Dry Goods Ordering

Inventory

This is basically to take stock of what we have in order to see what we need. This should be done as close as possible to the ordering time, for obvious reasons, but the night before is ok. Dan has an inventory sheet, that is a work in progress, that he prints out. A portable electronic device would work even better.

Placing Orders

Inventory is compared with sales rates to see what and how much we need. If a sales rate is too low, an item may be dropped. The waste sheet is checked to see if items are expiring or going bad, which is either an indication that a product is selling to slowly and/or workers are not stocking new behind old.

Special orders are entered from the special order sheet or from email, or else research into what is available may need to be done and shopper may need to be contacted.

Some spreadsheets have a factor cell, in order to multiply numbers to meet order minimums.

Some of our major suppliers with deadlines, who we buy from regularly:

UNFI ("United Natural Foods, Inc.) - the deadline is 1pm Tuesday, but Helen puts together her order on Monday. This includes what Dan asks her to include that isn't already on it. Dan reviews the order. That includes taking items off that we get from other suppliers, especially locally grown items, taking items off that are don't meet the Ethics group's standards (happens rarely nowadays - those products are essentially the ones that are supplied or manufactured by companies owned by transnational corporations), and checking for accuracy.

Tierra Farm: due 1pm, any day of the week. Monday is a good day to order, because we've depleted a lot over the weekend. We get a lot of our nuts from them, as well as some dried fruit and trail mix. Ordering from them can be complicated, because they have a $300 minimum, or else they charge $7, and we have limited space in the cooler for overstock of nuts.

Angello's: presently due at 2pm on Monday. It could be on another day of the week if the delivery date is changed, but that is up to Produce. It is done by Helen and Dan.

Regional Access: Due noon Monday. We don't order from them every week, because it's hard to meet the $500 minimum. Meeting the minimum is something that can be worked on, but that is out of the scope of this document.

Pricing

Prices must be calculated - they usually show automatically on the spreadsheets and database, once we enter our cost.

For UNFI, we use the database. UNFI prices change frequently. The wholesale prices are entered manually, from their Web page. They could be entered from the confirmation email, but Dan has a method to enter the data from their Web page into a spreadsheet, that makes it easier for him to do this. As prices are entered into the database, retail prices are automatically computed. When there is a change in the wholesale price, the database asks whether we want to change the retail price. When there's an increase, we always say yes. If there's a decrease, we sometimes say no, especially if the decrease is temporary, or if the decrease is new, so that existing higher price stock can be sold without a loss. Taxable items are manually notated as such, for the Receiving crew. If a packaged item has increased in price, that is notated, in the same field. The total is checked to see if it is correct. Changed bulk and frozen item prices must be entered into the Google Doc and put on the bulk bins. Then a new Google Doc should be printed. Lower prices should be flagged so that it can be checked whether they are on sale so that more of them should be ordered before the end of the monthly sale period. Then the price sheet is printed out, and blank for time received is handwritten at the top. The sheet is then put in the designated spot for the Wednesday Receiving crew.

Some suppliers have a delivery or shipping charge. That must be figured into the retail prices, by plugging it into the spreadsheets. Usually such retail prices on the spreadsheet vary as a result. When the variation is small, it may be a good idea to only raise the prices, not lower them.

Non-UNFI orders have prices calculated via spreadsheets. They must have their contents and prices put on the wiki pages for the respective suppliers. Changed bulk and frozen item prices must be entered into the Google Doc and put on the bulk bins. Then the old Google Doc should be replaced with a printout of the new one.

Reconciliation

One thing to keep in mind is that some suppliers make a lot of errors, which can be usually in their favor. Invoices and payouts are matched up with orders that were expected to arrive, looking at the wiki. Quantities, prices, and total amounts due are matched with those in the spreadsheets. Invoice numbers are notated in the spreadsheets, to avoid being double-billed. Invoices are signed and put in the designated spot for Finance to pick up.

If one has time, it is checked whether items are priced, displayed, and overstocked correctly.

Receiving problems are addressed to the appropriate Receiving people and Lippe.

Billing problems are addressed to the appropriate suppliers. If necessary, a total on an invoice may need to be crossed out and replaced or an invoice may need to be held.

-- DanB - 02 Aug 2009

To be added

Including fuel charges, delivery charges, etc.

...taking into account the Fuel Surcharge. How do you propose we take it into account:
1) use a variable order total, or
2) use the minimum order amount? I'm leaning toward 2) for simplicity and because it's refrigerated. (from emails, 4.19.10-Lippe)

... shipping should be covered somehow, using either option 2) or by using the lowest the average order could ever be. It could also be shifted away from some items and towards other items, as long as the latter are ordered every time...(from emails, 4.19.10-Lippe)