HOW TO HANDLE ORDERS AND BILLS ON BILLING MACHINES
Loose-Leaf Sheets with Invoices in Blanket Form. In some lines of business it is possible to use invoices of equal size. Some firms therefore have the invoices and sales sheets of equal size. The top sheet is perforated horizontally at equal distances, which permits the invoices to be torn apart so that one blanket of form invoices may be separated into three or four separate invoices. This plan can be used where the work is done on an ordinary letter-writing machine. In preparing the papers for billing, a sheet of carbon equal in size to the sales sheet is used. A heavy-weight carbon (10lb.) with hard finish is the best kind of carbon to use for this work. If an extra sales sheet is needed for any purpose, a duplicate sheet of paper, preferably of another color, can be used with another sheet of carbon interleaved between the two sales sheets. This method is wasteful of space as far as the sales sheet is concerned. If each invoice were loose and placed in the machine in such a manner that the first written line on the invoice would be two or three spaces only below the last item of the previous invoice manifolded on the sales sheet, generally one more invoice of average size could be manifolded onto the sales sheet.
Loose-Leaf Sales Sheet with Separate Invoices. This combination is made possible by the billing machine, the flat-bed and the cylinder style. Cylinder billing machines are equipped with special carriages having special feed rolls which hold the sales sheet until it is fed entirely through the machine. Cylinder machines also have an independent feed roll which can be released by a special lever. This permits an invoice to be inserted in the machine, and then clamped into position by the intermediate feed roll and fed through the machine with the sales sheet until the invoice is completed. The intermediate feed roll is then released, and the invoice removed without disturbing the sales sheet. The next invoice is then placed in position, and the same operation is repeated. This allows one invoice to be manifolded very nearly under the previous invoice. Some firms having invoices of one or two items only, which permits of from seven to nine invoices being manifolded on each page, have the invoices made up in blanket form; that is, seven or eight invoices to a strip. After each invoice is manifolded they advance the next invoice into position and then tear the invoices apart as previously described.
Carbon Paper Cut for this Class of Work. Some operators doing condensed billing work prefer to use carbon paper the same size as the invoice, and to remove the carbon paper each time an invoice is completed. This necessitates a great deal of handling of carbon paper. It is preferable to use a large sheet of carbon paper the same size as the sales sheet, feeding it through the billing machine with the sales sheets. This eliminates the necessity of picking up a piece of carbon paper each time an invoice is placed in the machine. With the former method, if one had four invoices to one page of a sales sheet, it required one to pick up the same piece of carbon paper four times, or once with each invoice. The latter plan necessitates handling the carbon paper once only, when the sales sheet is placed in the machine. The operator positions the second or third invoice on a sales sheet, in order to avoid writing over the previous invoice, by spacing the carriage three times after an invoice is completed.
Using the Sheets Serially. All sales sheets should be serially numbered, in order that when placed in a binder the loss of any sheet may be detected by a missing number. Some firms prefer to use one side of a sales sheet only. In this case, a sales binder holding 375 sheets would have 375 pages. Where the sheets are numbered on both sides, the sales binder would have 750 pages. If the appearance of a page is marred by an invoice being spoiled, that sheet is not thrown away, and the fact that it is not is an incentive for the operator to do good work.
Handling Credit Memoranda. Some firms prefer to handle their credit memoranda on different-colored paper (generally pink) for both invoices and the large sheets which correspond to sales sheets. All of the rules which govern the making of invoices and loose-leaf sales sheets apply to the execution of credit memoranda.
General Remarks Regarding Billing Machines. The flat-bed billing machine enlarged somewhat upon the idea of using special characters for certain abbreviations peculiar to various lines of trade. For instance, in the shoe business, the following abbreviations are some of those used:
| WOM | means | Women's |
| CHI | " | Child's |
| BOYS' | " | Boys' |
| BAL | " | Balmorals |
| BLU | " | Bluchers |
| PR | " | Pair |
| PRS | " | Pairs |
| DOZ | " | Dozens |
The cylinder machines have adopted the same plan. In the cylinder machines there are two distinct classes—those having two type to a type-bar, such as the Remington and the Underwood, and those having one type to a type-bar, with double the number of bars, such as the Smith-Premier. Both classes of machines can use special characters, but the machines having one type only to a bar have a preference in that they have more room in which to place special characters.
There is considerable saving in the use of special characters, as evidenced by the following example:
OCT 14 09.
This necessitates nine strokes where each letter is written separately. Had this been written by three special characters, it would have necessitated five strokes only. The special characters would be used as follows: OCT.-space-14-space-09.
To the uninitiated, it would seem that a special character of three letters, such as the abbreviation OCT., would occupy three spaces on the machine, and consequently would overlap on the word at the right. This is obviated by placing the type on the type-bar in such a manner that the letter T of the abbreviation is in the printing point of the paper. The following illustration will show how the type are placed or aligned in order to secure the desired results:
| OCT | 14 | 09 |
| │ | │ | │ |
As the month always precedes the next word, the abbreviation OCT is aligned so that the two first letters are to the left of the printing point. In case a machine were equipped with numbers for all the days of the month, the character 14 would be aligned to print either side of the printing point. As the abbreviation 09 would always follow and never precede, it would be aligned with the 0 in the printing point, with the 9 printing to the right of it. It is very important to have special characters properly aligned so that the abbreviations which always precede are aligned to print on the last letter, and the abbreviations which follow are aligned to print on the first letter.
It is impossible to print abbreviations in solid matter such as a letter. They are only to be used in connection with dates of invoices or orders, in connection with names of firms. For instance, the abbreviation Messrs., at the beginning of a firm name where such a term is desired, or the abbreviation Co. at the end of a firm name or the abbreviations Pr., Doz., Gro., and similar abbreviations, come in the body of a bill and, preferably, in the first column after the quantity.
It should be remembered that when the rubber platen of a billing machine becomes worn and cut with holes incident to the use of periods, commas, hyphens, etc., the special character type will sometimes print heavy at the top and light at the bottom of the letter, or vice versâ. This is remedied to some extent by placing a new rubber roll on a cylinder billing machine, or a new rubber covering on a flat-bed billing machine.
Special characters are used to a better advantage on the under-stroke (or blind machine) than on the visible machine. In the latter, the type-bars are all grouped in less than a half circle, which necessarily crowds the type-bars a little closer together, and therefore does not permit of special characters of a large size.
Tabulators on Billing Machines. It is absolutely essential that every billing machine be furnished with either a single-stop (known as a column-stop) tabulator or a decimal tabulator, preferably the latter. A single-stop tabulator is used as follows:
On the billing machine frame rests a bar on which metal stops or pegs are placed at predetermined intervals. By pressing the column stop, the carriage holding the paper is released, and jumps automatically to the first stop. After the information is written, the stop is again pressed, and the machine jumps automatically to the next printing point. The following example shows the use of the column stop:
| John Jones | Marion, Ind. | XXV |
| A. B. Smith | Washington, D. C. | XXX |
| G. Barnes | Seattle, Wash. | XXX |
The following example shows the use of the decimal tabulator:
10.50
.50
150.25
15560.65
With the decimal tabulator, the operator would press the tens key, which automatically places the carriage in a position to begin writing the amount 10.50. If the column stop were used for this purpose, it would have stopped the machine at the period point, and necessitated the operator pushing the carriage two points to the right in order to begin printing two points to the left of the decimal points. Some operators place the column stop so that the machine always stops at the tens point, and if an amount of 1.00 or less is to be written, they use the space key. This is quicker than to always stop at the decimal point and then position the carriage properly by hand. However, where any tabulated work involving figures which vary greatly is to be done, it is decided economy to use a decimal tabulator. Most operators do not see the advantage of using tabulators, and in many instances will continue to waste time spacing the machine with the space bar. If they would avail themselves of the tabulator device they would jump from one part of the line to the next desired point instantaneously. It should be remembered that billing work is a constant repetition of certain manual movements. If one movement in ten can be eliminated, it is equivalent to saving one hour in ten. To show the great advantage of, and it might be said, necessity for, time saving and short cuts in large establishments, a device used by Butler Bros., a large mail-order house with warehouses in several of the large cities, is an excellent illustration. This particular scheme is used in Jersey City, N. J. It consists of two rows of billing machine operators (sixty-five in number) placed in parallel positions with an endless belt running between them, and two checking clerks at the end of the row. As fast as the operators transcribe the orders onto the order forms, the original and typewritten order (with departmental copies) are placed on the belt and carried automatically to the checker's desk.
The rubber belt passes over a pulley at the edge of the checker's desk, which allows the orders to fall from the belt to the desk. The belt returns to the end of the line, where it revolves around another pulley. The power is furnished by a small electric motor.
Arrangement of Billing Machines in Large Business Houses. In large businesses in the wholesale dry goods, wholesale notions, and kindred lines, special arrangement enables a few billing machines to accomplish a large amount of billing. In these classes of business, it is the custom to call the lot number, class of goods, and the number of yards to the bill-clerk, who in turn enters it on the bill and duplicate. The system used will be described elsewhere. Here it is desired to touch upon the movable-platform idea only. The operator is seated on an elevated platform on which is placed the billing machine and the chair. This platform has rollers, and can be moved in the aisle between two rows of counters on which the goods to be shipped are placed. As soon as the callers call off the lot numbers, description, and quantities of one shipment, the billing machine operator moves the platform to the next lot of goods, which enables him to hear the caller clearly wherever the caller may be. If the bill clerk were permanently located in one portion of the room, he would be liable to make errors through misunderstanding the caller. A scheme which is largely used in those classes of business which demand the "call off system" or, as they term it, "billing from call" is to call off the word sixty-five as if it were sixity-five, and the word fifty-five as if it were fifity-five. This prevents confusion between these amounts which sound so much alike. Some firms for sixty-five use the term sticky-five.
Use of Computing Machines in Connection with Billing. Many firms use computing machines such as the comptometer for proving the extensions on invoices. With a machine of this character, it is possible to figure all of the extensions. The machine at the same time automatically adds the totals, and, if there are discounts to be taken off the bill, this operation can be performed without clearing the machine. For instance, in the following example:
| 12 yards lace | 50 | $6.00 | ||
| 15 yards ruching | 10 | 1.50 | ||
| 24 doz. hdchfs. | 12.00 | 288.00 | ||
| $295.5 | ||||
| 25% | 221.63 |
By clearing the machine, is meant pulling the handle which returns all of the wheels to 0 for the beginning of a new computation. Without desiring to enter into the mechanical merits of adding machines, either listing or non-listing machines, it is important to touch upon the various arguments used in favor of billing machines with adding attachments and without them.
The flat-bed machines were the first to use the combined machines. The plan in use was to place two recording registers on the billing machine and prove the total of each bill separately with one register, and accumulate the totals of all the bills for the day on the other register. Certain firms used extra recording registers for recording the totals of extra columns on the sales sheets in which they analyzed the sales according to classes of goods or some other classification. Some firms did not add the bills when making the extensions of the prices and quantities, but left the additions for the adding machine. The only draw-back to this plan was that if the operator copied a wrong total from the register dial it caused trouble. This fault, if fault it may be called, as it is not the fault of the machine, but of the operator, has been corrected by placing a subtracting device on the late models of combined billing and adding machines, whereby the subtracting device is thrown into action when the total of the bill is being written. If the correct amount of the bill is written on the invoice, the dial figures all turn to ciphers, which indicates that the amount has been correctly transcribed by the operator. Other improvements will likely follow in the many machines which are being placed upon the market. See Fig. 29 on Page 67.
Some firms prefer to do all the billing as one operation, and use a separate or computing machine, as the case may be, for proving the additions at the end of the day. The reason is that by having two separate machines they can be used by different people during the day for different work.
If computing machines are needed for adding, multiplying, and taking off discounts, the non-listing machines are recommended, as they are key-driven. If adding machines are needed when printed lists are wanted of all additions, then listing machines are recommended. The general public has recognized that each class of machine has its separate use. Some firms check the totals of listing machines with non-listing machines, in order to save time and paper. Non-listing machines are used for taking a record of rolls and yards of cloth during inventory time, and later are used to multiply the extensions. Some dry goods firms hire expert operators at a dollar an hour to do this class of work, as it can be done in one-fifth the time that it would otherwise take. For instance, an example in multiplication, such as 432 × 235, would take approximately ten seconds to write down, multiply, and set down the figures. With a multiplying machine mentioned above, it can be done in two seconds.
With listing adding machines, equally valuable results can be obtained. In certain classes of work, such as collection letters in banks where there are rows of figures representing the various checks, and typewritten information, such as description of endorsements, it is much faster to place the sheets in the adding machine and list the amounts thereon and automatically print the total with the adding machine. This avoids the trouble due to operators printing wrong totals on the billing machine. The typewritten information is then put in on the typewriter or billing machine. There is this to be said, however, if an operator prints a wrong amount on a listing adding machine, the answer will be incorrect, but the machine will print a correct total of the figures printed by the machine. A listing machine can be equipped with a wide carriage and used for printing lists of figures just the same as a typewriter. Time should never be wasted printing a statement covering rows of tabulated figures on any typewriter, and then taking the statement to an adding machine and adding the columns to prove them, if it can possibly be arranged to make up the entire statement on the listing machine. Listing machines are now prepared to manifold at least two extra copies, and are equipped with column tabulators.
For adding a number of columns, with or without a grand total column at either the right or left side of the book or sheet, and where the items are written one at a time in different columns, the combined typewriter and adding machine is recommended. One such is shown in Fig. 22.