressing the issue of excess inventory is: "How did it show up in the store?" Is it the result of automatic shipment or overly optimistic sales anticipation? Is it part of a manufacturer's program to unload slow movers by encouraging you to buy displays with many items that will never sell in order to get a few that are good sales? Is it the result of not adjusting seasonal sales items so that your stock levels reach zero just as the the sale ends? There can be many other answers, but a little research can usually determine the causes. Once you have a cause, then a steps can be taken to eliminate the problem. In some cases you might have to change vendors to get broken pack quantities of items that do not move well. In some cases you may have to place more stock on the floor to keep from constantly having to bring stock down from warehouse. As for stocking levels and RSO generation, I really like the new safety stock and minimum stocking level features. On most items I have set minimum order points to the greatest quantity I have sold in any one week during the past year. I set the safety stock level to the greatest shrinkage level I have experienced. Then I recalc order points every month using the previous years sales levels for the previous month, the current month, and the next two months. I have experienced almost neglible outages or sales losses with this new system. You can probably use even lower levels, but you have to be willing to have some sale losses. The next question becomes: "What is your sale loss philosophy?" Some people believe that you should never lose a sale. I believe that you can not afford to not lose a sale once in a while. No one can afford to keep such high stocking levels. The next question becomes: "Which would you prefer to lose a sale on, an item you are high priced on or one you are the market leader in terms of pricing?" I run RPA at the end of the year, by department, to identify profit leaders in dollars and sales leaders in quantity sold. The items that are tops in both categories I set higher weeks safety stock, but usually not higher than two weeks. I usually run the ROP programs by vendor and types of inventory, around the fifteenth and at the % of stock based on a quick glance at the first part of the months sales. If it looks as if my lumber commodity items are selling around 150% of last years levels, then I use that percentage in the formula to recalc order points. Now with TS's very low markup for broken cartons I buy broken cartons on mostly everything. And any item that I have to buy more than three months stock because TS does not allow broken cartons, I buy from a different vendor, as long as the other vendor's price is within 10%. There are many other factors. But the most important consideration is looking at your stock overages by item and see how the overage resulted. That should indicate to you the best way of preventing future overages. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Richard Filion rhfil@nh.ultranet.com Filion Lumber 603-659-3361 Newmarket, N.H. ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27815 ********************************** hardlines Digest Sun, 07 Jun 1998 00:01:07 -0400 V01 #27816 Today's topics: '3M and such' 'TruStart' 'TruStart and CIS' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 21:48:32 -0700 From: "Jay, Will and Linda Farr" Subject: 3M and such I too realigned my satellite dish. I only had two problems ... the adjustment screw had rusted solid, so I had to disassemble the thing to free it up (necessitating a zillion trips up and down the ladder)! The other problem was that the helpful? instructions from 3M said to adjust the angle of the dish up, I ended up moving ours down a bunch! (is this another example of the Midwest assuming that the rest of the country is same Longitude as they are?!) Our other store had to adjust the same way! Needless to say, I feel that those of us who helped 3M out by adjusting our own dishes, deserve some compensation ... like a couple of free months?! I'm sure that if they had to send a technician out to Coos Bay, OR, they'd find out in a hurry how far west we are! Jay ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Jun 1998 13:07:22 EDT From: Subject: TruStart Ken Runyan asked about TruStart. I was a Beta site for this system and have been using since 07/96. We all really like the system. It is the easiest system to look up items on. You get full info on each item with access to your sales history(after you have been on for awhile). I believe you can get your purchase history, if you have been using Purchase Analysis, downloaded now. The best part is order review. We do visual ordering with a Telxon and then download to TruStart. You can review your order for large quanties. It also lists the items that have been canceled so you can order the subed item. I have 4 employees besided my wife and myself that order. All of us find using the TruStart quite easy. I order my sale relays directly on the TruStart and find that this is very simple. A big hole in the system is that Market relay orders do not get into your purchase history. I have been told "they" are working on this. We will be going to a TruTrak system in Sept in our new store and will miss the TruStart. My TruStart will convert to a POS. If you have any questions please call me: 509-877-2433 Gary Johnson Johnson's True Value GJNINC@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 06 Jun 1998 14:38:59 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: TruStart and CIS We've had both systems in our store, and we still have the CIS system running. Since we had a posting about TruStart, I'll post a few pros and cons for CIS. Pros: 1 - No PC required to buy... you can install on any MS-DOS PC. CIS will probably run on an old 286 if you have one around. We run it on a 386 with 8mb of RAM. 2 - Very fast... text interface, so searches and displays are quick. 3 - Imports and exports to a variety of third-party systems. 4 - Lower initial cost (assuming you own a PC already) Cons: 1 - Does not run well in Windows, especially Windows 95. It can be done, but there are a LOT of headaches that will cause problems if you don't like computers. 2 - No PC required to buy - Wait, I thought that was a Pro. Well, it's not a pro if you don't own a PC, since that means you need to find one that will run DOS. Most PC's come with Win 95 loaded (or now Win 98), so refer to Con #1. Gary Johnson already posted a nice summary of TruStart. It's a great choice if you want someone to send you a computer that is ready-to-run with a catalog. John **************************************************************************** *** John Fix 3rd http://www.cornells.com/john.htm John3@cornells.com (914) 961-2400 Cornell's True Value Hardware Manager/Cashier/Webmaster PGP Fingerprint - BF56 ACBE 27BC 907D B8C5 D1AE A881 6299 ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27816 ********************************** hardlines Digest Mon, 08 Jun 1998 00:02:21 -0400 V01 #27817 Today's topics: 'warehouse problems' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 7 Jun 1998 19:38:14 EDT From: Subject: warehouse problems I don't often write to the group but rather "listen". I have found the advise both helpful and informative. I am writing now (out of frustration) to get an opinion from the group. Just to give you some background on my store. We are a True Value approximately 12,500 sq ft, serviced out of Harvard IL. We normally receive our orders on Friday mornings. For 3 weeks in May we received our orders late, 24 to 36 hours late. Imagine getting an order on a Saturday, during your busy time of the year? We don't have time to completly check it in until Monday, then we need to turn around and order for the next week's delivery. I hate to think of the lost sales due to this delivery schedule. This past week we did get our order on Friday, only a few hours late. For the first time in weeks we were able to get the order completely stocked by Saturday am. (Normally this is all done by Friday evening) I guess what is really frustrating is the amount of ship laters, mark outs and general shorts or mispicks. This order if it was completely filled should have had about 1035 lines. Ship laters amounted to 74 lines (current) mark outs were 48, miss picks and shorts were 25. We ended up with 888 lines. If I add the current ship laters to my previous they total 189 lines. Does anyone see a problem with this? When the warehouse is questioned about the current situation, the answer that keeps coming up is that they are just too busy. Given the amount of ship laters and markouts I don't think we will have to worry about being too busy for to much longer, without merchandise we won't be servicing our customers to well, and they will end up going somewhere else for their products. I don't know of a solution to this problem. Does anyone have an idea or a suggestion? Bottom line: what is going to happen next week? Will the order be "on time" and what will the ship laters and markouts look like then? Thanks for listening W. Jenkins Jenkins True Value Waukesha WI ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27817 ********************************** hardlines Digest Tue, 09 Jun 1998 00:03:31 -0400 V01 #27818 Today's topics: 'Re:Warehouse ???' 'Hardlines' 'warehouse problems' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 06:07:21 EDT From: Subject: Re:Warehouse ??? In a message dated 6/7/98 9:03:07 PM Pacific Daylight Time, hardlines- request@cornells.com writes: W. Jenkins, Jenkins True Value, Waukesha WI > This order if it was completely filled should have had > about 1035 lines. Ship laters amounted to 74 lines (current) mark outs were > 48, miss picks and Glad (unfortunately) to hear that Manchester Warehouse is not the only one having mispicks, big ship-laters, and very late deliveries. New Englanders have received numerous reasons from low employment rate in New Hampshire causing a shortage of the workforce to extra large volumes Manchester warehouse is getting, however, I got a funny feeling the real culprit is the TS computer system which has been having its problems. What bothers me moreso is that the volume of your order -- get TS to give you 2 orders a week. This will relieve the receiving crunch, increase sales with faster replenishment (except for the S/L!!) and decrease inventory. Have fun Rick Schwartz Schwartz True Value Fall River, MA 02724 Date: Mon, 08 Jun 1998 20:59:20 -0400 From: Lex Subject: Hardlines I think if I was in your situation I would "go upstairs" at Harvard and calmly ask when this problem is going to be resolved. If you still don't get a good answer, I would call the other stores on your run, and then call Chicago. If the problem is that only you are falling off the truck, then they need to ship you common carrier until they can get their @#%& together. Good Luck! Lex Stevens Parks True Value Boston, MA lex@world.std.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 23:15:14 EDT From: Subject: warehouse problems It is hard to believe, I know, but I think our warehouse is getting better. Granted, the ship laters are always bad but we are used to that by now. [When it's hot outside sprinklers and hose repair kits are Out of Stock, etc etc etc..] We all have those stories. The Allentown warehouse is probably better now than it was two years ago. What is really chewing us up now is central shipping. The central ship orders must be picked with the lights out, some kind of energy saving thing. We wait two weeks to get 30-40% inaccurate order fill. This week we had an invoice for central ship with about one dozen items. One item was mispicked. One item was missing. One item was a year past its expiration date. One item sent was not ordered. The choice of SKU's to become central ship items is haphazard and makes no sense at all. It seems to me that central ship would be an intelligent way to broaden the number of slow moving , expensive, shrinkage sensitive items available to members. For example, more quality hand tools like Channellock, or Klein or whatever. Or Buck knives or Swiss Army pocket knives, watches etc.. [which are central ship]. ---Instead, our Hillman clamshell packs of screws, which are fast moving and cheap, now get sent via UPS, two weeks after we order them. Kwikset privacy locks and large wheelbarrows, stainless steel screws are all central ship. What's up with that? No matter what the freight deal Tru Serv gets, sending a wheelbarrow by common carrier is ridiculous. The central shipping does not seem to have clear direction. Have we heard that before? Alan Talman Karps TV East Northport NY ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27818 ********************************** hardlines Digest Wed, 10 Jun 1998 00:02:51 -0400 V01 #27819 Today's topics: 'Central ships' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 22:24:15 -0400 (EDT) From: Richard Filion Subject: Central ships Being from the ServiStar side of the family I am not all too certain what "Central Ships" are. ServiStar has a, ridiculous I think, policy of centrally locating some items that have too little demand to stock in each warehouse. The only problem that I see is that often items are shipped to me where the shipping and handling probably exceed the value of the item. I do not see the justifaction for the policy with those items. I recently received via UPS an item whose shipping cost was $.08. That $.08 had to cover the cost of someone picking the item, boxing it, weighing it, tagging it, and paying UPS to bring it to me. I can not believe that under any system of operation known to man that ServiStar did not lose money on that sale. I think Central Ship, or whatever you want to call it should be limited to high ticket items with low demand or nbc, sorry, full pack items whose total cost will afford some kind of recovery of the shipping cost. Otherwise we are just subsidizing bad policy with a reduced margin. Back a few years ago ServiStar had really low fill rates and, when questioned, justified it away by claiming that it was on seasonal items or we as dealers had failed to buy in sufficient quantities ahead of season and were relying on the warehouse to make up for our bad planning. I wondered whether the problem was not ServiStar's credit problems. If you have two customers and one pays late and one pays cash and you only have one item to sell to the two of them, which one will you sell it to? I can not really complain this year as my warehouse has had a pretty good fill rate. I wonder if they have thought about inter-warehouse transfers of out-of-stock common items. Manchester seems to be hurting while Westfield seems to be doing well. It would certainly be especially weird if some of the items not being shipped from Manchester were sitting uncalled for in Westfield. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Richard Filion rhfil@nh.ultranet.com Filion Lumber 603-659-3361 Newmarket, N.H. ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27819 ********************************** hardlines Digest Thu, 11 Jun 1998 00:04:05 -0400 V01 #27820 Today's topics: 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27819' 'Re: TruStart and CIS' 'Re: CIS' 'Consolidation problems' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 02:01:54 -0400 From: Lex Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27819 Central Ship Items are things that come from another place; for us it is neither Manchester nor Allentown. The address is Chicago, but who knows. It is one of the great Merger Mysteries that we will tell our grandchildren of. Of course, it may be explained somewhere in the eighteen tons of paper I got from Tru Serv in the past months. I still can't figure out what is Central Ship and what isn't. Does it tell me on Tru Trac? Is it in the catalogue? If I call Jane Young, will she tell me? I love the new RDC inventory that is now available on Tru Trac; at least now I have a good idea what is going to be Ship Later and have a chance to make my own substitutions. I have always disagreed with True Value's attitude about seasonal items. They say that they are out of items because of demand and that we need to order more on relay. It has always seemed to me, though, that the point of the coop was that we would all share the overages of snow shovels--say--from one season to the next. We have a Resotration Hardware opening around the corner from us on Thursday. It is a beautiful store. Ten thousand square feet of some of the most expensive real estate in the world. Good luck to them. My stock line to the customers who are sure we are going to be run out of business is that Restoration Hardware has about as much to do with hardware as Pottery Barn has to do with a barn. Lex Stevens Parks True Value Boston, MA lex@world.std.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 08:28:50 -0500 From: jack swift Subject: Re: TruStart and CIS another thought in favor of CIS: all the data is exportable (or directly readable via btrieve if you program) the only reason it's not widely promoted to the members is that triad can't make any profit from it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jack Swift jswift@up.net N8WAV@W8YY.#UPMI.MI.USA.NA 47.119N 88.572W Swift True Value Hardware 402 Shelden Ave. Houghton, MI 49931 906-482-0530, 0531, 7766 Alpha Phi Omega Epsilon Lambda Chapter Advisor Houghton County Amateur Radio Emergency Service Dereliction IS! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 12:57:48 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Re: CIS At 08:28 AM 6/10/98 -0500, Jack Swift wrote: > >the only reason it's not widely promoted to the members is that triad can't >make any profit from it. > The more likely reason it's not promoted to the members is because TruServ wants to reduce the number of third-party systems. John john3@cornells.com Cornell's True Value Hardware - www.cornells.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Jun 1998 22:44:47 -0400 (EDT) From: Richard Filion Subject: Consolidation problems Well, I guess it had to start happening. Consolidation finally arrived in my warehouse for the paint department and I already have significant errors. In addition to changing descriptions for all of the old ServiStar packaged items which are now either Master Mechanic or manufacturer labeled and also the upc numbers, which we do not use anyways, we have to start watching for packaging changes and errors. The box of ten sand belts that I thought I was ordering was changed on the shipping list to ten packs of five, and the billing so reflected. Only problem is that what I actually received was the box of ten that I usually receive. So I have to claim the difference. Similar thing happened with another item. Also, two items, very slow movers for me, ended up being nbc, one nbc 20. I guess that we will have to watch every single item. My last price change was 223 items. I have not yet checked through it. Some of those had also been transmitted the week before. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Richard Filion rhfil@nh.ultranet.com Filion Lumber 603-659-3361 Newmarket, N.H. ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27820 ********************************** hardlines Digest Sat, 13 Jun 1998 00:04:43 -0400 V01 #27821 Today's topics: 'Satellite dish.' 'I don't beleive it' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 11:43:16 -0400 From: Bill Round Subject: Satellite dish. Dear Folks, I spent some time last night aiming our satellite at something, somewhere. We now have muzac, messages through the Triad printer, and video. I can't get enough chinese TV programs.... Our dish is mounted to the side wall. The rusted adjustment rod Jay Farr talked about should have been hot-dipped galv. Sound of Music, take note. It is was a 1/2" rod needing a 3/4" wrench, a smaller wrench for a possible rod coupling nut, and a rust buster spray. The Screws on the collar took a 1/2" wrench. Regards, Bill Round Round's True Value Hardware 290 Main Street Stoneham, MA 02180-3506 Phone: 781-438-0116 FAX: 781-279-9123 E-Mail: billr@roundshardware.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Jun 1998 13:48:20 -0500 From: truevalue@chamber.worcester.ma.us Subject: I don't beleive it Hi All, I can't believe I'm about to do this, but I'm giving TRIAD a pat on the back and a big "attaboy". Since I've always been quick to chastise them when they screw up, I guess this is only fair. Yesterday I called the advice line with a Y2K question. The time it took them to get back to me?? One minute and fifty six seconds!!!!!!!!! The person I talked to was fairly sure of the answer but wanted to check with one of the "techies" just to be safe. The time to the second call back was about 10 minutes. This is a big improvement over the three day wait I've gotten used to. Well done Triad. OOPS! I just opened the mail and found out that they're going up ten bucks a month on support. Hmmmm......... Well, I suppose I would have paid them the ten bucks long ago if only I hadn't had to wait three days. Keep smiling, Paul Poirier Park Ave. True Value Hardware Inc. Worcester MA 01603 508-754-1731 508-754-1935(fax) truevalue@chamber.worcester.ma.us http://www.parkavetruevalue.com ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27821 ********************************** hardlines Digest Thu, 18 Jun 1998 00:03:08 -0400 V01 #27822 Today's topics: 'The Hound at Rounds....' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 19:05:11 -0400 From: Bill Round , Annie Dunford Subject: The Hound at Rounds.... RE: The Hound at Round's, or a Boy and his Dog... Dear Folks, I have a problem (of a rather crass nature) I need help with . I hope I can rely on your discretion and confidentiality, as well your collective experience in solving this problem. It is a chronic problem. It does involve family relationships. If left unresolved, It could result in a public image problem. To be blunt, Dear Old Dad's Basset hound pisses on pallets of merchandise in front of the store when he and Dad leave each evening. The venerable pair wander around the exterior of the building inspecting everything, and they put on quite a floor show for the rush hour traffic waiting at the lights. They take their time about it, and locations of note are, well, noted emphatically by the Hound. Dad's reaction to my most recent complaint (or "whine," to this group of gentle readers and hard-charging hardware magnates) is consistent. It's the same as his response to the office crew's complaint that "The Hound" smelled badly. "A good hound can't smell bad," said my Father. You can imagine what comments he makes concerning suggestions that the Hound should first inspect the shrubbery in the back lot rather than the Ladder display up front. I have yelled. I have swatted The Hound. I may next swat the dog's owner. I might deduct the cost of power washing the store front from the store's monthly payments to Dad.... Any suggestions? Regards, Bill Round Round's True Value Hardware 290 Main Street Stoneham, MA 02180-3506 781-438-0131 VOICE 781-279-9123 FAX billr@roundshardware.com ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27822 ********************************** hardlines Digest Fri, 19 Jun 1998 00:00:23 -0400 V01 #27823 Today's topics: 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27822' 'SKU's' 'Re: SKU's' 'Dog days of summer' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 22:26:28 -0700 From: "Tom Woltjer" Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27822 Perhaps your dilemma presents an opportunity to test some dog repellent? Or how about a demo of an electric pet fence around the most irresistible spots? Good Luck! -----Original Message----- From: hardlines-request@cornells.com To: Hardlines Date: Wednesday, June 17, 1998 9:10 PM Subject: hardlines Digest - V01 #27822 >hardlines Digest Thu, 18 Jun 1998 00:03:08 -0400 V01 #27822 > >Today's topics: > 'The Hound at Rounds....' > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Date: Wed, 17 Jun 1998 19:05:11 -0400 >From: Bill Round , Annie Dunford >Subject: The Hound at Rounds.... > > >RE: The Hound at Round's, or a Boy and his Dog... > >Dear Folks, > >I have a problem (of a rather crass nature) I need help with . I hope I >can rely on your discretion and confidentiality, as well your collective >experience in solving this problem. It is a chronic problem. It does >involve family relationships. If left unresolved, It could result in a >public image problem. > >To be blunt, Dear Old Dad's Basset hound pisses on pallets of merchandise >in front of the store when he and Dad leave each evening. The venerable >pair wander around the exterior of the building inspecting everything, and >they put on quite a floor show for the rush hour traffic waiting at the >lights. They take their time about it, and locations of note are, well, >noted emphatically by the Hound. > >Dad's reaction to my most recent complaint (or "whine," to this group of >gentle readers and hard-charging hardware magnates) is consistent. It's >the same as his response to the office crew's complaint that "The Hound" >smelled badly. "A good hound can't smell bad," said my Father. You can >imagine what comments he makes concerning suggestions that the Hound should >first inspect the shrubbery in the back lot rather than the Ladder display >up front. > >I have yelled. I have swatted The Hound. I may next swat the dog's owner. > I might deduct the cost of power washing the store front from the store's >monthly payments to Dad.... > >Any suggestions? > >Regards, >Bill Round >Round's True Value Hardware >290 Main Street >Stoneham, MA 02180-3506 >781-438-0131 VOICE >781-279-9123 FAX >billr@roundshardware.com > > > >------------------------------ > > >End of hardlines Digest V01 #27822 >********************************** > ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 08:41:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Ralph Witkin Subject: SKU's Does anybody know how many SKU's Cotter has in the warehouse? -- Oh, forgive me: Tru-Serve (I was once again living in the past). == "It's just not necessary to do extraordinary things to produce extraordinary results." RALPH M. WITKIN Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 310/712-7002 _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 12:10:16 -0500 From: jack swift Subject: Re: SKU's At 08:41 AM EST 6/18/98 -0700, you wrote: >Does anybody know how many SKU's Cotter has in the warehouse? -- Oh, >forgive me: Tru-Serve (I was once again living in the past). > it depends on your definition of "sku's in the warehouse"... CIS has 91,494 data records for sku's and 67,009 data records for warehouse quantities (mankato rim, harvard hub, and harvard central ship after removing duplicates) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jack Swift jswift@up.net N8WAV@W8YY.#UPMI.MI.USA.NA 47.119N 88.572W Swift True Value Hardware 402 Shelden Ave. Houghton, MI 49931 906-482-0530, 0531, 7766 Alpha Phi Omega Epsilon Lambda Chapter Advisor Houghton County Amateur Radio Emergency Service Dereliction IS! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 18:04:00 -0400 (EDT) From: rhfil@nh.ultranet.com Subject: Dog days of summer I would like to suggest that Rounds purchase for resale some of the varied dog repellent sprays which are on the market today. As a demonstration, or to test the efficacy of the products, you should spray the area in front of the store which is honored by the company mascot. Or you could just grin and bear it with the knowledge that they will soon not be a bother to you and then you will miss them and their eccentricities. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Richard Filion rhfil@nh.ultranet.com Filion Lumber 603-659-3361 Newmarket, N.H. ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27823 ********************************** hardlines Digest Sat, 20 Jun 1998 00:03:10 -0400 V01 #27824 Today's topics: 'Re: Round's Hound' 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27822' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Jun 1998 23:27:43 -0500 From: hardware Subject: Re: Round's Hound Check your lawn and garden department for a product called "Dog and Cat Repellent". This should solve your problem with no political faux pas. Linda Cottin's Hardware Lawrence, KS ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 15:05:31 -0400 From: NorthLima@webtv.net (John Crouse) Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27822 --WebTV-Mail-1131976751-1076 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Dad and his hound ..... I have read this many times over the last couple of days. I also thought I had a very big problem. My dad loved to be at the check out counter to talk to people, this slowed every thing down from making change to charge slips. He also had what I thought was the worst action in the world, he would buy a bag of peanuts in the shells and stand or sit at the check counter and try to throw the shells in the waste basket. Well you know the rest of the story, most of the shells missed the basket and I had to clean them up day after day after day. I decided when dad was growing a couple dozen Easter flowers in the basement and hauled them up to the checkout counter every other day to give them some sun light . that I could take no more. They were the the worst looking flowers you ever could imagine, I was ashamed to think customers would be upset with such trash. Well I bought the store and dad still stopped every day and went on just as before. I never told him how mad I would get. Well that was 15 years ago, and I will tell you if my dad was still living I would love to see his ugly flowers and his messy peanut shells on the floor and the confusion he would cause at the checkout counter. So as much mess and smell as the hound makes, please try to accept it, as it will not last forever, and by being quiet to dad about this will give you more years of happiness then you can imagine, I know because I have been that route....... Jack --WebTV-Mail-1131976751-1076 Content-Description: signature Content-Disposition: INLINE Content-Type: TEXT/HTML; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT --WebTV-Mail-1131976751-1076-- ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27824 ********************************** hardlines Digest Mon, 22 Jun 1998 00:00:32 -0400 V01 #27825 Today's topics: 'Round's Hound' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 21 Jun 1998 11:33:42 -0400 (EDT) From: rhfil@nh.ultranet.com Subject: Round's Hound Zounds! Sounds like Round's Hound is headed for the pound. Could be worse, Bill: Round's hound could be found leaving mounds. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Richard Filion rhfil@nh.ultranet.com Filion Lumber 603-659-3361 Newmarket, N.H. ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27825 ********************************** hardlines Digest Tue, 23 Jun 1998 00:01:39 -0400 V01 #27826 Today's topics: 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27825' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 09:24:56 EDT From: Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27825 Hey guys and gals-enough with the hound-let's get back to important stuff like everyday low pricing-I don't mind having loss leaders, and every vendor seems to be helping with a better price-that is every vendor but one! That vendor lo and behold is our very own paint factory-Spray paint that was retailing at $1.99 (and selling well) is now $.99 ane our cost has gone from $.92 all the way down to $.92. Great huh? I called the buyer (she delegated someone to call me back, and the answer I got was we'll be getting a card so we can change the price to $1.29) Somehow I think the paint factory was making money at $.92 and now while we have to sell about 14 cans to make the same profit, the'll be making money on our increased unit sales. Of course, the customers will now be streaming in for this wonderful bargain and filling their shopping baskets with other items to more than offset the lack of profit on that one item. Other topics to cover, but maybe not today, automatic substitution of discontinued but exactly the same item(not fully operationall) and central ship-they are saying the Memorial Day holiday set them back-I'm still using the dock strike of 1987 as my excuse for being out of goods. I feel sorry for the Harvard served members. I'm really in a semi-foul mood this morning, can you imagine if I was really pissed!!!! Bob Rosenberg North Street TV Danbury, Ct P.S. For that member who asked for advice an True Start which I was happy to give, not responding is not the way to go. ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27826 ********************************** hardlines Digest Wed, 24 Jun 1998 00:03:50 -0400 V01 #27827 Today's topics: 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27826' 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27826' 'Spray Paint' 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27826' 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27826' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 21:54:23 -0700 From: "Tom Woltjer" Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27826 As a Tru-Serv outsider I guess I am a little confused by this message regarding retails on spray paint. Does Tru-Serv decide what your selling price is or do you? If you want to keep your everyday retail at $1.99 why can't you? -----Original Message----- From: hardlines-request@cornells.com To: Hardlines Date: Monday, June 22, 1998 9:06 PM Subject: hardlines Digest - V01 #27826 >hardlines Digest Tue, 23 Jun 1998 00:01:39 -0400 V01 #27826 > >Today's topics: > 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27825' > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- > >Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 09:24:56 EDT >From: >Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27825 > > >Hey guys and gals-enough with the hound-let's get back to important stuff like >everyday low pricing-I don't mind having loss leaders, and every vendor seems >to be helping with a better price-that is every vendor but one! That vendor lo >and behold is our very own paint factory-Spray paint that was retailing at >$1.99 (and selling well) is now $.99 ane our cost has gone from $.92 all the >way down to $.92. Great huh? I called the buyer (she delegated someone to call >me back, and the answer I got was we'll be getting a card so we can change the >price to $1.29) Somehow I think the paint factory was making money at $.92 and >now while we have to sell about 14 cans to make the same profit, the'll be >making money on our increased unit sales. Of course, the customers will now be >streaming in for this wonderful bargain and filling their shopping baskets >with other items to more than offset the lack of profit on that one item. >Other topics to cover, but maybe not today, automatic substitution of >discontinued but exactly the same item(not fully operationall) and central >ship-they are saying the Memorial Day holiday set them back-I'm still using >the dock strike of 1987 as my excuse for being out of goods. I feel sorry for >the Harvard served members. >I'm really in a semi-foul mood this morning, can you imagine if I was really >pissed!!!! >Bob Rosenberg >North Street TV >Danbury, Ct > >P.S. For that member who asked for advice an True Start which I was happy to >give, not responding is not the way to go. > >------------------------------ > > >End of hardlines Digest V01 #27826 >********************************** > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 01:04:26 EDT From: AlannnnT@aol.com Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27826 In a message dated 98-06-23 00:03:31 EDT, you write: << That vendor lo and behold is our very own paint factory-Spray paint that was retailing at $1.99 (and selling well) is now $.99 ane our cost has gone from $.92 all the way down to $.92. >> Not for nothin', but it's your store, charge what you want. We sell spray paint for 1.98 because it sells very well at that price. Alan Talman Karps TV ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 22:15:53 -0700 From: shimansky Subject: Spray Paint Hi Group, We've been selling Color Decor alias "Servess" for $1.49 ever since it came out. That price is good enough for us to use as a leader. We have several commercial customers that buy it by the gross (large quantities get an additional 10% off) I don't see why Tru*Serv is messing with a good thing. Kathie ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 02:20:03 EDT From: Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27826 please add neckcon@pacbell.net ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 07:53:14 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27826 At 01:04 AM 6/23/98 -0400, Alan Talman wrote: > >Not for nothin', but it's your store, charge what you want. We sell spray >paint for 1.98 because it sells very well at that price. > I agree... we don't follow the pricing for the spray paint or the GE Soft White bulbs. We make our own cards up for those products, and set pricing based on the local CVS and supermarket pricing. We use about 75% of the "everyday low price" stuff "as is", and either edit or delete the remaining items from the price file. John **************************************************************************** *** John Fix 3rd http://www.cornells.com/john.htm John3@cornells.com (914) 961-2400 Cornell's True Value Hardware Manager/Cashier/Webmaster PGP Fingerprint - BF56 ACBE 27BC 907D B8C5 D1AE A881 6299 ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27827 ********************************** hardlines Digest Thu, 25 Jun 1998 00:00:01 -0400 V01 #27828 Today's topics: 'Moods' 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27827' 'Tru-Serv Sprice Sensitive Item List' 'CS - BS' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 06:32:45 EDT From: Subject: Moods In a message dated 6/22/98 9:02:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time, hardlines- request@cornells.com writes: > I'm really in a semi-foul mood this morning, can you imagine if I was really > pissed!!!! > Bob Rosenberg > N Bob Your mood is well echoed throughout the dealers of TS that I have spoken to, so you are not alone, or are we?? Does Chicagoland have any directions or idea what is involved in running a Retail Operation against their Warehouse Attitude?? Sure it is easy to change a price on an item 2 or 3 times a month, but what about the labor involved at our end?? Yea, maybe they come out of the Ivy Towers and visit us for an hour, but would they like to try a week (I will give them this weeks item SKU changes and price changes to do)? Or are we looking at the "other side of the fence routine"? Frustrations -- too many nowadays. But, from my conversations with other type of dealers (not hardware..), their frustrations are running "high", too. Poor labor force, more demanding customers, poor quality of merchandise, and too many hours for less money. Another frustration, is our own personal vacation time -- we are loosing it!!!! and our employees are getting more. (Maybe we should work for TS and get a retirement fund like our CEO's got!) Oh well. Gotta get off this soap box and put on a "Happy Face" and be "Terrific" and all that jazz. Have fun Rick Schwartz Schwartz True Value PS: I will from now on transmitt my prices to TS -- the 99 spray paint has forced me into internal pricing mode!!! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 08:06:28 EDT From: Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27827 I appreciate the comments, however my point being that "our own" paint factory has this attitude that I have a problem with. A program for loss leaders is fine and should be helpful, however as far as I'm concerned "it's the attitude, stupid!) Bob Rosenberg North Street TV Danbury Ct. P.S. of course I know I can change prices, but that is not the point!!!!!!! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 08:50:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Ralph Witkin Subject: Tru-Serv Sprice Sensitive Item List I suppose by now you've all had a chance to look over the NEW "everyday low prices" recommended by Cotter to help our image with the customers against the "big boxes". I strongly agree with the "theory", but have many doubts about both the actual items included (and NOT included) on the list, and have very serious doubts about some of the prices. This is very important and we should definitely "fine tune" this "program" so that it makes sense and helps us. == "It's just not necessary to do extraordinary things to produce extraordinary results." RALPH M. WITKIN Sherman Oaks, CA 91403 310/712-7002 _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 14:04:56 -0500 From: truevalue@chamber.worcester.ma.us Subject: CS - BS Hi All Yes, this is our new chant around the store: CS is BS. We can all chant it together if you'd like. But, I have an idea that would improve CS tremendously. (it started as toung-in-cheek, but I'm getting to like it more all the time.) Here it is: All boxes delivered to our stores from CS should have the equivalent of UPS's Authorized Return Label included in the box. That way we could simply open the box, take out what we ordered, re-seal the box applying the ARS label to the outside, and send back all of the other stuff that we never ordered. We would still have to try to figure out what wasn't shipped, but that's another story. Well, until things get better we'll just keep up our chant. Thanks for listening, Paul Poirier Park Ave. True Value Hardware Inc. Worcester MA 01603 508-754-1731 508-754-1935(fax) truevalue@chamber.worcester.ma.us http://www.parkavetruevalue.com ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27828 ********************************** hardlines Digest Fri, 26 Jun 1998 00:01:06 -0400 V01 #27829 Today's topics: 'WOWed by TruServe' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Jun 1998 01:25:36 EDT From: Subject: WOWed by TruServe Wow, The fine folks at tru*serv corp have really been wowing us lately, Our store is Harvard served and our delivery has been at least a day late for the last month and a half. Our fill rate ranges from aproximatly 82% down to 51%(yes fifty-one percent) WOW! I understand that there will be problems when our warehouse took over the orders of other warehouses that closed but this is unexcepable! Not only are we presently sitting on 68 ship laters, but our orders are coming in with 8 to 15 adjustment hand written on the delivery ticket, but 15 to 20 shorts are not uncommen. This problem was enhance when our order for more adjustment forms was not shipped as they were discontinued. I was told by the help line that this was done in error and it will take sometime before they were back in the system but I could order them direct from Centurian. In a recent mailing of our new catalogs you may have noticed a tick control pamphlet. I was sure glad to see that greenlight pest control products were available at both Ace Hardware and TRU*SERV. WOW , If I have ticks around my home I'll sure go to my local TRU*SERV and pick up some Green Light product. Unless there is a plan at sometime to have a TRU*SERV store, the public should not even know that the entity exist. Doesn't anybody check anything before it goes out. This is as bad as when the bargin of the month program started and the surge surpressor were identified in both print and TV ads as a powerstrip(that was a very very very big deal). John a quicky for you that you dont have to answer but,. are Dan and Paul subscribers to hardlines. Its great to talk amongst ourselves and Im sure that we all try to communicate what problems are going on to the powers that be at our beloved co-op, but I feel the problems that we have dont often make it to the higher ups in their Ivory towers (I am glad to see Bob Johnson does read and sometimes particpates in this forum). If they dont subscribe I think you should put them on your subscription list along with some of the other higher ups and maybe they would WOW us with some answer and positive changes. I believe they should be able to spare the 2 to 5 minutes it takes to read the opinion of the people they represent. Steve Lipshutz Tenenbaum TrueValue Chicago IL silip@aol.com End of hardlines Digest V01 #27829 ********************************** hardlines Digest Sat, 27 Jun 1998 00:02:11 -0400 V01 #27830 Today's topics: 'Fwd: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27829' 'Fwd: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27829' 'Fwd: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27829' 'Anonymous posting' 'Fwd: spray paint cont.' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 17:02:55 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Fwd: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27829 From: Bud Howe >Steve: I've been a cotter dealer for over twenty five years. We are >served out of the jonesboro rdc which is building a huge expansion. Our >fill rate is about 90%. If it ever got as bad 55% i would switch to ace >or hwi in a heartbeat. I beleive cotter is top heavy. Far to many high >paying title postions with very little direct contact with dealers. How >often does a cotter rep come in your store to see if he can help with >some of your problems?????????? I'm still waiting for some one to tell >what makes up a central ship item. I beleive its just a roll of the >dice. Still having fun and loving the hardware business. Bud > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 17:03:39 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Fwd: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27829 From: JCcop828@aol.com >Hello! > >Frank Thayer here from All In One True Value Hardware in Veneta, Oregon.. > >Has anyone had any experience with the new portable air conditioner had an >inquiry on it today as a customer observed a National Add on it,,, he wanted >to see, feel, smell and Look at One ... I could not find one even in the >second largest city in Oregon,,, > >Not that we will need one this winter as summer has never come,,, > > >any information,,, sku,,, price ect .. would be appericated >,,, >Thanks Frank > >at >All In One,,, ps still looking for it in the CAT > > **************************************************************************** *** John Fix 3rd http://www.cornells.com/john.htm John3@cornells.com (914) 961-2400 Cornell's True Value Hardware Manager/Cashier/Webmaster PGP Fingerprint - BF56 ACBE 27BC 907D B8C5 D1AE A881 6299 ******************************************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 17:04:37 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Fwd: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27829 From: "Bobby Dill" >I also agree that Paul and Dan should be put on this list or I will forward >the good ones to them. >I'm not sure I would send the Round Dog Story though... lol >I'm also glad to see that Bob Johnson has been involved - Hi Bob... > >I just went to the Truserv Meeting this week about the change over to the >new warehouse and program. I hope it works better than the paint switch >over, we still have over $5,000.00 worth of paint setting in the stockroom >waiting on the papers from Truserv to return it for credit. I am also going >to bill them at the same rate they bill me when I can't pay my bill on >time... >Some How, after reading some of these stories, I'm really EXCITED about the >change over to the new warehouse which will be the one in Indy... And I >thought that was just a Race Town... > > > > >Bobby Dill >www.unclejoes.com >"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, >which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: >and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." >(2 Tim 4:8 KJV) > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 17:14:34 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Anonymous posting Some of you might have noticed the unusual format of the preceding messages...and a few of you who get the Hardlines Digest immediately received the posting from Richard Cranium, the anonymous user from hotmail.com. I deleted his posting from the Digest even though I try and leave the message forum uncensored. In this case I felt the language he/she used, along with the fact that the message contained some wild accusations, required me to restrict any further access to this message area for this user. If the posting had been made by someone with the courage to include their own name rather than a childish alias, then I probably would have let the posting go through. I've posted a direct email to the user inviting him back into the Hardlines forum is he/she is willing to join using their real name. Thanks... not back to our regularly scheduled TruServ bashing. :-) John PS - Just for everyone's info, the list is approx 85% TruServ, 5% other coop retailers, 5% mfg, and 5% wholesaler staff. So, the fact that TruServ takes a lot of heat vs other co-ops probably is due to the fact that other co-op members are not in this forum. At least that's one persons opinion. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 23:34:33 EDT From: Subject: Fwd: spray paint cont. This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --part0_898918470_boundary Content-ID: <0_898918470@inet_out.mail.aol.com.1> Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII --part0_898918470_boundary Content-ID: <0_898918470@inet_out.mail.aol.com.2> Content-type: message/rfc822 Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Content-disposition: inline From: SILIP@aol.com Return-path: To: hardlines@cornells.co Subject: spray paint cont. Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 20:36:51 EDT Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit I think that many of us our missing the point as to why Bob is pissed. It's not that the spray paint costs us 92cent and has a sugested reatil of 99. I know Bob and he knows that he can raise the price himself. I believe his point is that our company has spent so much time and effort to squeeze 50cents off a garbage can from Rubbermaid and 2cents off a receptacle from Eagle but when it comes to tightening their own belts to bring our cost down just a little on spray paint to allow us to sell it at 99cents, it doesn't even lower the cost 1penny. If TRU*SERV expect our venders to give us lower and lower costs maybe they should look in the mirror and put pressure on themselves to do the same. Steve Lipshutz Tenenbaum True Value Chicago IL --part0_898918470_boundary-- ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27830 ********************************** hardlines Digest Sun, 28 Jun 1998 00:01:48 -0400 V01 #27831 Today's topics: 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27830' 'hardlines Digest - V01 #27830 -Reply' 'Re: central ship' 'Re: Fwd: spray paint cont.' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998 08:05:27 -0400 From: dconroy Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27830 > Subject: spray paint cont. > Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 20:36:51 EDT > Mime-Version: 1.0 > Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII > Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit > > I think that many of us our missing the point as to why Bob is pissed. It's > not that the spray paint costs us 92cent and has a sugested reatil of 99. I > know Bob and he knows that he can raise the price himself. I believe his > point is that our company has spent so much time and effort to squeeze 50cents > off a garbage can from Rubbermaid and 2cents off a receptacle from Eagle but > when it comes to tightening their own belts to bring our cost down just a > little on spray paint to allow us to sell it at 99cents, it doesn't even lower > the cost 1penny. If TRU*SERV expect our venders > to give us lower and lower costs maybe they should look in the mirror and put > pressure on themselves to do the same. > Steve Lipshutz > Tenenbaum True Value > Chicago IL > > --part0_898918470_boundary-- > > ------------------------------ > > End of hardlines Digest V01 #27830 > ********************************** In reguards to The PAINT LINE. Seems that the paint dept. has been given the directive to make up for the last few years of neglect, and boost their sales... Who pays for it? of course us. With all the hype with paint shop, I'd be willing to bet that the program has not come up to their initial projections... so we'll see more no-margin gimicks, to charge the NEW ADVERTISING. Dm67 and the BUY 2 get ONE FREE promotion in an example. On another subject: The advertising reproduction CD program. Rather than charge each individual dealer $150 for an ad-copy CD (or send CD's evry month to all the dealers) why not put the ad repro's in a file on the net? A dealer who needs a repro, can down-load it as they need it. Someone at Tru-serve, said they were hampered by dealers not haveing the technical equipment to deal with that.....WHAT? If you advertise, and use their CD for reproductions, you need a pentium, with a CD drive and software that will load EPS format....to begin with. That's a newer PC or Super-Mac with a $500- $700 software pak. like Pagemaker or you ain't doing it at all. Would sure make it all a lot less expensive. dan conroy Maskill's True Value 2255-8 Birmingham, Michigan dconroy@concentric.net ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998 12:27:21 -0600 From: BOB JOHNSON Subject: hardlines Digest - V01 #27830 -Reply Thanks for all the input from the retail battlezone....I forward many of your thoughts to the right people....The communications issues on all of the changes are huge ....Spent last week in stores and even unloaded a truck....We know there's alot to do ....BOB ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998 20:31:36 -0500 From: Pat Scott Subject: Re: central ship Has anyone else discovered TS's latest gimmick with central ship items? Today while doing some overdue filing, I discovered an "a copy" with the following message: "the following ship later items have been cancelled. 504811 1 csl 8 in 1 screwdriver member cost of 5.14 item temp. out." Under "the pay amt shown" is 30 cents. I wonder if we could get our customers to order something, tell them that we have cancelled their order and then charge them from 30 cents to a dollar per item. That would sure help the margin that is being hurt by all of the lowering of retails without comparable lowering of costs. Pat Scott Scott's True Value St. James, MO 65559 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998 19:33:45 -0700 From: "DAVID D. PILGRIM" Subject: Re: Fwd: spray paint cont. SILIP@aol.com wrote: > > > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: spray paint cont. > Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 20:36:51 EDT > From: SILIP@aol.com > To: hardlines@cornells.co > > I think that many of us our missing the point as to why Bob is pissed. It's > not that the spray paint costs us 92cent and has a sugested reatil of 99. I > know Bob and he knows that he can raise the price himself. I believe his > point is that our company has spent so much time and effort to squeeze 50cents > off a garbage can from Rubbermaid and 2cents off a receptacle from Eagle but > when it comes to tightening their own belts to bring our cost down just a > little on spray paint to allow us to sell it at 99cents, it doesn't even lower > the cost 1penny. If TRU*SERV expect our venders > to give us lower and lower costs maybe they should look in the mirror and put > pressure on themselves to do the same. > Steve Lipshutz > Tenenbaum True Value > Chicago IL But isn't the difference here, that we as dealers, will get a patronage dividend at the end of the year based upon what we have purchased and how profitable the paint factory is. We don't get any dividends from all the other manufacturers that we buy from. More food for thought. David Pilgrim Village True Value Maple Valley, WA ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27831 ********************************** hardlines Digest Mon, 29 Jun 1998 00:03:00 -0400 V01 #27832 Today's topics: 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27831' 'Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27831' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 28 Jun 1998 08:00:05 -0400 (EDT) From: NorthLima@webtv.net (John Crouse) Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27831 --WebTV-Mail-534591541-950 Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit In response to Dave Pilgrim at Village TV. Yes there is a paint dividend on this spray paint, however, if you are on the satelite with TS, you will notice that the buy 2 get 1 free, has already been taken into consideration with the dividend of about 12%. I do not feel I can order, unload the truck, put the paint in stock, put it on the shelf, mix it and carry it to their car for the $ 5 plus change I am making. In the latest paper work from TS they show July to be best paint month of the year. If this is true why are we giving it away. Our circular #67 has been out just a couple days and the response to this so far has been poor so at this point the free gallon is meaning nothing so far. If the customer uses a charge card there goes some more points we lost. ( Funny they did not show that in their figures) The year end factory dividend was set up to give some profit to the stores, this profit is slowly being taken away. I had several customers who read the return policy about if not happy to return for more paint or a refund. When I tried to claim this I was not allowed the full amount as I was told this is the cost of doing business today. The amount was only several gallon, no big amount. We do a big business in surplus and closeouts, you can buy spray paint as low as 67 cents per can up to 75 cents per can, we retail this for $ 1.35, so I do not get to upset over TS 99 cent retail. HOWEVER, I do get upset when they give our gallons away. Remember the old Mary Carter Paint Stores, buy 1 get 1 free. They were big volume, little profit and in this area out ot business. We have to voice ourselves to the paint factory, so we do not loose one our last profit items.,...Take care Jack --WebTV-Mail-534591541-950 Content-Description: signature Content-Disposition: Inline Content-Type: Text/HTML; Charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7Bit --WebTV-Mail-534591541-950-- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Jun 98 06:34:03 PDT From: "Ron Barchfeld" Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27831 TruServ members on hardlines digest. For months I've sat in the background to listen how stores feel about dif= ferent aspects of their operation and to see how they cope with everyday = situations. It is interesting to see the need for increeased margins. I'm going to take a little lee way here and make a pitch for one of the = companies that I represent. If you are interested in some great sales = builders for the fall / winter season on Osram Sylvania lighting, drop = me a note directly to barchics@nauticom.net We have a number of offers with the biggest one being a buy-one get one= free on halogen par outdoor floods with 90 days dating everyday on any = drop shipments billed through TruServ @ $500 minimum and PPD. Also; If any Do-It Best dealers or ACE dealers are interested, let me = know and I'll get the information to you also. thanks for your time Ron Barchfeld ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27832 **********************************