Post Exchange Methods / A Manual for Exchange Stewards, Exchange Officers, Members of Exchange Councils, Commanding Officers, Being an Exposition of a Simple and Efficient System of Accounting Which Is Applicable to Large and to Small Exchanges Alike.

by Paul D. Bunker

An appreciable amount in the cost of our printing can be saved by a skillful arrangement of the matter on the form. An experienced man can sometimes draft a form so that the charges for printing it will be half what it would cost to print the same form arranged by a thoughtless or inexperienced person. Tabular work costs money, and so also does “special rulings”. Experience or consultation with a practical printer is the only real guide in this matter.

If any form is used in large numbers, it will pay to have electrotypes made, and “repeat orders” printed therefrom. Forms that are seldom used should not be electrotyped, as they will probably require some alteration by the time a new supply is needed. An electrotype costs about $0.25 for the first square inch and about $0.04 for each additional square inch. Here is another opportunity for the exercise of judgment. Suppose we have a large form with printed heading and footing, but nothing in the middle of the sheet; it would be wasteful to electrotype the whole form, only the heading and the footing should be so treated. Now, let us consider the money wasted by having the name of our post printed on each bit of stationery! It is easy to see that this is in some cases a positive disadvantage. Suppose, for example, that Form 8, Fig. 1, fills the requirements of Exchange methods. If a dozen Exchanges order a supply of these forms and (as they usually do) thoughtlessly require that the names of their respective posts be printed on same, they each pay a great deal more than they would if they allowed the printer to make an electrotype of this form and run off all the jobs from the same plate. It is hard, if not impossible, to find any real reason why this extra matter should be placed on many of our forms. Coöperation in matters of this kind would go far toward cutting down some of our “overhead charges” in Post Exchange work, and to secure such coöperation is one of the objects of this paper.

Still another way to minimize our printing bill is to adopt standard sizes for our forms and to use, wherever possible, the same kind and color of paper. Paper comes in sheets of certain sizes and if the printer has to waste a part of each sheet in printing our forms, we shall have to pay for it. Uniformity in size also leads to facility of filing. Incidentally, money may be saved, in some cases by having two or more forms printed together. For example, suppose we have three forms, A, B and C, to be printed on the same stock, and we wish 5,000 A; 10,000 B; and 15,000 C. If ordered separately, these would entail 30,000 impressions. Suppose, however, that they are ordered at the same time, and that the forms are of such sizes (not necessarily equal) that they may be printed together on one sheet and cut apart afterwards. In such a case, a saving might be made as follows:—Set up each form once, make, one electrotype of Form B and two of Form C; place these with the originals and there will result, in one “form” three Forms C, two Forms B, and one Form A, and a “run” of 5,000 impressions will print the lot ordered. There is a saving of the cost of running 5,000 Form B and 10,000 Form C less the cost of electrotypes (if they are not on hand) and of the extra work of locking up and making ready same. Of course, such a procedure assumes that a considerable supply of forms, say, not less than a total of 5,000, is ordered at one time. For a fewer number, there would be no saving unless electrotypes were already on hand.

To return, now, to our sales slips. It will be noted that our triplicate copies are the same for all departments. They are kept in rolls, if manifolding machines are used, or if triplicating sales books are used, the tissue paper sheets that are left in the books form our retained record. In the cases of both the triplicate and the duplicate copies, a cheap grade of paper is allowable on account of the little handling these copies have to withstand. Also, there is no reason for their being susceptible of rapid assorting according to departments. The duplicates are also identical for all departments, they go to the customer at the time of sale. In case there is a discussion about any particular slip, the items thereon will show conclusively to what department it belongs, as will also the initials of the salesman. On the other hand, it is a positive advantage to have all duplicates of a distinctive color, different from that of the originals. Suppose a customer buys a pair of shoes from the store and later returns them. We should then give him a slip crediting him with the shoes at the selling price. To do this, all that is necessary is to fill out a regular charge sales slip in the usual manner except that the word CREDIT is plainly marked on the slip. The clerk then gives the customer the original of this credit voucher and files the newspaper duplicate in the usual way. Upon sorting the slips that night, the duplicate would be noticed, on account of its difference from the other slips handed in and would thus prevent mistakes. Likewise, if it became necessary for, say, the lunch room to buy a ham from the market, the market attendant could make out his charge sales slip as usual, giving the duplicate to the lunch room attendant with the ham. That night, the appearance of this grayish duplicate among the salmon originals handed in by the lunch room attendant would immediately call attention to the transaction. It might be stated here, at the risk of lapsing into the axiomatic, that such a transaction, although favored by some exchanges, is not good business. It should be of rare occurrence and even then needs special treatment. The proper procedure in such cases would be to have the Market turn the ham back to the Stock Room, receive credit for it and then let the Lunch Room draw the ham at the cost price. This point is more fully discussed in connection with Stock Records.

After the attendant has recorded the charge sale in the proper manner and given the duplicate slip to the purchaser, he still has to dispose of another copy (or two other copies if triplicating records are used). The original should be speared onto an ordinary file, each clerk having his own filing hook in a convenient but inconspicuous place. The triplicate is left in the sales book or on the roll, as the case may be. In addition, the clerk should be required to ring up the sale on the cash register. This is, of course, very important, and heroic measures should be adopted to insure the recording of every sale, of whatever kind, on the cash register. Means to this end can readily be devised. The subject of cash registers is a very important one and is discussed in detail elsewhere.

The above operations are described at some length, but in reality, they are simple in the extreme: a customer makes a purchase, the clerk records the sale, rings up the amount on the cash register, gives the customer his goods and a copy of the sales slip and sticks the other copy on his file. If the cash register prints tickets, he may drop the ticket in his compartment of a box or drawer provided for the purpose, or preferably, give it to the customer.

Daily Check of Charge Sales

After the day’s business is over, each clerk gathers up all his receipts for the day and assorts them into three piles, representing the cash, coupon and charge sales, respectively. He then makes out his sales report on Form 5 as shown in Fig. 4. This report should be printed on the face of an end-opening envelope measuring not more than 4¼ × 10 inches, thus forming a convenient receptacle for the coupons, charge slips and cash turned in. The printed form should be, say, 7½ × 3 inches. As these envelopes are not subjected to rough usage, being used but once, any kind of cheap paper will serve the purpose. It might be well in certain cases to have the envelopes match the color of the original charge sales slips for that department, but ordinarily, this would be found an unnecessary refinement. After making out this sales report, the clerk places in the envelope the cash, coupons, etc., and hands it to the Post Exchange Officer or to the Steward, if so authorized. (For obvious reasons, the Exchange Officer personally should receive and check the receipts the night of pay-day and at intervals during the month, even if the Steward is ordinarily authorized to do so.) The Steward or Cashier has meanwhile unlocked the cash register, noted the readings of the record wheels and taken out the tape showing the printed record of sales.