Runtime - July 1998

Scanner Friendly Suppliers

New this month:  Giftco , Great Way Products and Native Tan.

This is a letter just confirming that all products from Great Way Products are bar coded with UPCs for Fall 1998 and beyond.   -Felicia Phillips, Vice President.

It is our intention to have all Giftco items UPC labeled. At this time we are at 100%. -Wendy Thompson, Customer Service

Suppliers listed here have confirmed in writing to QDP that their products are 100% bar coded (exceptions noted). You should still call your individual vendors to confirm. If your primary vendors are listed here, take a good look at our UltraScan order accuracy verification system. And if they are not listed here, tell them they’re gonna miss the boat.

Don’t wait ‘til you have orders in hand!

Every year, we have distributors who order Ultra Order-Tally Software two days before their first large group turns in orders. Now, don’t get me wrong. I will sell it to anyone with money (and sometimes even to people without money), but we recommend installing Ultra when you can afford some time to practice.

As with any major piece of software, you start out with the manual in one hand and the keyboard in the other. Our tally program, currently up and running in 42 states and Canada, is menu-driven, in fundraising language and requires little computer knowledge…… but you’ll be doing yourself AND US a big favor if you call with start-up questions and problems BEFORE you’ve entered seller #697 in your first major sale.

Want to play it safe?  Order the $99 30-day trial version. Note: we will not extend trial versions during the fall months. Get it. Test it. Buy it. Do it.

Call 1-800-FIRST-OK for

• Order Tally / Pre-Pack Service. Whether you just need paperwork, or you need a total service provider, QDP can help meet your needs. We’ve been tallying and packing orders for over a decade. We pack several programs from Scotts of Wisconsin, and, depending on location, offer some other exclusive opportunities for your consideration.

• Order Tally Software.  Ultra is the industry standard in order tally software.  Choose DOS or Windows.

• Pre-packed Order Accuracy Verification.  When’s the last time you bought something at a retail store that was NOT scanned at the check-out?  Why?  Scanners are fast AND ACCURATE. We’ve developed that technology for use in your prepack room. Visual and audible signals indicate 1) too many of an item, 2) wrong item, 3) incomplete order and 4) order scanned correctly.  With a super quick pay back, UltraScan enables you to increase your speed AND your accuracy at the same time. (See article this letter).

• Order form scanning. Not quite ready for mass release, we’re very pleased with the early tests of our order form scanning program. Yes, software that actually reads the handwriting on the order forms.  Designed to replace 3 data entry operators, TallyScan, using the industry standard handwriting recognition software, enables you to scan 40 pages per minute, process those forms at 1 every 12 seconds and verify accuracy with significantly fewer keystrokes than with manual data entry. This is not an inexpensive venture and isn’t for the super-small operation, but those who struggle with finding temporary seasonal help will appreciate it. Right now we’re looking for a handful of Beta testers.  Interested?

• Discount Cards. Take a look at the enclosed sample card. This band orders 3-5000 cards every year and has a list of vendors WAITING.  The first year requires some foot/phone work, but once a card is established, all it takes in subsequent years is a quick call to the previous vendors asking, “Would you like to make any changes to your ad this year?”   Card Pricing: 250 @ $1.25ea, 500 @ $1.00ea, 1000 @ $.75ea. These prices include one proof for approval, one color ink on two sides with up to 12 ads setup. Additional ads at $10 ea.  Terms are credit card at time of shipment. Sample cards @$.75ea + $5.00 shipping.  Note: sample cards will NOT have the “distributed by” line and when we print your card, YOUR name goes there.

• Super Suds Soaps. This simple 5-item program is good for your Fall football or soccer leagues.  They’ll repeat it and tag something different with it every year.

• Web Page Design.  If you’d like to see some sample pages or want to be on the front end of our designer’s experience. The price will NEVER be better than it is today for a customized quote.  Oh yeah, the John doing the web page design is my son.

A Battle For The Arts

Nothing to do with fundraising, or does it? 

This is an actual and ongoing chain of events.  Hope you’ll find it interesting, at least…. And helpful, at best.

February ’98.  During a Band Booster meeting (I happened to be the President of our local h/s band parent’s organization), our director describes frustrations he and the middle school directors are experiencing as our system completes the evolution from Jr Highs to Middle Schools.  Band had been started in 6^th grade at the Elem schools – in smaller groups.  Now they are to be started at the Middle Schools with larger, classes meeting only every other day. Directors’ schedules are changed so that one is assigned a “Life Skills” class, another is given lunchroom supervision and a third gets a Kindergarten Gen Music Class.  Also, the Band Director’s request for 5^th grade band is denied.

March ’98.  The Band Parents pass a resolution and request a meeting with the superintendent.  A copy of the resolution is sent to each school board member.

The meeting with the superintendent is professional and cordial but accomplishes absolutely nothing.

When the results are reported, the Band Parents request a spot on the board’s agenda.

May ’98.  The school board meeting is moved to the high school cafeteria to accommodate the expected crowd and to allow one of the music groups to perform.

At this meeting, John Gardner makes a 15 minute presentation to the school board.  The presentation is interrupted three times by applause and receives a standing ovation by the 250 parents and teachers in the room.

Results so far… 

1.        Life Skills re-assigned to non-music staff.

2.        360 periods of lunch supervision reduced to 60.

3.        6^th grade band will meet every day.

4.        Beginning band classes have been reduced in size and scheduled for multiple periods.

Bar Code News and Notes

… as seen in  ID Systems (April, June 1998). Copyright 1998 by Helmers Publishing Inc., 174 Concord Street, Peterborough, NH 03458. All Rights Reserved.

RX for Bad Codes

Deb Navas, Editor at Large reports that “bar code technology recently made Fortune magazine’s list of the most important economic developments of the decade”.  The purpose of her article was to instruct vendors producing codes.  QDP will recommend  AFRDS vendors consider subscribing to ID Systems for the latest information about bar codes.

To emphasize the importance some companies place on bar codes, she concludes her article by saying that “At Honda Motors the cost is $17,000 per minute if you shut down a line, and they run the plant on bar codes.”  Honda stipulates in its contracts with its suppliers that they meet a minimum quality standard. 

No Margin for Error

When I read the first sentence in Paul Quinn’s article,  “There are certain industries where there’s little or no margin for error in product identification”, I was sure I was going to be reading about fundraising. It seems that our customers do not allow us the luxury of making errors in packing student orders, right?

And in another article by Kevin Sharp, I learned some interesting statistical information about data entry.

It appears the standard for manual data entry is 1 keystroke error per 300 characters. In comparison, he contrasts the accuracy of reading bar codes.  One type of bar code has an error rate of one in five million characters.

We’re not using bar codes for data entry, yet….but for those of you wondering whether the scanner will make more errors than manually double checking a student’s order, forget it.

UltraScan Bar Code Scanning

If you’ve been watching our list of “Scanner Friendly Suppliers”, you know how quickly that list has been growing.  Three new suppliers this month listed for your consideration. If you want to scan on the pre-pack line, these are suppliers who have product labeled for scanning.

The pressure this new technology is bringing to bear on our vendors is significant. One supplier told me a year ago it would be 5 years before they were bar coded. But after hearing numerous distributors indicating that they would purchase only bar coded product, they have responded appropriately.  Another indicated to me that she couldn’t believe the number of distributors calling to ask if their product was bar coded.  It is now.

The payback from scanning on the prepack line is fantastic.  Consider the following quotes and notes:

·         “I saved nearly $40,000 in labor last Fall”.

·         “I packed the same amount of product with a smaller crew in one shift instead of two.”

·         “I’ve considered reducing my number of phone lines because of the reduction in after delivery phone calls”.

·         “I can’t believe how many errors this thing catches”.

·         “I just delivered a 9000 unit order and have only one ‘questionable’ order.”

You can DOUBLE your packing speed without sacrificing accuracy. And if you have previously been doing a classroom count, you’ll be closer to a 3x increase.

Do the math.  A team of 10 packers @ $7/hr for 8 hrs costs you over $560 per DAY!  If you’re doubling speed, then you’re gaining that $560 per day.  Most invoices for UltraScan, depending on Ultra version and scanner choice, have been between $3-4,000.  At $4000, you’re talking about 10 days….TWO WEEKS!  ORDER SOON, BEFORE WE CONVINCE OURSELVES THAT THE VALUE OF OUR SYSTEM IS SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN OUR CURRENT PRICE!

Note: It will take us 1-2 weeks to deliver and you want to have some time to practice and set up before you go live, so NOW IS THE TIME to get on line.  Procrastinators may pay more…..  Request a quote.

Order Form Scanning

We’ve been developing and are ready to test and show our new universal form that can accommodate alpha, numeric and alpha-numeric characters from the order forms.  We will be notifying those who have expressed interest in a soon-to-be scheduled set of promotional and training seminars.  If you receive this letter and have not received notification of those events, call John right away.
 

Last Modified:  05/27/2008