ORDER WORK OF WHOLESALE GROCERS

There are hardly two firms who handle their order work alike. The first consideration in treating order methods is to distinguish the classes of business in which the orders are made up ready for execution by the salesman, from those which are received from customers and transcribed on typewriters. The first class will be discussed separately from the second.

Wholesale grocers, druggists, and similar lines receive the great majority of their orders from the salesmen in the field. After the orders are opened, the first step is to stamp on each order a number with an automatic numbering machine. After this is done they are copied into an order register as follows:

Fig. 16. Samples of Unit Billing. Remington Typewriter Co.

1012John Smith & Co.,Plainfield, N. J.
1013A. B. Jones & Bro.,Providence, R. I.
1014U. J. Benedict,Elmira, N. Y.
1015Grace Barnes & Co.,Alliance, Ohio.

After the orders are filled and charged, they are checked on the order register. About once a week all of the unchecked numbers on the order register are compared with the unfilled orders. If an order should become lost, the fact would not remain unknown longer than one week's time.

It should always be remembered that in case an order is not completely filled and is "back ordered," the back order should always show the original order number in order to prevent confusion. A little practical experience will quickly show how wrong it is to use a new number for a back order.

Back Orders. In the problem of systematizing any kind of business, the question of back orders and the proper method of handling them is one of the most troublesome. Some firms do not wish an order blank returned to the warerooms after it has once been there, because they do not wish the wareroom or factory to know the prices which are placed on order blanks in the office after they have been received there for pricing, extending, and billing. Many firms therefore make an entirely new order to be returned to the factory or wareroom with the letter A used in connection with the order number, as follows: 1013A. This of course delays the filling of the order until the back order is typewritten. If it is necessary to make a second back order, the same would read 1013B. Other firms use the color scheme. This is a very good idea, as it indicates clearly to the order fillers old orders which should receive attention first.

Many important improvements in the order and billing methods have been inaugurated in recent years in the business of wholesale grocers. Formerly it was the custom, after the order had been numbered and recorded in the order register, to pass the orders out into the warehouse with the general understanding that they were to be filled as quickly as possible. The order fillers would generally start at the top floor and pick all of the items which were to be shipped, place them on a truck and take them to the next lower floor, and follow this plan until the order was entirely filled. In stores above a certain size this resulted in considerable delay.

The first improvement was to send the orders to the shipping department, where they were split up by clerks known as Slippers, who wrote on slips the items which were to be taken out of stock, each slip representing the goods to be gotten out on a certain order from a certain floor. This idea allowed the order fillers on all floors to work simultaneously, and resulted in considerable saving of time.

Another favorable result obtained through this system is that the shipping clerk retains an original copy of the order (the copy sent in by the salesman) and is enabled therefore to follow up all departments and hurry up any department which may be delinquent in the filling of a certain order. In planning work, it is always advisable to have one department act as a follow-up on some other department. In the grocery business, it is much more satisfactory for the shipping clerk to have a complete record of all the orders to be shipped that day, than to hand the original orders into the warehouse to be sent down to the shipping department after the order has been entirely filled, and then have the shipping clerk rushed at the last minute to plan his loads and do all of the clerical work, such as making up bills of lading, etc.

The next improvement was necessitated by a desire on the part of those wholesale groceries which are located in cities having an efficient interurban electric car service to fill orders at different hours of the day. One western firm transcribed all of its orders on cylinder billing machines, giving the shipping clerk a full copy of the order, and each department a copy of the items which are to be filled from that department only. On the shipping clerk's copy, the notation 11 A.M., is marked, also on all of the department order slips. This indicates that the order is to be shipped on the 11 o'clock car. Other stationery is printed with the 1 P.M., 2 P.M., 3 P.M., 4 P.M., 5 P.M. to indicate the hours at which the orders are to be shipped. Many small retail merchants delay ordering until the last minute, and the wholesale house which can give the promptest service gets the business. The above plan advises the shipping department the time that the goods are to be delivered, and makes it responsible for results. All delays are noted, and a daily report made of the causes, which are promptly investigated and removed.

Split Orders. Some wholesale drug houses have their stock arranged on different floors, of which their salesmen are fully advised. If the salesman takes an order for goods which are held in stock on four different floors, he sends in the order on four sheets of paper with the items for each floor written on the respective sheets which indicate the respective floors. Different-colored sheets of paper are used for the various floors. This scheme puts more clerical work on the salesmen, but it enables the office to quickly hand each department its part of the order without the delay of transcribing the department slips on the typewriter at the office. In all order schemes where an order is split up and written on several sheets of paper in order that each department may fill the order without delay, the term split orders is used. In all split-order schemes, the number of sheets in which the order has been divided is written on each sheet. For instance, if there are departmental order sheets for three different floors, the figure 3 is marked on each slip. In this way the biller, by counting the number of sheets attached to the complete order, will know that all of the split-order sheets have been returned to the office. Fig. 17 illustrates this system of orders. The three blank sheets at the top are departmental order sheets, and each contains only a part of the whole order. This is accomplished by removing one departmental sheet at a time from the billing machine, but allowing the three top sheets to remain in the machine until the entire order is written.

Some firms are willing to make four copies of an order, each copy containing all of the items of an order. Other firms do not wish the employes to know what a customer is buying outside of the goods relating to the department in which the employe is working. Further, sometimes two departments in the same factory are equipped to make the same class of goods, and if each department received a complete copy of the order there might be some confusion and duplication in the filling of the order.

Some firms, instead of making split orders, make a summary of the goods to be delivered from each floor, giving each floor several of these summaries in the course of a day. The goods are delivered to the shipping department in large quantities, and are separated by the shipping clerk according to the quantities wanted for each order. Concerns which are using this idea claim that it takes less time for the shipper to separate goods than it does for the order department to make split orders for each individual.

Fig. 17. Forms for Split-Order Schemes

In planning the clerical work in order billing and shipping methods, the volume of business being handled must be taken into consideration. A plan which is necessary with a large business would be considered as red tape in a smaller one. The larger a business grows, the more it is possible to "specialize" the work.

In a very small business, one man could fill all the orders and make out all of the bills. In a little larger business it would be necessary to devote one person's entire time to filling orders, another's to making out the bills. In a business twice as large as the one just mentioned, it would be necessary for one person to devote his entire time to filling the orders from one floor only. In an exceptionally large business, it might be necessary for one person to devote his entire time to filling orders for some particular class of goods on one floor. These examples are given to illustrate the meaning of the word specializing.

Simple Order Form. The majority of firms transcribe their customers' orders onto their own order forms from letters or requisitions. The simplest form of order is one containing an original for use of the warehouse or factory, a duplicate to be mailed to the customer as an acknowledgment of the order, and a third copy which is held in the office as a record of unfilled orders. The requisition form illustrated in Fig. 18 conveys the idea.

The practice of sending an exact copy of the order to the customer eliminates the necessity of acknowledging the order by letter, and gives the customer an opportunity of checking over the order as entered. It is customary to print on acknowledgment of order forms the sentence: This is an exact copy of the order as entered—if any errors are noted kindly advise us at once. One firm in Buffalo saved $300.00 the first week they installed this scheme, through the detection of an error by the customer.

A YACHT STORAGE BASIN AT THE SHIPBUILDING PLANT OF THE GAS ENGINE & POWER CO. AND CHARLES L. SEABURY & CO., CONSOLIDATED.

Fig. 18. Simple Requisition Forms for Order Handling. Remington Typewriter Co.

It is imperative that before a remedy or short-cut methods can be prescribed, it is necessary to thoroughly diagnose all of the conditions incident to the business. It should also be remembered that clerks and even department heads will see all of the imaginary difficulties of a new idea and overlook all of the benefits to be derived therefrom. It should be further remembered that if a new method shortens nine-tenths of any particular class of work and slightly increases one-tenth, the party involved will many times fail to see the net advantages accruing through the introduction of the new idea. If objections are raised to a suggested short-cut method it is always well to ascertain whether the objections apply to a majority of the work or a portion of it only. Most people in clerical positions rather resent new ideas, and seem to take a pleasure in trying to find some reason why a new idea will not succeed. This is one phase of human nature which requires the utmost tact and diplomacy to handle successfully. In advancing or suggesting new methods, it should be assumed as far as possible, that the idea has been suggested by the person to whom one is talking, for the reason that most people are willing to "father" their own ideas.

Simple Order Form with Copy for Shipping Department. The second short cut which was instituted in connection with order forms was the addition of a sheet on which was manifolded a copy of the order for the shipping department.

The idea is to give the shipper information in advance, in order that he may prepare his bills of lading and plan his work for his teams, order cars in advance from the railroad, call up express companies, and such other work as might be necessary to the proper shipment and delivery of the goods manufactured and sold, and to file the copy as his permanent record, in some cases.

Some firms desire to prevent the shipper from knowing the prices at which their goods are sold. This is accomplished by using for the shipping department a short sheet of paper which reaches from the left edge of the order-blank to the price column only. Another method is to use a narrow sheet of carbon paper with a full-size sheet of paper. This plan is not as satisfactory as the former one, as the carbon paper sometimes slips to the right and allows the prices to manifold.

Acknowledgment of Order to Salesman. In some lines of business, it is desirable to add an additional sheet which is termed acknowledgment of order to salesman. This plan enables the salesman to know that the order has been received and properly entered for execution (in manufacturing lines it is necessary to transcribe orders on order forms which contain too many copies for a salesman to manifold by pencil), and gives him the opportunity of checking the order as entered. It should be remembered that in some lines of business there is such an enormous amount of detailed information in connection with an order that neither the customer nor a salesman would check over an exact copy of the order as entered. This should always be taken into consideration when considering the addition of this sheet.