>From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sun Sep 01 23:44:23 1996 Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 23:43:51 -0400 From: Ward Schemper <76065.1527@compuserve.com> Subject: Sears and OSH RE: Sears & OSH I'm Ward Schemper in Central California, we have two OSH stores within 5 miles of our store. When we first heard the news it was quite shocking especially after reading articles in the trade magazines on Sears and OSH which indicated completely different plans for both companies. After reflecting on this event we feel it won't hurt us if Sears stays true to form. I would much rather have a competitor come in and buy out another than to put in more new stores around us and take another slice from the retail pie. We don't feel that Sears will maintain the depth of inventory that Orchard is known for, and finally, OSH has a very strong service image that I feel will deteriorate in a few years after the aquistion. One other observation, the stores Sears has been building so far are in the 20,000 sq. ft. range as I understand it. Most Orchard stores are 40-60,000 ft. maybe they will continue to operate at that size or do they have other plans? Thats my thoughts, Ward >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Sep 11 18:47:13 1996 Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 18:47:11 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: TRIAD Upgrade Hi: What's Happening --> the E-Mails have been quiet --> Are we hinting to the world that everything is running smoothly??? Has anybody else found the hidden function of Key in IMU?? Any comments on the Price Change to upgrade to Pentium -->I just gave up and bought it --> next will be the funny farm. Will comment on the system when it shows up (2 days lage right now). Well, back to the Circus. Have fun Rick >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Sep 11 19:57:57 1996 Date: 11 Sep 96 19:56:19 EDT From: "WILLIAM H. ROUND" <102753.622@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Quiet? Things running smoothly? Gang, I know why every one is quiet. At the end of each Summer my college students return to their class and the retired guys want to take more time off to reflect on their experiences during their last time off. Full-timers who where thinking of moving on to other jobs have done so after receiving vacation benefits. This means that managers and owners are working themselves to exhaustion covering all the open positions. Unemployment is 4.5% in Massachusetts. I've always joked with other dealers that we couldn't get cashiers when unemployment went below 6%. I do have enough cashiers. As I have enough cashiers in light of the claimed unemployment rate, I wonder just how valid that rate is. I am interested in hearing from users of the Triad IST. I just turned mine on yesterday. You tell your tale.... I'll tell you mine. Regards, Bill Round President, cashier, forklift operator, buyer, vp marketing, vp operations, mis director, vp paperclips, etc., Round's True Value Stoneham, MA 02180 voice: 617-438-0131 fax: 617-279-9123 >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 12 01:57:22 1996 Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 22:37:22 -0700 From: Jay Will & Linda Farr Subject: Re: TRIAD Upgrade Rick: not only does work in IMU, but in LOD as well. Are you multistore? If so, try in IMU history screen. I love it! Is anyone else noticing that the new CAT function ($500 and takes up 500mb) is great but is missing a bunch of new SKU's ...especially DM sale ones? I asked about that the other day, and Triad told me there was a tape that they could send me to fix and bring CAT up to date ... "Yousarian whistled at the simplicity of it all, Orr was crazy, so to get out of flying more missions, all he had to do was ask. But there was a catch, catch 22 that stated that the concern for dangers that were real and imminent was the process of a rational mind." -Catch 22 Joseph Heller While did I have to ask? And presumably if I hadn't asked how long would they have left me twisting in the wind? How many of you taking DM49 stretched your stores to carry the two new types of furnace air filters that Cotter thinks we should carry? We decided that we couldn't afford another 16' of shelf space for it! Jay Farr jwlfarr@mail.coos.or.us >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 12 12:08:49 1996 From: "True Value" Subject: Triad upgrade & other info Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 11:08:12 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Hi everyone- I'm still hoping Bob Johnson can come through with his hope of lower prices for Triad upgrades. I got a price a month ago to upgrade components (pentium, hard drive, tape drive, etc.), but now they have run out of processor boards and they want to put in a new box with exactly the same components for $1,000 more! I know I need (& want) to upgrade, but it sure is hard to do so when you feel you're not being dealt with fairly. I think Bob had a meeting with Triad yesterday, but I don't know the outcome yet. I going to wait it out. I feel Triad has got to come to the realiazation that they are not in the "computer hardware" business anymore where they can double the price and say it's different than off the shelf components. (When they upgraded me a few years back to a 486, they sent the board to me and it was in a box that had had a price sticker on it. They must have went down to the local computer store to buy it. Too bad I couldn't read the price, it was torn off!) They need to charge a market price for hardware and make their money on what (so far) they have always done best, the software. We'll see!? On to furnace filters, we've decided to stay with the cheapies and one better one. Did everyone know the dirt demon filters we had been selling were too efficient and was burning up motors in regular furnaces and now say "only for energy savers" and they have a new line of 80 or 90% efficient. How can we possibly stock so many kinds? Keep writing everyone. I enjoy everyone's comments! David Casaletto True Value Home Center #7441C9 (What's the 'C' stand for now?) 1701 N. Broadway Pittsburg, KS 66762 E-Mail: truevalue@pitton.com >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 12 17:08:47 1996 Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 17:08:44 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: Quiet? Things running smoothly? Bill: You missed a couple of titles: Floor Sweeper & (properly) the TP Filler Smile Rick >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 12 17:13:45 1996 Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 17:13:43 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: TRIAD Upgrade Thanks Air Filters -->I think the Plumbing Dept wants 100 running feet!!!!!! I am holding back on all these new filters and ordering bare minumums. Have fun Rick >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 12 17:33:17 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 17:32:04 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Re: Quiet? Things running smoothly? At 07:56 PM 9/11/96 EDT, Bill Round wrote: >I know why every one is quiet. At the end of each Summer my college students >return to their class and the retired guys want to take more time off to reflect >on their experiences during their last time off. Full-timers who where thinking >of moving on to other jobs have done so after receiving vacation benefits. > >This means that managers and owners are working themselves to exhaustion >covering all the open positions. > Here in Eastchester, the full timers cashed in their vacations, then quit to go work for Home Depot. We lost three... one I'll miss, one I might miss, and one I hope will bankrupt Agent Orange (if they let him cut keys or drive their forklift). >I am interested in hearing from users of the Triad IST. I just turned mine on >yesterday. You tell your tale.... I'll tell you mine. We use it in cycles... I'll get it loaded up with one department, and we'll go crazy checking prices and labels for two or three days before someone forgets to charge it or loses interest. We have yet to do any updates/uploads using it. I'm not happy with the upload and download procedures, and really feel that ultimately RF is the "killer app" for shelf management. I gather from other posts here that Triad ran out of the upgrade-deal motherboards? I know they had a limited deal for DX-10 upgrades... are they also working some specials for folks going from 386/486 to Pentiums? John ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Watch out Wal-Mart! We've got your number Home Depot! The Big Box is here.... www.big-box.com. Everything else is small! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 13 08:52:19 1996 Date: Thu, 12 Sep 96 17:34:27 edt From: "Kip" Subject: Re: Triad upgrade & other info Every Triad owner that has upgraded their machines or who has any knowledge of PC's has the same problem with prices Triad charges. Being a long time user, it tightens my jaws when I have to change out a piece of hardware. I think Triad will have to consider sooner or later a change in platforms from Unix to say Windows NT. If they don't, sooner or later there will be someone out their that will have a better mouse trap as far as software is concerned and it will be a wholesale rush to that vendor. Frankly, I'm looking! There is just too much out there that we could use to improve our businesses. Triad is talking about E-mail in the future. By the time they get there everyone else in the world will have E-mail in their systems. Their accounting systems are antiquated and need upgrading among other things. You can go anywhere and buy a good accounting system off the self. The trick is to get everything that is compatible with the hard lines industry. Right now Triad is the best but mark my words, there are a number of vendors out there and someone will be able to translate your data and programs into a new system that will be modular and work better on non-proprietary hardware. Looking, Kip Hamilton Supply Co. ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Triad upgrade & other info Author: "Hardlines" at INTERNET Date: 9/12/96 5:14 PM Hi everyone- I'm still hoping Bob Johnson can come through with his hope of lower prices for Triad upgrades. I got a price a month ago to upgrade components (pentium, hard drive, tape drive, etc.), but now they have run out of processor boards and they want to put in a new box with exactly the same components for $1,000 more! I know I need (& want) to upgrade, but it sure is hard to do so when you feel you're not being dealt with fairly. I think Bob had a meeting with Triad yesterday, but I don't know the outcome yet. I going to wait it out. I feel Triad has got to come to the realization that they are not in the "computer hardware" business anymore where they can double the price and say it's different than off the shelf components. (When they upgraded me a few years back to a 486, they sent the board to me and it was in a box that had had a price sticker on it. They must have went down to the local computer store to buy it. Too bad I couldn't read the price, it was torn off!) They need to charge a market price for hardware and make their money on what (so far) they have always done best, the software. We'll see!? On to furnace filters, we've decided to stay with the cheapies and one better one. Did everyone know the dirt demon filters we had been selling were too efficient and was burning up motors in regular furnaces and now say "only for energy savers" and they have a new line of 80 or 90% efficient. How can we possibly stock so many kinds? Keep writing everyone. I enjoy everyone's comments! David Casaletto True Value Home Center #7441C9 (What's the 'C' stand for now?) 1701 N. Broadway Pittsburg, KS 66762 E-Mail: truevalue@pitton.com *************************************************************** Hardlines Mailing List is an unmoderated Internet mailing list for hardware and building materials industry members. Address articles you wish to send to list members to: hardlines@cornells.com 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 *************************************************************** >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 12 19:01:54 1996 From: "True Value" Subject: Upgades to pentium Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 18:01:17 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal John- Triad had a few pentium-60 boards for $1770 upgrade, but they are out now. David Casaletto True Value Home Center Pittsburg, KS 66762 E-Mail truevalue@pitton.com >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 12 19:09:34 1996 Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 19:09:29 -0400 From: JAlix1@aol.com Subject: Re: TRIAD Upgrade Good Evening: We are awaiting final installation of our Pentium Pro 200 upgrade. Installation started on 9/10 however, 2 boards failed to show up from Triad. Momday is now target day. We upgraded for two reasons..(Price wasn't one of them) Just Ask Rental addition and the upcoming purchase of another TV Hdwe Store. FE informed us our down time will be less than 3 hours! Thank God for Sierras. jea >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 12 19:10:53 1996 From: "True Value" Subject: wireless terminal for triad Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 18:10:22 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Group- I've been using a laptop computer on a rolling stand with a 12volt deep cycle battery. It's hooked direct to Triad with a wireless system purchased through EZ software (Fredware) in Cal. It works great (with line of sight on the antennas, mine is sticking through the suspended ceiling). We have a scanner hooked up and can scan in the UPC code, then get Triad to pull up the SKU# in IMU. We create a file of SKU#'s and print them with EZ software on a laser printer (on a desktop PC). When we went to scanning last year, we printed all our bin tags that way a department at a time. I really like what EZ software will do, I just wish I had more time to play with it. Have fun! David Casaletto True Value Home Center 7441C9 Pittsburg, KS 66762 truevalue@pitton.com >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 13 12:38:41 1996 Comments: Authenticated sender is From: "BuildingOnline: Alan Wickstrom" Organization: BuildingOnline Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 09:40:39 +0800 Subject: Re: www.big-box.com Priority: normal John, Your http://www.Big-Box.com site is a hoot! BuildingOnline has added a link (with a counter) on our home page at: http://www.BuildingOnline.com/ BuildingOnline is currently serving over 9,000 web site visitors per month, serving over 250,000 files per month. Alan Wickstrom ~ mailto:webhead@BuildingOnline.com FREE Internet news from your industry via eMail: http://www.BuildingOnline.com/eupdate.shtml Delivered FRESH... weekly. >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 13 08:30:16 1996 Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 08:29:46 -0400 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: www.big-box.com John I visited your site at http://www.big-box.com, very clever! It was an amusing spoof at the "selling-out" of American communities. We as independent retailers must be careful, however, not to sound like, and act like, the resentful small time joe who "can't compete." The big box is a fact of retail life in the 1990's and I firmly believe that ANY business can compete with ANY big box IF you can CONSISTENTLY do one thing... EXECUTE THE DETAILS. We have nine stores in Columbus, Ohio which, as you may or may not know, is a big-box retail mecca. The national average of retail space per capita is less than 19 sq.ft. Columbus has over 35 sq.ft. per capita AND there are projects scheduled to add an additional 10 million feet in 1997 alone! What's my point? I believe our industry needs to regain its focus. While you need to understand your competition, the big box is NOT our primary competition. Our primary competition is OURSELVES. How many times do our programs and policies get in the way of truly serving the customer? And what about that service? Do we deliver a level of service higher than the competition (which is irrelevant) or a level which exceeds our customers' expectations? Do we deliver it all the time, every time, by everyone, or just when the owner and/or manager happens to be around? Yes the big box makes life a real pain in the ass, but falling into the "poor me" trap is a self fulfilling prophecy. I realize this will sound like a football pep talk, but be the FIGHTER, not the VICTIM! Just food for thought. I'll get off my soap box now. Gary -- Gary Schwake Zettler True Value Stores Director - Store Operations 614-672-1327 gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 13 09:32:42 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Fri, 13 Sep 1996 09:31:29 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Re: www.big-box.com At 08:29 AM 9/13/96 -0400, Gary Schwake wrote: >I visited your site at http://www.big-box.com, very clever! It was an amusing spoof >at the "selling-out" of American communities. > >We as independent retailers must be careful, however, not to sound like, and act like, >the resentful small time joe who "can't compete." > I'm glad you enjoyed the parody... the intent of the site is to spoof the supposed "benefits" of bringing a large retailer into a community (i.e. tax revenues, product selection, employment opportunities). The site is actually expanding to parody other areas of American business lore. I've just added a page with the beginnings of Walton Bernie's bio, including a photo. Actually, the prime reason for the Big Box site is as a draw to my main store site. It's easier to get free web publicity for humorous sites than for business sites, so I get a lot of web visitors via The Big Box. On to the bigger discussion... I agree totally about avoiding the crying and complaining method of fighting the competition. When Home Depot announced the stores in our area, a few lumber yards wanted us to contribute huge sums to legal fees to fight the Depot. These same lumber yards were sending out sale flyers promoting WD-40 9oz at $1.99 and wallboard compound at $12.99. I spoke with one of the lumberyard owners (when he called to ask for money for the lawyers) and said that he should spend some time looking at his pricing and merchandising strategies, rather than looking for legal ways to delay the inevitable for a few months. We've beefed up our sale circular distribution, cleaned up our pinpoint pricing (which has worked real well for us), added free coffee, UPS shipping, AT&T lease service (*), and other merchandising changes. I do think that "smaller" independent retailers will have tough times competing, but medium to large retailers can compete if they pay attention and manage their store effectively. John PS - * regarding AT&T leasing... we just started in April, and it was working out pretty well. Limited additional income from leasing services, but our phone and accessory sales doubled. Now, AT&T has doubled the per phone compensation and added a monthly $35 payment for admin duties. Not a bad little program... we run our AT&T lease service at the same counter we do our UPS shipping. >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sun Sep 15 21:26:18 1996 From: "True Value" Subject: To Triad/Cotter stores using EFM Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 20:25:40 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Hi- fellow Triad/Cotter stores: I download new items and changes from Cotter into my Triad using EFM. I get two files, (COTNEW & COTEFM), and I understand what these files contain and what to do with them. What I don't understand is the report that prints automatically after EFM has concluded. Under the column "TYPE", I get "DIFF SKU SAME UPC", "CHANGE TO F PACK", "TO BE DISCONTINUED". I've called both Triad advice line (No idea what this is, call Cotter) and Cotter (Not sure why you get this, best to ignore it). If anyone is not sure what I'm talking about, I'd be glad to fax it to you (at least a few pages, the last report was 94 pages long!). I have no idea how to use this information and so far, I've have not found anyone else who does, either. Someone had to design this report for a purpose. If you are using this information or know what if it for, please let me know. Thanks! David Casaletto True Value Home Center 7441C9 Pittsburg, KS 66762 316-231-0900 316-231-1011 (Fax) E-Mail truevalue@pitton.com >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Sep 16 15:04:44 1996 Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 09:23:04 -0600 From: BOB JOHNSON Subject: Quiet? Things running smoothly? -Reply Encoding: 5 Text Hello Bill.....The quiet is sometimes right before the storm...OR....just the fact that we are not communicating....Hope to be sending out a package soon...I hear that you found your store on our homepage...after a few pages...smile we still have some work on this and we shall see wwhat the consumer thinks...BOB >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Sep 17 09:00:36 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 08:59:09 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Re: To Triad/Cotter stores using EFM At 08:25 PM 9/15/96 -0500, David Casaletto wrote: > >What I don't understand is the report that prints automatically after EFM >has concluded. Under the column "TYPE", I get "DIFF SKU SAME UPC", "CHANGE >TO F PACK", "TO BE DISCONTINUED". > These pages show inventory changes, adds, or updates that the system can't handle automatically. For example, the system receives a SKU to add to the system, but discovers that the UPC is already assigned to another item in your inventory file. There is no rule for how to handle this, so the EFM report alerts you to something that needs to be examined manually. To be discontinued is a similar problem... do you want them flagged as Discontinued? Maybe not, since it might be on closeout at a good deal. So, once again EFM alerts you that this items needs more thorough checking than is possible in an automated fashion. I don't remember why F Pack shows on this report... John >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Sep 17 09:03:34 1996 Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 06:59:59 -0600 From: BOB JOHNSON Subject: To Triad/Cotter stores using EFM -Reply Encoding: 4 Text David..Thanks for the input and for the confusion..smile FAX me the sample..at 6544ext. Also, I think you can ck. with Mike Cole at TRIAD for the latest prices on your upgrade....The price has I think changed .Let me know...I"ll be back on FRiday...Bob >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Sep 17 10:45:38 1996 Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 10:45:01 -0400 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: Re: To Triad/Cotter stores using EFM -Reply Bob- Thank you for your interaction here. It is nice to see you, and Cotter, getting involved at the "grass roots" level. See you at market! Gary -- Gary Schwake Zettler True Value Stores Director - Store Operations 614-672-1327 gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Sep 18 08:46:53 1996 Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 08:46:46 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Priority Calls Hi: Has anybody figure out how to tell TRIAD that you have DOWM system and need help now not 3 hours from now?? Has anybody figure out how to tell TRIAD that your system is LOCKED up over their goofs and cannot wait for 1 hour for a call back?? Caution for those who do the latest upgrade of the Box --I did --> make sure the field engineer sets all the controls including the modem -->for some strange reason they do not transfer the controls from one unit to the other --> has to be manually entered!! MDC MHC Latest headache on my upgrade, the Cotter Catalog Tape does not work "Tape too Old". Still waiting for ADVICE from TRIAD! -- Priority does not work!! Oh well, Got to sell stuff to stay away from the computer controls. Have fun, Rick >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Sep 18 23:59:35 1996 Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 23:59:33 -0400 From: CHank1@aol.com Subject: Catalog tape date. I may have an answer on your problem with the catalog tape giving you the warning that the data is to old and am sending it to the whole group in case it comes up in the future for anyone else. We dropped a catalog tape in that was out of date ( I think Triad conciders over 1 month out of date) anyway the person on the advise line told me to set the system date of the Eagle to about 2 days after the date on the tape. I did that and then the system automatically called Cotter to update and I was not sure what effect the back-dated system would have on the Cotter sequence number for the EFM but things seemed to work fine and then when the call finished and the menu came back I changed the date back to the correct date. Hope that is of some help. Chuck Hank >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 19 03:17:31 1996 Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 00:00:28 -0700 From: Jay Will & Linda Farr Subject: Re: To Triad/Cotter stores using EFM -Reply Oh oh, We'll have to tone it down, it looks like there IS someone at Cotter watching us ... welcome Bob ... great to have someone from our own company respond in public! Jay >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 19 18:22:49 1996 Posted-Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 15:23:01 -0700 X-Sender: pkm@dedot.com (Unverified) Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 15:25:30 -0700 From: Peter Cailotto Subject: Tru-trac 4.0 Just thought I'd send a note to all you Tru-trac users who are anxiously awaiting A-copy. I have 2 words for the new A-copy release. WAY COOL. Before this release, updating invoices was "a pain in the -ss". Now it is very simple, and the data is now correct.. Keep up the good work! :) Let 'em know when your happy, let 'em no when your not... Pete Arrow True Value Hardware Peter J. Cailotto Jr. -Manager E-Mail pkm@dedot.com Homepage http://www.dedot.com/pkm/Arrow.html >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 19 21:20:43 1996 Date: Thu, 19 Sep 1996 21:20:39 -0400 From: LoggyF@aol.com Subject: Re: Tru-trac 4.0 What release 4.0? Have not seen or heard a thing on it. I would love to get that receiving problem taken care of. By the way... got a call from the help line about 3 weeks ago. They wanted to dial in to the system so they could set up the call in to Cotter feature. Great!!! Now, if we could only get our password so that we could use it.... still waiting. Hang in there, Fred Logsdon Nevada True Value Nevada, Iowa >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 20 09:50:04 1996 Date: 20 Sep 96 09:48:22 EDT From: "WILLIAM H. ROUND" <102753.622@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Catalog tape date. Dear Mr. Hank, as well as others using the Triad Cotter CAT: I liked the Catalog update function, and I especially liked the automatic update feature. The more stuff like that I get, the easier my job becomes. The update speed is still an issue. I'm still on a 486, so it's slow. When my updates qued up there were a pile of them. I put them all on hold and turned them on to print when I thought there was enough time to process completely. Some of those things will take 5 or more hours! It is worth it given the info at your finger tips. You could also turn off maintenance for a night if you felt daring..... Regards, Bill Round >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 20 11:36:57 1996 From: Gateway Authorized Customer Subject: RE: True Value Internet Site Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 08:39:03 -0700 It's a relief to hear that there are others who don't have the password to access the True Value site at http://www.truevalue.com. I thought just our store was being left out. This site address will be on the front cover of DM50. Pat Davis Calaveras Lumber and True Value Hardware Angels Camp, CA. ---------- From: LoggyF@aol.com[SMTP:LoggyF@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, September 19, 1996 6:20 PM To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Subject: Re: Tru-trac 4.0 What release 4.0? Have not seen or heard a thing on it. I would love to get that receiving problem taken care of. By the way... got a call from the help line about 3 weeks ago. They wanted to dial in to the system so they could set up the call in to Cotter feature. Great!!! Now, if we could only get our password so that we could use it.... still waiting. Hang in there, Fred Logsdon Nevada True Value Nevada, Iowa Attachment Converted: "C:\EUDORA\attach\RE True Value Internet Site" >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 20 13:50:02 1996 Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 13:49:19 -0400 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: Re: True Value Internet Site I know that True Value was working on their web page, but I didn't realize it was done, or is it? Have their been any announcements about this page? A little guidance here from Bob Johnson? Thanks -- Gary Schwake Zettler True Value Stores Director - Store Operations 614-672-1327 gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 20 14:25:07 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 14:23:42 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Re: True Value Internet Site At 01:49 PM 9/20/96 -0400, Gary Schwake wrote: >I know that True Value was working on their web page, but I didn't >realize it was done, or is it? Have their been any announcements about >this page? > >A little guidance here from Bob Johnson? > Until the scoutmaster responds (he may have gone back into hiding), I can fill you in somewhat. The True Value site (www.truevalue.com) is pretty much completed. In addition to a home page and a page of monthly specials, there's a store lookup for consumers, some links to manufacturers on the web, and some online games and diversions related to the sports sponsorships. There are numerous future possibilities for the web site, some of which are being considered... for example: Member Home Pages- A way for store owners to add customized information about their store, so they wind up with a home page within the True Value web site. Member Access to Data - As more folks learn to use web browsers, it might be natural to set up a place for store owners to check stock, read the latest merchandise news, see images of new products, check RDC balances, etc. via the web. The graphical nature of the web makes it easy for folks to navigate (compared to something like the member dial-in information screens). Since the www.truevalue.com is listed on the top of page 1 for the next two flyers, I'd say the site has to be open to the public by the end of next week. John >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 20 14:49:47 1996 Date: Fri, 20 Sep 96 14:38:42 edt From: "Kip" Subject: Re[2]: True Value Internet Site Gary: Just a note. I tried to get into the page but it required a password! Kip ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: True Value Internet Site Author: "Hardlines" at INTERNET Date: 9/20/96 2:12 PM I know that True Value was working on their web page, but I didn't realize it was done, or is it? Have their been any announcements about this page? A little guidance here from Bob Johnson? Thanks -- Gary Schwake Zettler True Value Stores Director - Store Operations 614-672-1327 gschwake@iwaynet.net *************************************************************** Hardlines Mailing List is an unmoderated Internet mailing list for hardware and building materials industry members. Address articles you wish to send to list members to: hardlines@cornells.com 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 *************************************************************** >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 20 15:02:58 1996 Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 12:14:29 -0700 From: Rob Vomund Subject: Re: True Value Internet Site We at homeimp.com received notification from Lisa Nichele of truevalue.com that the True Value site will go public on October 1st, 1996. The site is password protected now as the site is still being completed and tested. So, check out truevalue.com as soon as October rolls around! And, to see all of the latest industry sites on the web, come visit homeimp.com http://www.homeimp.com Rob Vomund Marketing Programs Manager PS: Rick Karp of Cole Hardware in San Francisco just notified me of his new site at http://www.colehardware.com . Check out Rick's "customer services directory"... now that's customer service! Way to go Rick! >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 20 17:59:19 1996 Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 17:59:18 -0400 From: JKSpaur@aol.com Subject: Re: True Value Internet Site John, I f you would like to see most of the things you mentioned regarding the future Cotter home page ,take a look at the HWI page(doitbest .com). Recently added was an excellent search engine for the entire 61,000 item catalog. Jeff Spaur >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 20 18:03:24 1996 From: "True Value" Subject: Re: True Value Internet Site Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 17:02:41 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal ---------- > > Until the scoutmaster responds (he may have gone back into hiding), I can > fill you in somewhat. The True Value site (www.truevalue.com) is pretty > much completed. In addition to a home page and a page of monthly specials, > there's a store lookup for consumers, some links to manufacturers on the > web, and some online games and diversions related to the sports > sponsorships. > > There are numerous future possibilities for the web site, some of which are > being considered... for example: > > Member Home Pages- A way for store owners to add customized information > about their store, so they wind up with a home page within the True Value > web site. > > Member Access to Data - As more folks learn to use web browsers, it might > be natural to set up a place for store owners to check stock, read the > latest merchandise news, see images of new products, check RDC balances, > etc. via the web. The graphical nature of the web makes it easy for folks > to navigate (compared to something like the member dial-in information > screens). > > Since the www.truevalue.com is listed on the top of page 1 for the next two > flyers, I'd say the site has to be open to the public by the end of next > week. > > John Here's another example of Cotter doing without informing the membership. It would seem we should be informed and allowed to learn, use, and critique this website (for our customers), before our customers do. Does anyone else feel left out? I don't understand why it's so hard for Chicago to inform us of what's up or to ask our opinion. Another example on the same subject: I got a letter from Cotter telling me a merchandising company would call me by August 30th to set a time for them to come and make 4 or 5 end displays and hang some signs for the upcoming promotion at no charge to me. As I got the letter on September 3rd and had not heard from the company yet, I called the company with the number listed in the letter and was told Cotter had not yet signed the contract with the company yet. I then called Cotter and was told the company could not do the work. ?????? Anyway why was the first I heard of this plan 4 days after I was susposed to be notified on it. It would seem we could have been informed or even asked if we wanted someone to redo our enddisplays. Anyway, I guess I'll try the website with my customers after October 1st.. David Casaletto True Value Home Center Pittsburg, KS 7441C9 truevalue@pitton.com >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 20 18:15:05 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 18:13:40 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Re: True Value Internet Site At 05:02 PM 9/20/96 -0500, David Casaletto wrote: > >Here's another example of Cotter doing without informing the membership. It >would seem we should be informed and allowed to learn, use, and critique >this website (for our customers), before our customers do. Does anyone else >feel left out? I don't understand why it's so hard for Chicago to inform us >of what's up or to ask our opinion. > It seems to me that it would have been beneficial to get some member opinion of the site, especially from those who are familiar with the Internet, email, etc. I managed to get access for one day, and sent off a bunch of comments, ideas, etc. Then, the password was changed. All in all, I'd say that everyone will be pleased with the site. It looks really nice, has the usual web site stuff, etc. However, I also agree with David that it can only help if Cotter could have enlisted the ideas of members during the development process. This would not only produce valuable feedback but also help sell the web site to the membership at large (i.e. "We showed it to some of your fellow members and they liked it" kind of promotion). I'm surprised that none of the Corporate, Marketing, etc. advisors have mentioned the web site, considering it's on page one of the next major promotion. They paper us to death about every other promotion, item, sports sponsorship, but this project just quietly appear on the top of page one on one of the most popular DM's we mail out. Remember, the windows at headquarters don't open... no fresh air. John >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 20 18:36:59 1996 Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 18:34:47 -0500 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: Re: True Value Internet Site We need to continue to remind ALL of our wholesalers that they need to be retailer focused. Good point, David. -- Gary Schwake Director - Store Operations Zettler True Value Stores 614-672-1327 gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sat Sep 21 22:08:25 1996 Date: 21 Sep 96 22:07:02 EDT From: "WILLIAM H. ROUND" <102753.622@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Merchandise Velocity. Help! Gang, Following the lead of several other stores, including Schwartz and Naylor's, I started up two orders per week from Cotter. My store has been doing this for a month now. The results have been very good. We have smaller, more manageable orders. The store is set for the weekend now instead of boxes all over the sales floor on Saturday. We have a second chance to fill outs every week. We cut our order point weeks of supply. We do better with special orders.... at least as well as the Triad system permits... Truck arrival days are more relaxed. What's more, I think our sales will go up as we are in a better stock position. They won't go up much... but I'll take whatever I can get. I think I may have lost a day from my week, however, as I am tempted to run RSO's all day long on Saturdays to make sure I catch everything which might go on the order. It is one more compelling reason to push more responsibility to the salesfloor. For those who might be interested, Here's what we do. It's a Triad routine, but ought to be applicable to Tru-Tracs. 1. Tuesday is our main order creation Day. The RSO runs Monday night to set the New Order Quantities. The managers review the order and count all items on this RSO. 2. QOH changes are made in QPIP. New Order Quantity changes are made in IMU. The RPI is run to catch count and entry screw-ups. It's amazing how much stuff is upstairs. I hate my warehouse. I wish it would burn off the top of the building. The RSO is run again to review order quantities with respect to QOH and sales. Items which sell during the day and which now satisfy the RSO criteria are added to the order. The Triad very nicely indicates which skus have New Order Quantities with an asterick. It's easy to catch stuff. Once the final review is concluded, we run the RSO Option F, add special orders, and send that puppy howling to Cotter first thing the following day. 3. For those unfamiliar with RSO option E, give me a call. For those who can't imagine how much I hate my warehouse, a video is available detailing my troubles... 4. Our order arrives on Friday morning. We check it off and put it away. We receipt post the order and create a new order to hold the Cotter "ship laters." 5. The effort involved in checking the order off is never rewarded by a corresponding discovery of big dollar shortages. Cotter Manchester has been screwing up a bit here and there occassionally, but I can live with it. I will stop the check in at some point in the near future. 6. A new RSO runs Friday night. The managers review it in the office with respect to sales over the previous 3 or 4 days. They do not count unless something looks strange or goes negative. The NOQ's are cleared on skus which could wait for a few more days for replenishment, or which don't deserve it at all. I must admit that I change prices on the fly when I look these RSO's over. It's a bad habit... 7. We create a new Cotter order with an RSO option F. We hold this order until the end of the day. 8. Another RSO runs around 5pm. I review it and throw order quantities on the existing Cotter order. 9. Last person out of the store Saturday transmitts the order to Cotter. 10. The order arrives Tuesday morning at 6:30am. We break it down, check it off, and put that away while the Tuesday morning RSO is worked by the managers. 11. The cycle repeats. 12. Chaos can erupt when doing floor counts for an RSO while merchandise for the same vendor is being shelved... or sent to the warehouse "... 'cuz I couldn't find a place for it on the sales floor." This can be minimized by setting the Monday night RSO select option to ignore merchandise with a QOO. I will continue to feel unfulfilled without a more sophisticated on-screen order generator/editor on my Triad System. Triad has got to get the paper report stuff to go away. I can't deal with it fast enough anymore. I did have this vision of how I might more effectively communicate this to the Californians. It involved a video re-creation of a pagan ritual deep in the forrest with animal sacrifice, new-age psychobabel, crystals, Clinton campain press release language, etc., etc., the point of which is to save the trees through more efficient software design and procedure... so on and so forth. It's very frustrating, especially when I see something come along like the Cotter/Triad ELS package... designed for the Cotter member just crawing out of the woods armed with nothing more than a stone knife and a telxon... I gotta go. Regards, Bill Round President, cashier, receiver, salesman, gofer, etc.... Round's True Value Stoneham, MA >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sun Sep 22 00:50:08 1996 Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996 00:50:06 -0400 From: Colehard@aol.com Subject: Re: Merchandise Velocity. Help! Hello all, I have been receiving 3 Ace orders per week at my stores for quite awhile now. We order M-W-F and receive an order on those days as well. Auditing is a challenge that usually fails, but it has done wonders to our shelf stock, sales, and staff enthusiasm for special orders. If you are only getting one order per week, I highly recommend that you get at least two. We are pushing Ace into the direction of a truck a day! Rick @ Cole Hardware in San Francisco >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sun Sep 22 08:38:03 1996 Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996 08:37:59 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: Merchandise Velocity. Help! Hi: I am glad that Bill is finally seeing the light with 2 orders per week. Bill you may even find less need for backup stock since the orders come in more often. I am noticing more room in the my warehouse which I want to see more space! Cotter --> did you hear that comment that Ace Stores are getting 3 deliveries!!!! Hurrah -->The automotive stores have been doing this for years!!! Yea, it means depending on the computer more for restocking, but this also means greater turns of inventory which means more money going to the Bank! John: I also agree that Cotter needs to open the windows and see what is happening out here. Is Chicagoland a seperate nation by itself? Have fun. Rick Schwartz Schwartz True Value >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sun Sep 22 21:13:34 1996 From: "True Value" Subject: Re: Merchandise Velocity. Help! Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996 20:12:54 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal ---------- > Cotter --> did you hear that comment that Ace Stores are getting 3 > deliveries!!!! Hurrah -->The automotive stores have been doing this for > years!!! Yea, it means depending on the computer more for restocking, but > this also means greater turns of inventory which means more money going to > the Bank! > To all Cotter store getting more than 1 shipment per week: I was not aware this was even an option. How did you go about getting 2 trucks per week? I think this would be a great benefit to us as we get 400 to 600 pieces of freight each week and it's a great undertaking to get it put on the shelf. Thanks in advance for the info! David Casaletto True Value Home Center Pittsburg, KS 66762 truevalue@pitton.com >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Sep 24 15:07:21 1996 Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 13:03:53 -0600 From: BOB JOHNSON Subject: Re: To Triad/Cotter stores using EFM -Reply -Reply Encoding: 3 Text Well, in the mist of all the internal E-Mail I'm trying to keep in touch with the folks that are closest to the real action...For all on the Hardlines group...see you at the market....BOB >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue Sep 24 15:44:59 1996 Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 13:13:50 -0600 From: BOB JOHNSON Subject: Priority Calls -Reply Encoding: 1 Text Rick...Got the mesage...will handle...(sure)...BOB >From owner-HARDLINES@cornells.com Tue Sep 24 20:52:14 1996 From: MCKV44A@prodigy.com (MR KENNETH E HULTGREN) Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 20:24:49, -0500 Subject: COMMERCIAL ACCOUNTS I would like to know how other hardware stores are handling commercial accounts. A. What are your terms? B. What discounts do you allow? C. Do any of you bill large special orders separately rather than putting them on 30 day account? D.Any thoughts on how to improve cash flow on commercial account business. Ken Hultgren Elmhurst Ace Hardware >From owner-HARDLINES@cornells.com Wed Sep 25 01:04:06 1996 Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 21:16:05 -0700 From: Jay Will & Linda Farr Subject: Re: COMMERCIAL ACCOUNTS We're the odd store out .... we have 6,000 accounts, about 2,000 ones that are active. Most of them are 'revolving accts' requiring about 5% payments each month. We charge 21% per year, so you'd have to say that we do have an incentive out there for early payoffs. Commercial accounts are required to pay up monthly ... and we do credit checks on owners/principles and require their signature on small biz accts. Everyone, including Cotter's people want us to get rid of our accts, but we feel they are a real asset. People who have an account with us can't use them anywhere else. Many of our customers have run balances with us for over 20 years ... when they pay it off, they come shopping for the next purchase. We sell both on a revolving acct basis, and contract accts for larger purchases. Carrying a large portion of your assets in A/R, isn't for everyone, you've got to manage it like your life depends on it (it does!). It does take a bunch of $$, but it is like a savings acct. If you need it, you can borrow against it. It evens out the ups and downs of cash flow, and it makes customers fiercely loyal to you. Jay Farr jwlfarr@mail.coos.or.us ' >From owner-HARDLINES@cornells.com Wed Sep 25 07:51:47 1996 X-Sender: jswift@mail.up.net Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 07:53:28 -0500 From: jack swift Subject: Re: COMMERCIAL ACCOUNTS At 08:24 PM EST 9/24/96 -0500, you wrote: >I would like to know how other hardware stores are handling >commercial accounts. > A. What are your terms? we don't offer any 'special' terms that aren't available to humans . we offer the same terms that the credit cards offer -- pay by the end of the next month or we'll charge a finance charge..... > B. What discounts do you allow? we offer *all* customers a 'wholesale' pricing program based on their volume of the previous month (if their account is current...) the pricing is based on the ancient fixed-markup system. we found that with the varying margins at retail, we had to have so darn many exceptions to a percent-off-retail system that establishing a list-and-discount worked much more smoothly and we can re-set the prices to reflect current delivered costs within 12 hours (it's a triad). > C. Do any of you bill large special orders separately >rather than putting them on 30 day account? unless the orders are super-large (we're talking about a deal worth over $50,000 like a wire rope order for a mine hoist) we don't need the bs of tracking a single bid/order/purchase/invoice/payment/payment all the way through. > D.Any thoughts on how to improve cash flow on commercial >account business. one of the local lumber yards had a deal where the carpenters could get their discount only if the bills for the week were paid on the following tuesday. i don't know if they still use that because they now have to compete with places that have a cash price and advertise 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! Keweenaw Peninsula Chapter American Red Cross CIO/Treasurer Ham It Up! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >From owner-HARDLINES@cornells.com Wed Sep 25 07:54:30 1996 X-Sender: jswift@mail.up.net Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 07:56:10 -0500 From: jack swift Subject: Re: COMMERCIAL ACCOUNTS & cotter have you ever wondered why it's primarily the people who offer credit card programs (cotter, hardware associations, banks) that seem to want us to discontinue in-store charges? could it be that they see it as being too lucrative to let us have a part of it? we also found that some people with a wallet full of plastic like the ego trip of having a 'personal' charge account at a local store. that way they aren't just a nameless piece of plastic, -- when the get to the register they proudly announce "charge it to me -- i'm john doe" so that everyone else in line can hear that they're a respected customer and that the store people recognize them as being trustworthy, honest, and all the other neat things that we like to think about ourselves. i remember someone telling me that we should use the name on the customer's check when we are thanking them for shopping here -- think how much more powerful it is if we recognize them by name when they come up to the register as we ask them if they'd like to put it on their account. At 09:16 PM EST 9/24/96 -0700, you wrote: > Everyone, including Cotter's people want us to get rid of our >accts, but we feel they are a real asset. People who have an account >with us can't use them anywhere else. Many of our customers have run >balances with us for over 20 years ... when they pay it off, they come >shopping for the next purchase. We sell both on a revolving acct basis, >and contract accts for larger purchases. > Carrying a large portion of your assets in A/R, isn't for >everyone, you've got to manage it like your life depends on it (it >does!). It does take a bunch of $$, but it is like a savings acct. If >you need it, you can borrow against it. It evens out the ups and downs >of cash flow, and it makes customers fiercely loyal to you. > >Jay Farr >jwlfarr@mail.coos.or.us >' > > >*************************************************************** > Hardlines Mailing List is an unmoderated Internet mailing list > for hardware and building materials industry members. > > Address articles you wish to send to list members to: > > hardlines@cornells.com > > 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 >*************************************************************** > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! Keweenaw Peninsula Chapter American Red Cross CIO/Treasurer Ham It Up! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Sep 25 10:04:34 1996 Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 10:04:17 -0400 From: LoggyF@aol.com Subject: Re: Merchandise Velocity. Help! It must be nice to be able to get 2 orders a week! Our DM was in yesterday and I asked him how we could go about getting 2 orders a week. He said that it would probably never happen out of the Mankato warehouse. Oh well, guess those of us that are out in the sticks will just have to keep plugging along. An observation... whenever I have written something, in here, a little negative about Cotter, I have gotten an immediate response from them either by email or a phone call. Now, if I could only get that kind of response when I call in with a problem... Huumm... I guess this forum must be the way to go. Just put in the Paint Shop, anyone else out there had any experience with this? As I am going back thru fine tuning what they set up, I find that I am most surprised by what we did not get. What is your feeling on the grid? We feel, that for us, the money could have been spent a lot better in other places. Our customers think it is a joke. We get questions like "What are you going to do with that thing? Hang something from it? Stack ladders on it?" When we tell them that it is just a "pretty", they just shake their heads and walk away. I know that it is suppose to be an attention getter, but in our store they don't notice it until they are right under it. I figure that we are going to have to have a $3500.00 increase in paint sales just to pay for it. Is that grid going to increase our paint sales by that much? I doubt it. Would the new Paint Shop increase our sales just as much without it? Probably It is really nice to have all of this signage, but it seems like to me that the cost of it has gotten outrageous and in a lot of cases, that money could be better spent in other places... like on inventory or on payroll in order to better serve the customer. We seem to be moving more and more in the direction of the "big boxes" and away from what built the Hardware Industry... the one-on-one customer service that they can't get anywhere else. Personally, we're going to stick with serving the customer. Well, had to blow off a little steam before heading back to the sales floor. Hope you all have a great one, From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed Sep 25 17:03:15 1996 From: "True Value" Subject: Re: Merchandise Velocity. Help! Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 16:00:45 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal You wrote: ---------- > From: LoggyF@aol.com > To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines > Subject: Re: Merchandise Velocity. Help! > Date: Wednesday, September 25, 1996 9:04 AM > > Just put in the Paint Shop, anyone else out there had any experience with > this? As I am going back thru fine tuning what they set up, I find that I am > most surprised by what we did not get. > > What is your feeling on the grid? We feel, that for us, the money could have > been spent a lot better in other places. Our customers think it is a joke. We > get questions like "What are you going to do with that thing? Hang something > from it? Stack ladders on it?" When we tell them that it is just a "pretty", > they just shake their heads and walk away. > > I know that it is suppose to be an attention getter, but in our store they > don't notice it until they are right under it. > > I figure that we are going to have to have a $3500.00 increase in paint sales > just to pay for it. Is that grid going to increase our paint sales by that > much? I doubt it. Would the new Paint Shop increase our sales just as much > without it? Probably > > It is really nice to have all of this signage, but it seems like to me that > the cost of it has gotten outrageous and in a lot of cases, that money could > be better spent in other places... like on inventory or on payroll in order > to better serve the customer. > > We put in the paint shop and move paint up front at the first of the year. I've found you MUST fine tune their recommendations to fit your store and customers. They let out things we have to have and put in things that won't sell. I've not even had anyone mention the grid, good or bad, and I've got a complete set of gondola signs in storage because they blocked the view of my store (we have 5' gondolas) and we couldn't use them. (By the way, if anyone needs can stackers, I've got 3 or 4 boxes I'll sell cheap and UPS them to you!) But on to the good news! We've had consistent increases in sales of paint and sundries of 30% or more. Our margins are the same or up also. This is great because paint is our most profitable department even before you figure in the patronage dividend, the direct ship quantity discounts, the full pallet discounts, and the dating (8 months on spring dating). We also are selling five's where we never did before. I ordered full pallets of some 5's. I know I sound like a Tru-test commercial, but paint is a money maker for me, and I need some of that to make up for the other departments that don't fare quite as well. Feel free to call or write if you would ever have a question! David Casaletto True Value Home Center 7441C9 1701 N. Broadway Pittsburg, KS 66763 316-231-0900 316-231-1011 (Fax) truevalue@pitton.com >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 08:40:55 1996 Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 08:40:52 -0400 From: LoggyF@aol.com Subject: Multiple Orders I received a call from my RDC manager yesterday. It seems that there are indeed 2 orders a week available for those stores who's volume warrants it. The way it works is that your freight rate gets bumped up one notch from what it is now. I would suggest that any store that is interested in getting 2 orders a week should contact their distribution center manager. My thanks to Jo Larson, manager of the Mankato RDC, for her quick response and cooperation. She always seems to come thru for us when we have a problem. One thing that puzzles me... In today's "Information Age", with all of the communication means available, why is it that the ones who need the information never seem to have it? It seems like we are constantly getting conflicting data or can't find anyone who can give us the answer at all. Our job is hard enough, just doing what is necessary to serve the customer (the life-blood of our business), without having to spend hours on the phone trying to get the correct answers that we need to run our business. Tru-Trac stores.... I was told that release 4.0 was mailed out last Friday. Has anyone received it yet? Back to the grind.... From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 08:58:58 1996 X-Sender: davense@why.net From: davense@why.net (davense) Subject: Re: Puzzling Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 07:57:26 -0500 >One thing that puzzles me... In today's "Information Age", with all of the >communication means available, why is it that the ones who need the >information never seem to have it? It seems like we are constantly getting >conflicting data or can't find anyone who can give us the answer at all. Our >job is hard enough, just doing what is necessary to serve the customer (the >life-blood of our business), without having to spend hours on the phone >trying to get the correct answers that we need to run our business. >Fred Logsdon >Nevada True Value >Nevada, IA >M505C4 True, true, true. We are not on the same system you are, but I hope you won't mind me forwarding your quote to some people. The information quest seems to be kaledioscopic. It depends on who's seeing what when, and you rarely see the same thing twice. Some focus on the fragments, others the "big picture", and still others see nothing unusual at all! Quite perplexing and frustrating! (Mrs.) Stephanie Davenport Simms Moore Bush Lumber Co. Frisco, Texas davense@why.net http://www.why.net/users/burnsse/index.html >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 09:04:28 1996 From: "Cynthia Martini" Subject: Delivery Times Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 08:06:22 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal We have a mid-size store in Houston, TX and while 2 deliveries a week is not necessary for us I do have a problem with the arrival time of our truck. Our schedule was changed recently so that we would get our orders in prior to the weekend which was great. However, we were told that our deliveries would be at or around 10am each week. We have yet to see a truck pull in at that time. Normally it is after 11:30am and I seldom have the staff there to unload a truck once lunch hours have started. It is also difficult to re-arrange my schedules in order to have someone there since the truck is not very reliable and has arrived as late as 1pm. If anyone has any success in preventing Cotter deliveries during lunch hours(11:30-1:30) I would appreciate any suggestions. I have left messages with the transportation personnel at the warehouse but have yet to receive any answers. Thanks for any suggestions you might have. Cynthia Martini Martini True Value Hardware Houston, TX cyn2516@econonet.com >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 12:05:43 1996 Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 12:05:18 -0400 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: Re: Multiple Orders Wouldn't it be nice if we could email anyone and everyone at Cotter when we need info rather than going through the switchboard and then getting voicemail?! Hopefully this will be a feature of the True Value web page. -- Gary Schwake Zettler True Value Stores Director - Store Operations 614-672-1327 gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 12:10:31 1996 Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 12:10:05 -0400 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: Re: Delivery Times Good Luck. We have nine stores in Columbus, therefore most of our stores are served by the same truck, HOWEVER... No two weeks go by when the truck is "on-time". Every week we have new drivers, new routes, new something that makes the whole process unpredictable. I understand the need to experiment, but wouldn't it be nice to know the status of your delivery several hours before it arrives? Perhaps by email, or even the antiquated telephone. It seems so simple it yet it is made so complex. -- Gary Schwake Zettler True Value Stores Director - Store Operations 614-672-1327 gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 14:36:47 1996 Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 14:36:44 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: Merchandise Velocity. Help! Dave: Get on the horn to your RDC and start dancing. I danced for 3 years. There are at least 2 RDC doing this now. Have fun. Rick Schwartz True Value >From owner-HARDLINES@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 15:56:15 1996 Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 15:56:13 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: COMMERCIAL ACCOUNTS Hi: Several answers on handling large accounts - activity wise -- 1. Bill on weekly basis -- explain to them the terms are still EOM or whatever, but do not hold onto those slips!!! --> a lot of times you will be paid faster too (More then 6 slips per week is the rule of thumb.) 2. On Accounts that have the offices elsewhere, bill weekly -- kills the time lag 3.On State and City accnts, bill weekly Easy setup in MCR under the Account Codes, I use a W to point out weekly. I have one fellow dealer now bills everyone weekly -- I feel that too much work, but he claims it improves his cash flow and does not add too much work time, just a little more postage. I try to treat all Accounts (cash and charge) the same. However, we discount on large quanitities, special orders and special situations. On certain charge accounts, due to volume, we will review monthy and may give an additional depending on purchases -- I will not allow the computer to do this even though it can because I want to control this. Hope this helps Rick Schwartz True Value >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 16:02:49 1996 Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 16:02:46 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: Multiple Orders E-Mail??? They cannot even do with the Cotter Network!!!@#$%$%&$* Rick Schwartz True Value >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 16:04:32 1996 Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 16:04:27 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: Delivery Times Gary: The stores around here use the Phone system --> it helps. Rick >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 16:13:51 1996 From: "True Value" Subject: Cotter's new entry level computer Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 15:12:24 -0500 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal Hi Guys! (Cotter members) On page 31 of the September Members Magazine is an article on the new entry level computer for stores that now have no computer. It shows a windows based system with a Cotter catalog WITH PICTURES! The Caption even says "A picture tells a thousand words". When do us poor people with Triads and Tru-tracs get pictures? Most of us (I think) have PC's with Windows 3.0 or 95. Has anyone heard anything on this? Well, back to work. David Casaletto True Value Home Center truevalue@pitton.com >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 17:40:51 1996 Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 17:40:49 -0400 From: LoggyF@aol.com Subject: Email Gary, Do you mean a quick, efficient form of communication???? What a novel idea!!! We will put that before the commitee and we should have an answer for you in 4 or 5 years. Hang in there... From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Thu Sep 26 19:21:07 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 19:19:18 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Re: Cotter's new entry level computer At 03:12 PM 9/26/96 -0500, you wrote: >Hi Guys! (Cotter members) > >On page 31 of the September Members Magazine is an article on the new entry >level computer for stores that now have no computer. > >It shows a windows based system with a Cotter catalog WITH PICTURES! The >Caption even says "A picture tells a thousand words". > >When do us poor people with Triads and Tru-tracs get pictures? Most of us >(I think) have PC's with Windows 3.0 or 95. Has anyone heard anything on >this? > It will be on display at the Fall market. This new system is designed primarily for those members who have no system. The pictures are just OK, and the lookup is not much more sophisticated than what is on the new Triad Eagle Catalog (it is better than the CIS/Tru Trac lookup). We've been testing one for a few months, and although it's useful as a replacement for paper catalog, our employees head for the Eagle first when looking up stuff. However, if you have time to check it out at the market, do so. There's a good possibility that something similar to this system could act as a front-end to Tru Trac and Triad systems in the future. I don't know how much folks on the list know about "client-server", but one way that Cotter may move to a more uniform system would be to change the look at the front terminals via a Windows 95 interface, and have the back office system stay the same (in the short term). Think of it like the World Wide Web... web servers are Unix, Mac, Windows NT, etc., but they look the same on your browser. The servers can be running any operating system, just so long as the user interface gets better, management tools improve, training costs go down, etc. Anyway, check out the True Start (I think that's the name... it was the ELS during testing). It's impressive, but not necessarily something automated stores need. John >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 27 11:05:08 1996 Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 18:14:42 -0600 From: BOB JOHNSON Subject: Re: True Value Internet Site -Reply Encoding: 1 Text I'm late in replying ..But its ready to go on the 9/30...It's a good start...BOB >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 27 08:13:34 1996 Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 08:13:33 -0400 From: StevenO510@aol.com Subject: Re: Cotter's new entry level computer I think we have to continue to push for Triad to move to another platform like windows. They are way behind the technology out there...they have always been but let's hope they will begin to get on top of things. >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 27 07:21:13 1996 X-Sender: jswift@mail.up.net Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 07:23:10 -0500 From: jack swift Subject: Re: Delivery Times we would never have enough people to unload the truck if we only relied on the regular staff. we have two college students who have been extensively trained (i use a baseball bat ) on how to unload a truck and check in the freight. they are 'on call' from noon till the truck arrives. we have trained the truck driver to call from his previous stop and advise us when he will be arriving and then we call the students. usually they all arrive at the same time. how did we get the driver to be so gracious? we told him that he was getting paid by the mile, not the hour, and if we only had one person to unload it would take twice as long -- we also told him that we could not guarantee that there would even be one person available if he didn't call and arrived at a real busy time. i discovered something interesting a few years ago: i didn't need to station a cashier at the freight door because i wasn't making any money there. when the delivery people begin to think that they are more important than our paying customers, we need to re-educate them. when we begin to think that the delivery people are more important than our paying customers, we should sell our businesses and go to work for a delivery company. so there! At 08:06 AM EST 9/26/96 -0500, you wrote: > We have yet to see a truck pull in at that time. >Normally it is after 11:30am and I seldom have >the staff there to unload a truck once lunch hours have started. It is >also difficult to re-arrange my schedules in order to have someone there >since the truck is not very reliable and has arrived as late as 1pm. If >anyone has any success in preventing Cotter deliveries during lunch >hours(11:30-1:30) I would appreciate any suggestions. I have left messages >with the transportation personnel at the warehouse but have yet to receive >any answers. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! Keweenaw Peninsula Chapter American Red Cross CIO/Treasurer Ham It Up! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 27 07:33:22 1996 X-Sender: jswift@mail.up.net Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 07:35:21 -0500 From: jack swift Subject: Re: Email what do you mean, wait? haven't you heard? we already have e-mail -- that's what chicago has called the csn system for years. it's the ideal form of 'cotter' mail -- we just sit quietly and listen like good children and don't have a means to respond (or especially ask questions or give suggestions). At 05:40 PM EST 9/26/96 -0400, you wrote: >Do you mean a quick, efficient form of communication???? >What a novel idea!!! >We will put that before the commitee and we should have an answer for you in >4 or 5 years. >Fred Logsdon >Nevada True Value >Nevada, IA > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! Keweenaw Peninsula Chapter American Red Cross CIO/Treasurer Ham It Up! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri Sep 27 17:55:47 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 17:53:58 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Hardlines now a Digest I've made a change in the Hardlines Mailing List so that messages will now go out in Digest form. What this means is, message will be accumulated on a daily basis, and mailed out as one message. The downside to this is that messages do not go out immediately, so if something is "urgent" it won't make it out to everyone at once. However, the up side (plus side?) is that rather than wading through four or five messages you can read the latest in one message. As message traffic picks up (and it has been lately), it also becomes more difficult to get through the number of messages. Also, messages that contain just one or two lines no longer arrive on their own, with the long Hardlines tag line. Finally, the messages arriving as a digest are easier to manage if you're saving the contents. Hope this works out well for everyone... and pass the word about the Hardlines list to folks you know. The more dealers and industry folks on the list, the better for all of us. John >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sat Sep 28 18:55:29 1996 Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 10:34:16 -0600 From: BOB JOHNSON Subject: Email -Reply Encoding: 1 Text Hey LoggyF...You won't be waiting THAT long...The Scoutmaster... >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sat Sep 28 14:29:43 1996 Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 14:29:42 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27351 John: The next trick is to make is digest into a download. Don't tell Cotter --> they cannot even figure out E-Mail! Have fun, Rick Schwartz ?? Create a Dinner party in St. Louis on Saturday or Sunday night with all users --dutch treat at some restaurant?? Elsewhere from the convention hall. >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sat Sep 28 14:32:09 1996 Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 14:32:07 -0400 From: RICKSS1@aol.com Subject: Re: Email re:CSN Yup, it is E-Mail but when are they really going to use it. All I have been seeing is closeouts (Yes keep them coming), but whatabout all the other stuff like Gilmour Vs Hudson Sprayers. Rick Schwartz Schwartz True Value >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sat Sep 28 20:07:56 1996 Date: 28 Sep 96 20:05:39 EDT From: "WILLIAM H. ROUND" <102753.622@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: Cotter's new entry level computer Dear Cotter Members and Interested folks from other coops, The Cotter ELS, aka "True Start," is an interesting item for us, but it is not for us. By "us >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sun Sep 29 10:53:57 1996 Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 10:53:55 -0400 From: LoggyF@aol.com Subject: Communication Here is a little food for thought.. Communication in our indusrty is extremely important. Things are continuously changing... from products, to customer base, to buying habits, to technology, to competition etc. etc. etc. I will be the first to admit that, as dealers, we do a very poor job of communicating with our suppliers/co-ops. We have the tendency to be so busy trying to run our own business (as it should be) and taking care of the customer (ditto) that we just grumble about what the supplier is doing and go on about our work. In our defense, they have not made it easy for us. If you try to call, you are on hold for 15 minutes, transferred from person to person, switched to voice mail and no one returns your call. If you send a letter or a fax, you don't get a reply, so you never know if it even got there or was ever read or taken seriously. The fact is, folks, whether you are a member of a co-op, like Cotter or Ace, or have some other supplier... they work for us! Their very survival is dependent on the dealer... just as ours is dependent on our customers and just as we must adapt to our customer's wishes... they must adapt to ours, not the other way around. Those of us that are used to email know that we are a lot more likely to put down a few few sentences and hit send than we are to spend a lot of time on hold on the phone or even to write a letter - look up an address - fill out the envelope - find a stamp, etc. etc. Major companies have secretaries to handle that type of thing... we, on the other hand, are trying to do as much as possible ourselves because that is the only way we can survive. We DO NEED quick, easy 2-way communication and we need to have our comments, suggestions and problems taken seriously. We are the ones who are out in the field, working one-on-one with the customer and trying to keep our business afloat. Without the customer... we don't exist. Without us... the supplier doesn't exist. Okay, I'm climbing off of my soapbox now... I have customers to wait on... an order that needs checked in and put out... floors that need swept... trash that needs emptied... market orders to write... employees to keep busy... remerchandising that needs done... etc. etc. etc. etc. From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sun Sep 29 17:00:03 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 16:59:10 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: True Value Web Site Well, 20,000 of my customers have received the latest direct mail (DM70). Right on the top of page one is a web page address that is still restricted. Is anyone else on the list concerned at all about the way this site was slipped onto the front cover with nary a mention in the pallet loads of paper we receive from our wholesaler each month? No mention in the Corporate Advisor, Merchandising Advisor, etc. (or did I miss it?). We get tons of notice about NFL posters, rebates, MasterCards, etc. which appear on the covers, but this note magically appeared (and is on the next two promos as well). Meanwhile, no magic with the site... it's built, and probably ready to roll. It just denies access without a password. Word is, the site will be live tomorrow, but you'd think someone would hvae burned the midnight oil once the sale flyers started hitting consumers homes. Stay tuned.... John PS - Any opinions on the Internet Policy? PPS - Crock - (noun) small container or pot ------------------------------------------------------ John3@cornells.com http://www.cornells.com/john.htm Webmaster/Manager/Cashier Via the Dell at home >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Sep 30 00:02:40 1996 Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 00:02:37 Eastern Daylight Time From: hardlines-request@cornells.com Reply-To: "Hardlines" Subject: hardlines Digest - V01 #27353 To: "Hardlines" hardlines Digest Mon, 30 Sep 1996 00:02:37 Eastern Daylight Time V01 #27353 Today's topics: 'Communication' 'True Value Web Site' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 10:53:55 -0400 From: LoggyF@aol.com Subject: Communication Here is a little food for thought.. Communication in our indusrty is extremely important. Things are continuously changing... from products, to customer base, to buying habits, to technology, to competition etc. etc. etc. I will be the first to admit that, as dealers, we do a very poor job of communicating with our suppliers/co-ops. We have the tendency to be so busy trying to run our own business (as it should be) and taking care of the customer (ditto) that we just grumble about what the supplier is doing and go on about our work. In our defense, they have not made it easy for us. If you try to call, you are on hold for 15 minutes, transferred from person to person, switched to voice mail and no one returns your call. If you send a letter or a fax, you don't get a reply, so you never know if it even got there or was ever read or taken seriously. The fact is, folks, whether you are a member of a co-op, like Cotter or Ace, or have some other supplier... they work for us! Their very survival is dependent on the dealer... just as ours is dependent on our customers and just as we must adapt to our customer's wishes... they must adapt to ours, not the other way around. Those of us that are used to email know that we are a lot more likely to put down a few few sentences and hit send than we are to spend a lot of time on hold on the phone or even to write a letter - look up an address - fill out the envelope - find a stamp, etc. etc. Major companies have secretaries to handle that type of thing... we, on the other hand, are trying to do as much as possible ourselves because that is the only way we can survive. We DO NEED quick, easy 2-way communication and we need to have our comments, suggestions and problems taken seriously. We are the ones who are out in the field, working one-on-one with the customer and trying to keep our business afloat. Without the customer... we don't exist. Without us... the supplier doesn't exist. Okay, I'm climbing off of my soapbox now... I have customers to wait on... an order that needs checked in and put out... floors that need swept... trash that needs emptied... market orders to write... employees to keep busy... remerchandising that needs done... etc. etc. etc. etc. Subject: True Value Web Site Well, 20,000 of my customers have received the latest direct mail (DM70). Right on the top of page one is a web page address that is still restricted. Is anyone else on the list concerned at all about the way this site was slipped onto the front cover with nary a mention in the pallet loads of paper we receive from our wholesaler each month? No mention in the Corporate Advisor, Merchandising Advisor, etc. (or did I miss it?). We get tons of notice about NFL posters, rebates, MasterCards, etc. which appear on the covers, but this note magically appeared (and is on the next two promos as well). Meanwhile, no magic with the site... it's built, and probably ready to roll. It just denies access without a password. Word is, the site will be live tomorrow, but you'd think someone would hvae burned the midnight oil once the sale flyers started hitting consumers homes. Stay tuned.... John PS - Any opinions on the Internet Policy? PPS - Crock - (noun) small container or pot ------------------------------------------------------ John3@cornells.com http://www.cornells.com/john.htm Webmaster/Manager/Cashier Via the Dell at home ------------------------------ End of hardlines Digest V01 #27353 ********************************** >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Sep 30 01:06:48 1996 Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 21:41:30 -0700 From: Jay Will & Linda Farr Subject: Dutch Treat dinner Sorry I won't be at the market this time ... we spread the fun around our family. But Rounds, Farr, Fix, and Nichandros can recommend a swell place with some 'wild' entertainment. Have an extra rodent on me. Jay Farr Coos Bay, OR >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Sep 30 08:27:28 1996 Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 08:27:10 -0400 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: Re: hardlines Digest - V01 #27353 John- Are you compiling all of the days messages into one main "digest?" It looks like this may be easier to deal with rather than getting many messages throughout the day. As far as the True Value web page is concerned, I too, am disappointed at the apparent lack of dealer involvement, not to mention the lack of member communication. When customers think True Value, do you think they picture corporate headquarters in Chicago? Hell no! They think of you and me and the rest of us "just around the corner." So when they see a web page address and come in and ask us about its content, it gives me a wonderful feeling to be able to say "I have no idea." Dear representatives of Cotter & Co., PULEEEEZ remember that you are an extension of the retailer, not vice versa. I realize it is difficult to ask us for our opinions on the many programs on which you are working because you never get a homogenous answer. But guess what? That is the MARKET talking, not us. In defense of Chicagoland, I would like to say that I have been pleased with Cotter's efforts to continuously improve. Keep the train moving forward. -- Gary Schwake Zettler True Value Stores Director - Store Operations 614-672-1327 gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Sep 30 08:30:25 1996 Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 08:30:06 -0400 From: Gary Schwake Organization: Zettler True Value Stores Subject: truevalue.com Another note- It's September 30th at 8:30am EDT and there's no open web page. Any wagers on the page actually being available today? -- Gary Schwake Zettler True Value Stores Director - Store Operations 614-672-1327 gschwake@iwaynet.net >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Sep 30 07:51:27 1996 X-Sender: jswift@mail.up.net Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 07:52:17 -0500 From: jack swift Subject: Re: Paint Shop Grid it has been my observation over the last 20 years that the people in member services were the rejects from merchandising -- the ones that weren't capable of negotiating reasonable costs. every time 'they' come up with some new program we are astounded by the expensiveness of it. however, in all fairness, their idea of 'inexpensive' is somewhat controlled by their living costs. it takes very few of cotter's management team to equal in salary what we gross in sales and we're in the top 1/3 of the members. to them, $3,500 is a monthly house payment (without the escrow!).... At 10:04 AM EST 9/25/96 -0400, you wrote: >Just put in the Paint Shop, <> > >What is your feeling on the grid? We feel, that for us, the money could have >been spent a lot better in other places. Our customers think it is a joke. <> > >I figure that we are going to have to have a $3500.00 increase in paint sales >just to pay for it. Is that grid going to increase our paint sales by that >much? I doubt it. Would the new Paint Shop increase our sales just as much >without it? Probably > >It is really nice to have all of this signage, but it seems like to me that >the cost of it has gotten outrageous and in a lot of cases, that money could >be better spent in other places... like on inventory or on payroll in order >to better serve the customer. > >We seem to be moving more and more in the direction of the "big boxes" and >away from what built the Hardware Industry... the one-on-one customer >service that they can't get anywhere else. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! Keweenaw Peninsula Chapter American Red Cross CIO/Treasurer Ham It Up! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Sep 30 09:09:08 1996 X-Sender: jswift@mail.up.net Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 09:10:58 -0500 From: jack swift Subject: Re: two orders per week At 10:07 PM EST 9/21/96 EDT, you wrote: > >The results have been very good. We have smaller, more manageable orders. > We have a second chance to fill outs every week. We cut our order >point weeks of supply. > the key thing to remember is to watch your EOQ.... it's awfully expensive to order 1 widget twice a week instead of 2 once a week.... (some of us just can't order everything in shelf-pack quantities) >I think I may have lost a day from my week, however, as I am tempted to run >RSO's all day long on Saturdays to make sure I catch everything which might go >on the order. It is one more compelling reason to push more responsibility to >the salesfloor. > i waste very little time on the rso's because i spend most of my time setting minimums and eoq's. as long as the qoh is accurate (daily cycle counts are the time-filler for the morning shift), rso is reasonably correct. all i have to catch are the wild sales swings caused by weather. > The managers review the order and count all items on this RSO. > ouch! i'd need to hire more staff to handle this.... if it's on the rso, then the stock is thought by triad to be low enough to order - no need to confirm that. it's the sku's that are lower than the triad thinks they are that will embarass you. that's why i prefer an organized cycle count -- in addition, we find/fix all the messed up location coding. >2. QOH changes are made in QPIP. > duh! never thought much of triad's inventory checking routines...... too much 'technology' for a simple but boring task. (we have a 'customer' named "thief" who 'buys' a lot of things at zero retail -- and we track his purchase history closely and record all skus offtriad) > I hate my warehouse. I wish it would burn off the top of the building. > have you considered using the user codes field to hold quantity and location in the warehouse? running any reports using that field requires a pass of the whole inventory file, so we gave it up and use other fields for flags -- triad could have designed a better system, but we kluge along just fine.... actually, our 'warehouse inventory' is controlled much easier -- offtriad.... remember, this is almost a static inventory (not quite a fixed asset, but close -- want to buy some 6" valves?) >5. The effort involved in checking the order off is never rewarded by a >corresponding discovery of big dollar shortages. > my accounting brain worries about those, but my inventory-control brain worries about the bad data corrupting the qoh field. i may 'accept' the dollar differences as immaterial or offsetting in the long run, but the qoh accuracy destruction is unacceptable. why waste money on a pos system that updates qoh when you willingly post inaccurate receipts. >12. Chaos can erupt when doing floor counts for an RSO while merchandise for >the same vendor is being shelved... or >sent to the warehouse "... 'cuz I couldn't find a place for it on the sales >floor." This can be minimized by setting the Monday night RSO select option to >ignore merchandise with a QOO. > i fall back on my previous: cycle counts allow you to 'see' qoo and are quicker on a per-sku basis because they are concentrated in a relatively small area and are much more likely to catch lower-than-triad quantities... >I will continue to feel unfulfilled without a more sophisticated on-screen order >generator/editor on my Triad System. > make your own..... that's the only way you can get the screen to include all the information you want in a format you can quickly analyze. programmers are totally incapable of designing view screens -- they never use them and have no idea why anyone would want one..... > It's very frustrating, especially when I see something come along like the >Cotter/Triad ELS package... designed for the Cotter member just crawing out of >the woods armed with nothing more than a stone knife and a telxon... > but the worse thing is that the system they see is designed for use by a programmer...... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! Keweenaw Peninsula Chapter American Red Cross CIO/Treasurer Ham It Up! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon Sep 30 11:27:20 1996 X-Sender: "John Fix 3rd" Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 11:25:33 -0400 From: "John Fix 3rd" Subject: Checking order accuracy Bill Round wrote... >>5. The effort involved in checking the order off is never rewarded by a >>corresponding discovery of big dollar shortages. >> Jack Swift wrote.. > my accounting brain worries about those, but my inventory-control >brain worries about the bad data corrupting the qoh field. i may 'accept' >the dollar differences as immaterial or offsetting in the long run, but the >qoh accuracy destruction is unacceptable. why waste money on a pos system >that updates qoh when you willingly post inaccurate receipts. > I agree with Jack on this one... although the dollar value does not justify checking the shipment, potential lost sales and lost customer goodwill when QOH says 1 but the shelf is empty makes checking off the shipment worth it to me. We easily fill a page and a half with inventory adjustments from the weekly warehouse shipment. I really can't forsee the day when we'd trust Cotter on warehouse shipment accuracy. John