From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue, 26 Dec 1995 17:21:09 Date: Tue, 26 Dec 1995 17:19:58 -0500 From: John Fix 3rd Subject: Happy Holidays! Happy Holidays to everyone on the Hardlines mailing list! I've mailed out a letter to the Hardgoods Confidential subscribers, trying to get them up on this list. A few folks have responded and are now on the list, but there are only about twenty folks total on the list to date. Hopefully, I'll hear from more folks once the Christmas/New Year rush is over. Now, a virus story.... For years, I ran a BBS, dialed numerous BBS's, surfed the net, swapped shareware files, etc. I never made a habit out of checking for viruses on my computers, and never had a problem. About a year ago, Cotter sent out a notice that the Parts Central catalog system (a DOS based catalog for looking up mower parts, appliance parts, etc) was infected with a virus. They included a copy of McCaffee's Virus Scan, which fixed the problem. I was worried that maybe the catalog program had infected other PC's, so when Window 95 came out I installed Norton's Anti-Virus on all our PC's (ten at present including our Sierra POS stations from Triad). None of the PC's were infected with a virus. Today, I needed a few floppies, so I pulled out some old Tru Trac POS updates, from 1992 (7/24/92 release 2.06). These were used to update the POS stations for Tru Trac POS systems. The back-office was Unix-based, but the Tru Trac POS stations were DOS based PC's. Anyway, when I tried to browse the old Tru Trac floppies, I received a notice that they were infected with the Form virus. I assume they caught this fact at some point, although I never received a notice from Tru Trac that my POS stations might be infected... but I've been off the mailing list for about a year now. Plus, maybe the boot disks got infected here, although I really don't think so since I have never had POS stations running Tru Trac, so I wouldn't have booted the disks up (generally, booting off floppies is what transmits virus'). Both these incidents do point out that even if you don't download files from BBS's, and don't share floppies with others, you can still get a virus from a legitimate source. Invest in a virus scanner... Norton's, McCaffee's, or IBM's are all very good. Hope your New Year is properous, healthy, ad virus free! John ************************************************************************** John Fix 3rd http://www.cornells.com/john.htm John3@cornells.com (914) 961-2400 Cornell's True Value Hardware Manager/Cashier/Webmaster ************************************************************************** From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon, 08 Jan 1996 13:41:36 Date: Mon, 08 Jan 1996 13:39:47 -0500 From: John Fix 3rd Subject: Snow... The blizzard of 1996 is pounding the northeast as I type, which means our store is pretty empty. For those who are short of snow shovels, either in stock or via your wholesaler, try Yeoman. They are in stock on all styles, including back saver shovels, and will ship out within one day. Their number is 319-465-3553. They bill through Cotter, so I assume they have arrangements with other co-ops as well. Another good source, although not billing to national accounts, is Caldwell Supply in Hazelton, PA. Their number is (800) 257-9100. They are primarily a farm supply outfit (we get shipments weekly because of our horse shop), but they carry a complete True Temper line and have stock on almost everything (including 118PTW shovels and back saver aluminum), as well as Qwik Joe ice melter at reasonable prices. In local news, Andrew Page from National Home Center News was in on Friday, talking for quite a while with me for an upcoming feature on the Internet and the World Wide Web. Look for a stunning photo of the pile of junk I call a desk to appear in the magazine within the next two weeks. Not much else to type, but figured those in need of shovels might want this info in a speedy fashion. ************************************************************************** John Fix 3rd http://www.cornells.com/john.htm John3@cornells.com (914) 961-2400 Cornell's True Value Hardware Manager/Cashier/Webmaster From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue, 16 Jan 1996 11:15:10 Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 11:13:56 -0500 From: John Fix 3rd Subject: Introductions We're up to about thirty folks on the hardlines mailing list, so it might be a nice time to see if we can get some discussions going. One way to start the ball rolling might be to have everyone introduct themselves with a short paragraph about their store (or their interest in the hardware industry), including what they do in the business, what kind of product mix, competition in the area, etc. Our store (Cornell's True Value Hardware) is about 9,000 sq ft retail sales, with 9,000 sq ft basement storage. We have about 30 employees, split about 50/50 part time and full time. We've been using a Triad system since 1982. We have about eight PC's around the store, used for tasks including time clock, fax send/receive, warehouse stock look-up, as well as Triad terminal emulation. Our product mix includes a big housewares department (about 15-20% of annual sales), as well as the basic departments. We have a Just Ask rental store, as well as a specialty store selling horse riding supplies & clothing. So far, we have no direct competition in the area, but there are two Home Depots being built within five miles of us. The closest we have to competition are several CVS and discount pharmacies, and Caldor's and Bradlee's (both in chapter 11). We mail circulars (True Value) twice a month to about 18,000 homes, and are generally happy with the response. That's a quick overview of our store. How about your operation? John ************************************************************************** John Fix 3rd http://www.cornells.com/john.htm John3@cornells.com (914) 961-2400 Cornell's True Value Hardware Manager/Cashier/Webmaster From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue, 16 Jan 1996 20:36:27 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 20:35:00 -0500 From: CHank1@aol.com Subject: Re: Introductions Well John, My brother and I run 3 stores in Paducah, Kentucky. The company has been in business since 1897 with myself being involved the last 16 or so years. We have had a Triad system since 1989 and are on the Eagle system. We also have a large housewares department with a strong Christmas decorations emphasis during that time of year. We also have a rappelling department at the store I manage with good success. Our 3 store are tied to one cpu which enables us to trasfer merchandise and look at each others inventories. We participate in about 9 direct mails and are mostly a Cotter store with about 15% of our purchases with Orgill Bros. out of Memphis Tenn. Great to hear from you. Chuck Hank From 76065.1527@compuserve.com Wed, 17 Jan 1996 00:58:02 Date: 17 Jan 96 00:55:36 EST From: "Ward L. Schemper" <76065.1527@compuserve.com> To: John Fix 3rd Subject: Re: Introductions We operate 2 stores, Schemper's Ace Hardware Is our main store. We have appx 10,000 sq. ft of sales and 5,000 ft of warehouse storage. Our second store is Newman Ace Hardware it has been open for 1 1/2 years. It is 7,500 sq ft w/ 6000 sq ft of sales area. We have had our Triad since 1982, we are on the Eagle and are multi-store with the system. Our largest departments are lawn and garden followed by paint, these make up about 35% of our sales. Competition around us is tough, we have 2 Walmarts, 2 Orchard Supplies, 1 Home Base. 1 Home Depot and some smaller competitors within a 6 mile radius. Our city of Ripon is apprx 10,000 people with two larger cities on each side of us. Our Newman store is 20 miles from any major competition and that is on reason we opened the store in that location. We advertise 2 circulars per month, one is a Ace Regional circular the other is a BYO that is put together by a group of 30 Ace dealers in the Sacramento area. It has been a very sucessfull program. Nice to be aquainted with you, Ward Schemper From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed, 17 Jan 1996 07:52:59 Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 07:51:14 -0500 From: John Fix 3rd Subject: Re: Introductions From 76065.1527@compuserve.com Wed, 17 Jan 1996 00:58:02 Date: 17 Jan 96 00:55:36 EST From: "Ward L. Schemper" <76065.1527@compuserve.com> Subject: Re: Introductions We operate 2 stores, Schemper's Ace Hardware Is our main store. We have appx 10,000 sq. ft of sales and 5,000 ft of warehouse storage. Our second store is Newman Ace Hardware it has been open for 1 1/2 years. It is 7,500 sq ft w/ 6000 sq ft of sales area. We have had our Triad since 1982, we are on the Eagle and are multi-store with the system. Our largest departments are lawn and garden followed by paint, these make up about 35% of our sales. Competition around us is tough, we have 2 Walmarts, 2 Orchard Supplies, 1 Home Base. 1 Home Depot and some smaller competitors within a 6 mile radius. Our city of Ripon is apprx 10,000 people with two larger cities on each side of us. Our Newman store is 20 miles from any major competition and that is on reason we opened the store in that location. We advertise 2 circulars per month, one is a Ace Regional circular the other is a BYO that is put together by a group of 30 Ace dealers in the Sacramento area. It has been a very sucessfull program. Nice to be aquainted with you, Ward Schemper > > > > ************************************************************************** John Fix 3rd http://www.cornells.com/john.htm John3@cornells.com (914) 961-2400 Cornell's True Value Hardware Manager/Cashier/Webmaster From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed, 17 Jan 1996 16:22:22 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List Date: Wed, 17 Jan 96 14:23:53 CST From: derek king Subject: introduction!! Dear Fellow Hardware men & women, I am Derek King a student and hardware man myself. I work at Argo True Value Hardware in Argo, Alabama. The store is about 7000 square foot of hardware and 1000 square foot of groceries, yes groceries!!! The business was started by my bosses father and now he owns the company with his brother-in-law the two make a pretty good pair, but are family. Need I say more? The two hav e been partners since 1980, and have worked long hours and long weeks!! Then in 1989 a handsome, young boy wanting to buy a car came to work for them. That young man would be me (sorry I do not have the equipment that John C. does to let you see a picture of me). Well back to the store, our departments and services include : automotive,tools, paint, pet supplies, groceries, frozen foods, feed, plumbing,lawn and garden, small engine repairs, hand tool repair (limited to minor repairs), housewares, lumber yard, electrical, and anything else you may think of. Our biggest department as in sales is lawn and garden follewed by my two departments tools and paint. We have 12 employees and are pushed to the limits everyday. We have a Marvins Building center seven miles away that is twice our size, but we have always beat thier prices on products. Well that is a pretty good over view of our store. Now I think I can get the ball rolling and the computer keyboards clicking!! Are you ready? I am currently in business school at UAB (university of alabama at birmingham) and I plan on buying the store from the current owners after graduation. so the question is does anybody have $500,000 dollars laying around they do not need? no that is not the question. I am redesigning the store physically and the way we do business. For example the company has been in business for 18 years and never has develop a business plan, we still do things the way they did them in 1980! So I need some information from you all!! Concerning the following items: 1. How many of you have a business plan? 2. How do you hire people? 3. DO you have a job description for all employees?(If so can I get one from you?) You can e-mail me back or send the information to me in the mail: Argo True Value Derek King 335 Highway 11 Trussville, AL 35173 thank you for your time and input! Derek King From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed, 17 Jan 1996 18:17:52 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List X-Sender: jswift@mail.up.net Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 18:16:46 -0500 From: jswift@up.net (jack swift) Subject: Re: Introductions we are occupying 75% of a 25,000 foot two story building where the main street is at the 'top floor' level and the lakeside (back) street is at the 'basement' level. we have a parking deck at the back door (top floor level) that covers the lower parking lot. both parking areas are owned by the city. the other 25% of the building is occupied by a (smelly) pet store that was here when we bought the building in 1989. 25% of the store (the non-pet half of the basement) is storage and 10% is main floor office/lunchroom/storage. we started in business in Ishpeming, MI in 1869 as a mine and mill supply house. in about 1900 we set up a branch in Houghton to serve the new copper mining industry. we decided that the iron mining industry aroung ishpeming was becoming depressed and closed that operation in 1911 when we build a 4-story building (1 block west of here) and a 2-story warehouse abutting the railroad tracks alongside the canal so we had easy freight access - in those days everything came by water or rail and all orders came directly from the manufacturer: definately not a weekly delivery! the old store was 20,000 feet and had the first and third floors at street level. we had very little retail business until about 1946 when my dad returned from 'the outside world'. he brought us into main-street retailing and introduced us to hardware wholesalers. in 1959 we joined Cotter (store 144) and expanded the retail operation from one floor to all four floors as the copper mining declined. i returned from my stint in the outside world in 1977 to a 'fast track' management program that started in the freight room. we enjoyed a great business until 1979 when a Pamida Discount opened at the start of the Christmas season. we were well into a recovery when, in 1982, K-mart opened in a brand new mall on the edge of town. (oops!) by this time i had moved from freight checker to manager and started computerization. we dropped the accounts receivable service from the state hardware association and began EDI with the post office to have them print, insert, and mail our statements so the customers would receive them on the first of the month instead of the 15th. in 1988 Cotter gave up on the ROSE (now Tru-Trac) system and that darn Paul Fee told everyone to "buy a Triad". One of the worst mistakes we'vd made! $85,000 over 7 years and all we have to show for it is a proprietary DX-10 system that hasn't had a software upgrade in 2 years. if it wasn't for 'fredware' and an Alpha-4 database our inventory would be a mess! we also run a 3-computer network to handle inventory, accounting and catalogs (as well as the usual junk like this...). we started a 1-hour photo lab in 1986. (another mistake) it operated at break-even until last month when we discovered that we needed a $3,500 part. it appears we will show a profit finally - the equipment is worth about $20,000... from 1982 to 1994, we regained all we had lost to the discounters and were on a 'roll'. we had lightened our presence in housewares and dropped giftware. toys were back up to about 60% of pre-discounter sales. (we HAD the best toy department for a radius of 50 miles!) most of our customers had come to realize that the discount prices only applied to cheap junk, and that on most items we had equal or better prices along with service. we got a 140,000 foot Wal-Mart and an 80,000 foot Shopko in March 1994. this forced out the 40,000 foot Pamida and severly suppressed sales at the 40,000 foot K-mart! of course, we didn't go unscathed.... oh well, been there - done that.... sales are coming back up again. i just wish that the economy hadn't been so bad this christmas season. we are a full-line hardware store except for the giftware. we just added lumber to fill the space taken up by the photo lab. we haven't gotten into the rental business because of space or rather a lack thereof. we have discovered that our niche is our employees. the ability to come up with a solution for all our customers' problems has kept our quality customers returning daily. we are down to 9 full-time employees and two part-timers. one of the part-timers is the chairman of the board who still (at 84) comes in from 9-12 monday through saturday even though i quit paying him 5 years ago. the other one is half the freight crew and comes in on Saturday and Sunday for about 12 hours. although most of the crew has been hired in the last 3 years to replace long-time employees whose husbands found 'real jobs' out side the area, we have a 6-year, a 7-year, and a 20-year veteran. we changed our hours (finally) in 1994 because the downtown merchants wanted to "meet the competition of Wal-Mart" and are now open from 8am-6pm monday through saturday. we continue to resist being open on sunday (except at christmas) so that our employees can have some family time. we take a Cotter flyer a month distributing 9,400 of them on the monday nearest the first of the month. that way we are in the newspaper along with the grocery ads at the time when the social security checks come out. we run the flyers for a full three weeks to get that last dollar out of them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, 17 Jan 1996 18:48:56 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 15:47:03 -0800 X-Sender: batesace@netcom.com From: batesace@netcom.com (Wade Doss) Subject: Introductions Hello everyone, I'm Wade Doss of Atlanta and I'm a partner of Bates Ace Hardware. Bates Hardware was started in 1921 by the Bates family and began the first Ace store in Atlanta in 1968. My family purchased the business from the Bates family in 1973. I have worked in the business for 20 years and became a partner in the business 12 years ago. We built a new store 3 years ago and moved across the street from the old location. The new store is a 22,000 sq. ft. biulding with a 14,000 showroom. We are heavy into outdoor power equipment and also have a outdoor nursery. We received the 1995 Ace 2000 award for hardware dealers in the eastern region. Our store is located near downtown Atlanta about 2 miles north of the downtown district and Olympic Village. We have had a Triad system since 1984 and upgraded to the Eagle system about 6 years ago. We are fully scanning at POS and receiving (no price tickets). We have been a heavy system user for a number of years (after you pay that much for a computer you had better us it). I have served on the ATUG, Ace Triad User Group board, for three years, so I interested to hear from you. What can Ace or Triad do for you? We send out 16 circulars a year. We distribute 9,000 direct mail from our inhouse mailing list and 20,000 are sent out by Advo. We have seen VERY good results from our circular program as we design our own with our local group of dealers. We have a little bit of local competition with 3 Home Depots within 5 miles of our store and 16 Home Depots within 25 mile radius of our store. In the Atlanta market there are 4 True Value's, 40 Ace Hardware's, 2 Lowe's, and the orange places. That's about enough from me. Next! ` Wade Doss Wade Doss Bates Ace Hardware batesace@netcom.com From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Wed, 17 Jan 1996 20:47:10 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 20:36:40 -0500 (EST) From: BBOYDEN@ids.net Subject: RE: Introductions Hello everyone. My name is Bob Boyden and my connection to this mailing list is that I am the Triad Hardlines Customer Education Rep in southern New England. In fact I first got involved with Triad when I was hired by a Cotter store with the primary task of implementing a computer system. That ended up being a Triad purchase in 1987. I was an active caller on John's Hardgoods East BBS for a number of years and was active in the old New England user group. I have worked for Triad since 1992 and always enjoyed the interaction between Triad users both as a customer and an employee. I learned a great deal from fellow users in my early years using the Triad and am still impressed by the things that come up when Triad customers put thier heads together. That's my story. From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri, 19 Jan 1996 07:37:08 Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 07:36:05 -0500 From: John Fix 3rd Subject: Re: Introductions Hello everybody! My turn I guess ... My name is Rick Karp. I run two stores in San Francisco, both a humungous 3,800 square feet. I am in the process of acquiring a third (I can't believe it either, Ward!) in downtown SF. It is 6,000 square feet, and located near the convention center, high rises, and hotels. More than half of its business is commercial. My existing two stores are neighborhood stores, serving up just about anything that you can imagine a hardware store would do. Business has been good, up about 10% over the previous year, and going strong. We send out about 25,000 mailers each month to our own mailing list. This is a 12 page newsletter that has four inside pages of merchandise. The rest of the newsletter shouts about our culture, services, etc. It has worked out well for us, but is a tremendous yoke around my neck as I produce it in my "spare time" each month in Pagemaker. Our stores, like Ward's and Wade's are Ace stores. Like Wade, I sit on the ATUG board -- in fact, I have since about 1982 or so. I guess I really am getting old ... We've had the Triad since 1981. Along with Ward I believe, we were one of the first dozen guinea pigs. We've been on the Eagle for quite awhile, and are just about to go into debt once again to Triad as we upgrade to a Pentium large enough to accomodate the three stores. (Note to the guy who still has the DX-10 and is not happy: Call me quick at 415 753-2653 #5. I can give you a tremendous deal on a 386 Eagle CPU fully loaded with level 16. I will have two to unload within 4-6 weeks. I promise that even the 386 will be a screamer compared to your DX-10, and the Eagle will put you in another world, software wise.) Three cheers to John Fix for making the effort to do this! A great idea and service to all of us. Before I sign off, I wish to report a bug that was just solved for me after many months, by Bill Wilson and the product development staff. We have POS terminals that have been dropping back to the M prompt screen for no apparent reason. The advice line gave up on me after about six months of nagging. The second in house complaint to product development got action. It turns out that on early versions of Level 16 there is a "T" option in MTR, Return to Clerk?, which allows for an automatic timed clearing of the cashiers name if there is no activity on the terminal for 30 seconds. Turns out, it doesn't work -- clears the entire program sporadically rather than just the cashier's name. So, if that is plaguing you, go into MTR and dump your T option! That's all for now. Rick Karp colehard@aol.com From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri, 19 Jan 1996 14:31:15 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 14:29:44 -0500 From: Hampension@aol.com Subject: Introductions High folks! My name is Kip and I run Coleman's Hamilton Supply along with my two brothers. The business has been here since 1924 and we have been on Triad since 1982. Matter of fact, we were the first Triad user to buy the lumber package on the east coast. We are a Cotter store catering to the building contractor. Hardware is almost a side line with us but still important. We are starting a rental business soon and we are looking for software that will work along with our Triad. We don't want to use Cotter's rental program and prefer to go on our own. If any of you out there have experience with rental and could steer me to good Windows based software for rental, I would appreciate it. I've got calls into Triad but they aren't much help yet. This is a good idea and John deserves the kudos. From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Fri, 19 Jan 1996 17:30:45 Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 17:29:00 -0500 From: John Fix 3rd Subject: Rental software, Triad Web Site (aaol.com) Kip Coleman wrote... >We are starting a rental business soon and we are looking for software that >will work along with our Triad. Triad was working on a package that integrated tightly with their POS package, but the project was shelved when Cotter signed the Solutions agreement that made Solutions by Computer the "official" Just Ask Rental package. Triad could develop and market this package anyway, but without Cotter approval they would be prevented from selling it to their biggest wholesale group. That doesn't mean that at some future date they won't revive the project, especially if enough customers request a package. The Solutions package has been sort of stuck in a half-integrated state. We can write rental contracts, but then must ring up the sale in Triad POS to get the transaction into our system. If I wasn't testing the package, I probably wouldn't buy it. It's a requirement now for Just Ask Rental, but we are grandfathered since we were in before the agreement was signed. Web news... For those with Internet web access, check out Triad's new web site... http://www.aaol.com/ Automotive Aftermarket Online.... and just like America Online, pornography is prohibited. :-) Triad has also been playing with a www.triad.com web server. For a while it was up and running, but required authentication (user name and password). It's been down for several days, either because the aaol.com site replaced it or for maintenance. Any Triad folks on the list can enlighten us on web plans for Triad? John From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sat, 20 Jan 1996 09:19:01 Date: Sat, 20 Jan 1996 09:17:06 -0500 From: "WILLIAM H. ROUND" <102753.622@compuserve.com> (by way of John Fix 3rd ) Subject: Greetings and Introductions Dear Folks, Yes, indeed, thank you John Fix for putting this together. I'm Bill Round, the president of Round's True Value in Stoneham, MA. Our Store is 7,500 sq. ft. on the salesfloor, with 11,000 sq. ft. total in use. I can tolerate the office, service, and receiving areas, but I hate my warehouse... A video for hardware dealers detailing how I feel about my warehouse, Cotter's shipping habits, and Triad's lack of software support for this part my store's operation is available... Our store is in a former National Guard armory built in 1913. In 1979, I returned from certain starvation in the wild west to help my Father out by (temporarily) shoveling plaster dust and moving hardware stores. I've been here ever since. Our store serves a suburban community just outside of Boston infested with a Servistar store 1/2 mile down the road, two Home Depots, one Home Quarters, a Payless cashways unit (soon to go under), a Walmart (soon to open), a BJ's Wholesaler (in town here), three or four similar "member wholesale clubs," several dozen look-alike 50,000 sq.ft. department stores (Caldors, Bradlees, Hill's units), four or five shopping malls within 15 minutes drive time, and hoards of guys selling things from car trunk stolen from all of the above. I have competition... I have survived by playing the Cotter promotion game and working like hell to service the customer. I like to stock all sorts of interesting things which turn poorly, but which characterize the store a place where customers can find most if not all of the items on their shopping lists. I believe that, once they go beyond the price image/commodity items, people just want to get what they need with as little effort as necessary. Price falls to a secondary consideration so long as the price/value perception is favorable. After presenting the "stuff" in a decent manner in the store, the shopping atmosphere must be favorably established by the staff and management. I haven't solved that puzzle yet, to be sure. My staff turn-over is too high and my training and retention efforts too meager. I have to solve the Round Retailing Conundrum: Round's True Value must have middle class people to sell nuts and bolts to middle class people. The income qualifications to be considered middle class in the Boston metropolitan area are frightening. The most interesting advise I've received lately: "tell your employees that you love them." Hmm. Has this worked for anybody? We have had a Triad system in the store for 10 years now. I have generally had very good results. The system has several weak areas which need to be addressed as I'm sure we will discuss in this forum, but I am convinced that the system will yield great results in the hands of strong managers and owner. I know the things which need to be done in my business to make it not only successful, but also extremely profitable. My failings are those of organization and execution. They are managerial in nature, if not personal. I guess I'm not a good motivator or manager... Are there any medications for this condition. Maybe home-brewed beer... I have run user groups in the Boston area along with fellow terrorist Rick Schwartz (Schwartz True Value, Fall River, MA.). Once the home Depots came along and the '91 recession started, neither of us had the time to put them together. Besides, Triad started to run their own and the Cotter-Triad relationship thawed so our efforts were not as useful as they had been. I have learned tremendous lessons from my participation in various user groups, John Fix's old BBS, and the phone calls from other dealers I met. The system topic provide the context for broader discussions about management, pricing, purchasing, financials, co-ops, competition, merchandising, succession planning, taxation, accountants, lawyers, and the most important issue of all: how to get more work out of senior family members. Regards, Bill Round Round's True Value Hardware 290 Main Street Stoneham, Massachusetts 02180 Voice: 617-438-0131 FAX: 617-279-9123 From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sat, 20 Jan 1996 18:08:37 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List Date: Sat, 20 Jan 1996 15:07:05 -0800 X-Sender: batesace@netcom.com From: batesace@netcom.com (Wade Doss) Subject: RQ Formats I'm looking for a RQ format that maybe someone has already written?! If so would you please post it. I looking for a report that would list all items that were sold on promotion, as the selection criteria, and also print out all items that were sold in conjuction with the item that was sold on promotion. Would be nice if it calculated the net profit on the sale. This would run from the Quickrecall Daily dictionary so that you could run it on daily basis and also cut down on search time. Wade Wade Doss Bates Ace Hardware Atlanta, GA 404-351-4240 fax 404-350-8402 batesace@netcom.com WDoss@msn.com Compuserve 76050,3511 *************************************************************** 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 Sat, 20 Jan 1996 20:25:56 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List Date: Sat, 20 Jan 1996 20:24:05 -0500 From: ROday333@aol.com cc: CHank1@aol.com Subject: Re: Introductions Hi everyone. I'm Ron O'Day, a Cotter dealer in Terre Haute, In. Our store began its never ending search for profits back in 1922. We're about 13m selling area, in a downtown location in a town like everyone else with the big boxes and superstores. We are strong in basic depts., with plumbing being our strongest point. We've been Tru Trac for a couple years now. It has its problems like the others but generally a decent system for us. We just added Just Ask Rental in Aug. of '95. So far so good. I've been involved in this store since 1982, and the hardware assoc. since the middle '80s. Met a lot of great people thru the assoc. I know the Hank Bros. in Paducah, I'm going to try to send this to them, who knows where it will end up. I have a lot more to learn about this form of communication than most of you, remember I'm just a Tru Tracker. Nice meeting you all ! Ron O'Day, Paitson Bros. True Value *************************************************************** 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 Sat, 20 Jan 1996 22:06:12 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List Date: Sat, 20 Jan 1996 22:04:54 -0500 From: JoeWaytula@aol.com Subject: RE. Introductions Hello everyone, I am Joe Waytula Applications Manager for Tru-Trac. I have been with Cotter & Company and the Tru-Trac project for a little over 5 years. Prior to that i was with Marshall Fields, a large department store, for 9 years all of it on point -of-sale. I am interested in ways to help all True Value stores and can be your conduit to Cotter & Company for a Cotter problem no matter whose computer you run. We are looking at mechanisms to deliver the pinpoint prices to your systems. Which would you prefer? 1. Download them as a promotion. 2. Download them as a special price change. 3. Download them as an item file import using an alternate price. 4. Download them as part of catalog maintenance. 5. Some other method. We have had informal discussions with bill wilson about this. And would like to release a solution to both camps at the same time, so we don't get any of that mom always liked him better crap....... Think about it and give me your thoughts. Another happening is the switch from star to hillman. Ruben Murato, Vince Doherty and myself were in a meeting with the buying organization about this yesterday. They are starting to listen to us and ask how changes will effect the computerized stores. I get to log in atleast once a week. less frequently than i would like, but the move has added a little bit to my commute time. i wish everyone here a very profitable 1996 and beyond. joe waytula ps. John, you have a Fantastic web page. better than the vast majority out there. But when i tried to look up local True Value Stores i found many missing. Whose list did you use? *************************************************************** 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 Sun, 21 Jan 1996 13:03:15 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List X-Sender: ahanson@maine.maine.edu (Unverified) Date: Sun, 21 Jan 1996 13:04:45 +0300 From: ahanson@maine.maine.edu (Anne Hanson) Subject: Pinpoint Prices In response to Joe Waytula's question on pinpoint pricing: with little thought, I would think sending the information as a price change would be easiest. Probably two files would be needed; one for highly competitive and one for normal pinpoint pricing. This would allow for easy manipulation of the files for 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 *************************************************************** From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Sun, 21 Jan 1996 12:22:10 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List Date: Sun, 21 Jan 1996 13:16:57 -0500 From: ricric@eastky.com Subject: Introduction Hello,My name is Rick Hackworth,I own Adams True Value Hardware in Salyersville,KY. We have about 4500 sq ft selling area,and about 1500 stock room. We are located in east ky, We have 3 hardware stores in my area,which is about 1500 in Population. We have a Lowes about 15 miles away.I do very well in paint(TRU-TEST) of course,plumbing,elect,hardware,no housewares,Had a PAMIDA discount store come to town, Had to say goodbye to housewares.I am considering computerizing my store.I have Cotters C.I.S system.on a remote unit in my office,that i do ordering and look ups on,which is a great help compared to the Telxon unit.My Question is which unit is best for my store, considering my size,cost is also a factor.TRU-TRAC or TRIAD.I know Cotter is trying to consolidate one system for the future,but in the present,which system should i consider. Anyone out there with experience with any one of these systems,I would greatly appreciate any information.Please feel free to Email with any info. THANKS RICK HACKWORTH ADAMS TRUE VALUE HARDWARE SALYERSVILLE,KY 41465 606-349-6959 EMAIL ricric@eastky.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 Sun, 21 Jan 1996 17:38:51 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List Date: Sun, 21 Jan 1996 17:45:42 -0500 X-Sender: imp@swamp.li.com From: imp@li.com (Bob Whelan) Subject: Introductions >To: hardlines@cornell.com >From: imp@li.com (Bob Whelan) >Subject: Introductions > >Ah, the First Amendment. We all have this inalienable right to communicate whenever and whatever we wish to whomever. John's reference to the Triad aaol.com server makes me laugh. John, remember Benny??? Readers, ask John what it's like to be threatened with litigation for something you publish unless you divulge the source. > >Benny was a guy who thought he had a great business plan (reader from Alabama, are you listening/watching - what would you call this - monitoring???) to pick the pockets of hardlines retailers in the U.S. and beyond. The prototype for this plan was actually put into place by a company. They saw themselves in a written parody and threatened legal harm to be done as a result. Readers, can you name this famous (infamous) company? > >I'm Bob Whelan. I own a company called Implement. I worked for Triad from 1983 through 1987 - a year as a customer support rep (installer, CER, FE), then four as a marketing rep - Golden Triangle & all that good stuff - Hawaii is a cool place to win a trip to. > >I started a consulting service in 1988 when customers needed more enhanced training than they could get from Triad (you mean I have to PAY for education???) Triad has tried to compete with me from time to time (plagarism is the sincerest form of flattery?), as I've tried to compete with them. From 1990 until August of last year, I had a company that offered service on DX-10 CPU's. People couldn't drop Triad for Hardware support and still get software updates, however, so my customers were in many cases people who had gotten so frustrated with Triad that they dropped them for support with no alternative. Not a pretty scene. Triad obviously was not pleased with this incessant background buzz, so they decided first to sue me, thinking I'd retire quickly, but rather only to have me sue them back (ah, America!), for promulgating a business with what is known in anti-trust circles as an "illegal tie-in" - forcing you to take one product (CPU service) to get another (software updates). This got real sticky when Cotter and Servistar changed their front ends in house to receive xmitted P.O.'s. Oops! What do you mean I have to come back to you (Triad) for service so I can get the necessary software to communicate with my wholesaler??? John, is this too radical? Will censorship rear it's ugly head again for Benny? > >The end of the story is there was a settlement in August of 1995 when the deep pockets for my side decided that the legal "marketplace" (litigation as a profit center?) was too much like a minefield, and settled first. Readers - curious what a 6 figure investment in litigation can get you for a settlement? I'm not under any "you can't divulge the terms of the settlement" legal crap, so an another chapter, I'll let fly with details. > >Anyhow, this is great - a new place for the disconnected to connect - the electronic town hall/virtual user group. I look forward to any and all vitriolic or even the occasional positive comment. This could be fun! > >Anybody need depot on VDT's at a less expensive price than Triad with quicker turn-around (for the east coast anyway)? I still do that, along with other stuff. In fact - we provide Cole Computer Products with many of their goodies. Let me know? > >imp@li.com >860-364-0452 phone/fax > *************************************************************** 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 Mon, 22 Jan 1996 09:05:56 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List X-Sender: jswift@mail.up.net Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 09:04:33 -0500 From: jswift@up.net (jack swift) Subject: Re: RE. Introductions At 10:04 PM EST 1/20/96 -0500, JoeWaytula@aol.com wrote: >We are looking at mechanisms to deliver the pinpoint prices to your systems. >Which would you prefer? >1. Download them as a promotion. >2. Download them as a special price change. >3. Download them as an item file import using an alternate price. >4. Download them as part of catalog maintenance. >5. Some other method. > IMHO (and when have i ever been humble ) we need to be able to 'tell' the mainframe we are on the pinpoint system and then all transmissions (price change, file maintenance, and erp) would have the pinpoint price as the 'default' price. we would even get the price tickets that come with the freight to have pinpoint pricing... 1. having them as a promotion runs into problems with triad's handling of a sku in multiple promotions. (Triad'll never fix the DX-10 code) 2. having a special price change means that we have to change the prices three times: with the ERP, with the regular price change, and with the special price change. (Michigan requires item pricing.) 3&4. both these might require rewriting the legacy code to allow an extra field. one of the considerations is to have an asterisk or something to tell the pricing crew that they should make sure that the pinpoint price cards are attached to the items. no sense taking a smaller margin if we don't brag about it..... i'm not on variable pricing because of the excessive labor involved, but would accept having the pinpoint prices be my default retails. (this presumes that the merchandising managers would monitor and adjust the pinpoint prices at least as often as they adjust the regular suggested retails.) >We have had informal discussions with bill wilson about this. And would like >to release a solution to both camps at the same time, so we don't get any of >that mom always liked him better crap....... > joe -- don't forget the CIS camp..... >Another happening is the switch from star to hillman. Ruben Murato, Vince >Doherty and myself were in a meeting with the buying organization about this >yesterday. They are starting to listen to us and ask how changes will effect >the computerized stores. > the biggest problem we have had was the issue of changing from box to each and back again. (jim olles jr is on my personal hit list for doing this!) as long as we can convert a sku's sales history for ordering evaluation you can get away with a lot! >ps. John, you have a Fantastic web page. better than the vast majority out >there. But when i tried to look up local True Value Stores i found many >missing. Whose list did you use? > i ran into the same problem -- this kind of information is hard to get from cotter. heck, 'they' don't even officially use their truevalue.com domain ! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ *************************************************************** 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 Mon, 22 Jan 1996 10:49:17 Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 10:48:00 -0500 From: John Fix 3rd Subject: True Value store database Joe Waytula wrote... >But when i tried to look up local True Value Stores i found many >missing. Whose list did you use? There's a story behind the database... back in 1991 when I was putting together the first issue of Hardgoods Confidential, I was trying to get a list of Triad system owners to do the initial mailing. Triad would not provide a copy, although in the past they had given out lists at Cotter markets. I contacted Cotter Information Services, but they would not provide a list or database of members with Triad systems due to corporate policy. Luckily, the Cotter store supplies group was unaware of the policy, as they mailed me out a listing of Triad owners, with about 1400 names on the list. My wife typed most of the store names and addresses in, and I sent it to the post office to be cleaned up with zip plus 4 and corrections. I received a few requests to sell the database, mostly from former Triad employees who had started their own consulting services, but since actual ownership of the list was a grey area I didn't let any copies out of my hands. I added store names as new stores subscribed, but the database is almost exclusively still based on those initial 1400 Triad stores, which means that many of the stores Joe might know (Tru Trac owners) would be missing from the list. I'm adding stoes that individuals submit, but can't take the time to do extensive maintenance on the list. If Cotter provides an up-to-date database, I'll use that one instead, but once again there are "corporate policy" issues which prevent me from getting a copy. Ultimately, Cotter should provide this info on their own web pages, but until then the one I maintain is the only consumer online source. John From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Mon, 22 Jan 1996 11:26:26 Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 11:24:26 -0500 From: John Fix 3rd Subject: Variable pricing... and Benny Bob Whelan wrote.. >John, remember Benny??? I plead the fifth... Hey, does "imp" stand for Implement Group, or is for "imp" as in a small, pesky creature? Good to see Bob on the list... at least we know the material won't get too boring! Does anyone know if Southeastern Express has an email address? ------------------ Jack Swift wrote regarding pinpoint pricing... >joe -- don't forget the CIS camp..... That goes without saying... after all, Joe is one of the scoutmasters. ------------------- Joe Waytula wrote... >We are looking at mechanisms to deliver the pinpoint prices to your systems. >Which would you prefer? This is a real tough topic... I think the right way to do this is via a new function (Joe and Bill roll their eyes) that maintains pinpoint pricing. However, in the interim I'd say it should be done via a price change file that can be brought down on demand. Here's a quick outline, focusing mainly on how it would work for Triad users... 1: Maintain two new files on the MCS, for competitive and highly-competitive prices. These files would have ALL items in the program, and would be updated whenever Cotter changes the items and prices. 2: On the Triad/Tru Trac side, create a way to download them... on the Triad this would be via ATC/BTC, maybe called COTPPP. This stream would let you bring in one or the other of the files into the Triad price change file. 3: Update the RPC Triad function to allow it to update a code at the same time it updates the retail. That way, you could change the codes for the pinpoint items. 4: Items being removed would be a problem.... I'd say the ATC/BTC report could scan the IN file as it adds the records to the price change file, and print items that say pinpoint in the local IN file but are no longer in the pinpoint file from Cotter. The member would have to manually decide what to do with these items. Keeping the two files online at all times means members could go on the program whenever, and by having a "full" file on the MCS they could refresh their data easily. John ************************************************************************* John Fix 3rd http://www.cornells.com/john.htm John3@cornells.com (914) 961-2400 Cornell's True Value Hardware Manager/Cashier/Webmaster ************************************************************************* From owner-hardlines@cornells.com Tue, 23 Jan 1996 06:59:43 To: Multiple recipients of list hardlines Sender: owner-hardlines@cornells.com Reply-To: Hardlines Mailing List Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 07:03:49 -0500 X-Sender: nfn00161@gator.naples.net From: nfn00161@naples.net (Mary Albee) Subject: Introduction >To: listserv@cornells.com >From: nfn00161@naples.net (Mary Albee) >Subject: Introduction > >Greetings from sunny southwest Florida! > >My husband and I are the owners of McConnells True Value Hardware in Naples, FL. >Naples is a resort area with a multitude of winter residents called "Snowbirds", and January-March are our busiest months. The population of the Naples metropolitan area is somewhere around 250,000. > >The store was built in 1985 and is 12,000 sq.ft. (9,000 sq. ft.of sales area plus another 3,000 sq. ft. for office and stock room.) We send out 13 circulars a year by inserting them in the daily newspaper, which seems to work better than mailing them (which we did for years.) > >Our biggest departments are hardware, electrical, plumbing, tools, paint sundries and paint. > >We have 3 full time employees and the rest part-time (mainly retired folks.) Our competition is a Home Depot (7 miles away), an Ace Hardware, and a Wal-Mart and K-Mart, both within a half mile plus another K-Mart and a Scotty's > >We automated with Triad in '89 and upgraded to the Eagle about 3 years ago. We're thinking about purchasing a pentium and credit card scanners on 2 POS terminals. Right now the terminals share a Xon, Jr., which is too slow. > >My husband was general manager of this store from its inception until we purchased it 2 years ago. I just joined the business in July, after a career as a high school media specialist. I manage the Freight Receiving Dept. and am looking for new ideas to increase my efficiency. Do you all have a terminal in the freight area? How is it best used? > >Also, we have PC Access Plus on our home computer and can dial into the store to do work at home. We've learned to use the My Label program to create bin tickets. > >Looking forward to the postings on the list from all you guys...and gals! > >Lynn and Mary Albee > From owner-HARDLINES@cornells.com Wed, 31 Jan 1996 21:23:19 Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 21:18:31 EST From: MCKV44A@prodigy.com (MR KENNETH E HULTGREN) Subject: INTRODUCTION MY NAME IS KEN HULTGREN AND I OWN AND OPERATE AN 8000 SQ FT ACE HARDWARE IN ELMHURST IL.,A SUBURB 17 MILES WEST OF CHICAGO. WE PURCHASED A TRIAD IN 1988 AND UPGRADED TO THE EAGLE 2 YEARS AGO. I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS FORUM BECAUSE I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT, BECAUSE THERE IS SO LITTLE INTERACTION BETWEEN USERS, MANY GOOD IDEAS ARE MISSED. KEN