Runtime - March 2000

My Sunday Soapbox

Once again I voice my displeasure with AFRDS's continued determination with showing on Sunday. QDP did not open Sunday and I know of two people who specifically planned their trip to arrive before Saturday, see us on Sunday and returning home Sunday evening. One of them was a company's computer person who flew down JUST to see us -- on Sunday. My apologies to those people, and anyone else who was inconvenienced by our being forced to chose between potential profit and personal convictions.

Why can't we schedule for the Saturday stay-over rates, but in such a way that something other than training, meetings and showing is happening on Sunday. What do you think of these?

• Golf Day on Sunday, Setup and Distributor Education Day on Monday, Show on Tue-Wed-Thur-Fri AM. A distributor can fly in on Saturday, golf on Sunday, get educated on Monday, shop on Tuesday and can leave anytime during the week.  A supplier can arrive Saturday, golf  Sunday, setup Monday, show Tue-Fri, and leave Fri afternoon or evening.

• Golf on Monday, Setup & Education on Tue, Show Wed thru Sat.  A distributor can come Sat, vacation  Sunday, golf Monday, do classes Tuesday, Shop Wed and go home whenever. A supplier who doesn't golf can arrive Tue AM, setup during the day, Show Wed thru Saturday, tear down Saturday and leave Sunday.

• Setup and Distributor Education on Monday, Show Tue - Fri, Golf on Sat.  As a distributor I can arrive Monday, get educated Tue, shop 'til I drop the rest of the week, golf (or vacation) Saturday and go home Sunday.

I pay DUAL membership fees in this association. I pay as a distributor because I am a distributor. And I ALSO pay as a CHARTER SUPPLIER MEMBER. That means I can yell twice as loud, right. It DOES mean I get to vote twice. I surely would like to hear from those who agree with what I'm saying -- and in writing would be wonderful. You'll get my votes for board membership.

Thanks to the many of you who stopped by the booth to offer your support for our position. I did not hear a single negative comment about our not showing on Sunday, but did have people tell me they stopped by several times but didn't get to sit down with us because we were always busy (where perhaps another day of showing could have made a difference.

WinUltra

Sometimes we assume everybody knows WinUltra, but we’ve also added several new people to our mailing list lately, so I’ll tell you that no one else has nearly as many order tally software installations as QDP.  We support users in 46 states and Canada – (we've even installed one in Australia) and talk in hundreds of users, not handfuls . . . or handful. Benefit from their suggestions.

Chances are, if you want your order tally software to do something, WinUltra can already do it – or something close to it.

We’re hearing from more and more people who are telling us their data entry operators don’t understand DOS anymore and need to work in a Windows environment. We agree…. and are now in our third release of a windows version. WinUltra v1.2 is a total windows product.

We’re also hearing from people who tell us their tally system, or their spreadsheet, has limitations; such as 2-digits for designators, when more suppliers are going to 3-4 digit -identifiers. We can do 4-digit alpha-numeric designators.

Or that they are moving to the generic catalog form and their system can’t handle it.  Ours can, by listing for you each order entered – so that order accuracy verification is as simple as going down the screen and down the order form. 

We've even addressed a problem with the generic catalog order form, i.e. those people who reorganize item numbers or who otherwise write numbers that do not exist.  They meant to order item 1234 @$6.50 but they wrote down 1243. We have a new popup feature that sorts your brochure designators in designator order so you can see what is close to the 1243 they wrote, and also in price order so you can see what items sell for $6.50.

Some of WinUltra's Advantages

• User's Guide

• F1 help support within the program

• 24-hr on-line tech support

• Download site for fast updates or fixes, when necessary

• Periodic Email notification of suggestions and tech notes

Product Ordering - WinUltra can handle most of what the suppliers are asking us to do

Order to the Piece.  Here are WinUltra's steps:

1. After tallying, select Purchase Order and Vendor.

2. All product needed is shown to the piece. 

Order full Cases.  Start with steps 1-2, then:

1. Select Full Cases to round to the next full case. 

Order in Pieces -- but in full case quantities.  One of our main suppliers is requesting all orders in pieces (rather than cases). However, to order other than full case quantities results in a surcharge. Follow the steps above, then:

1. Select Pieces and the full case quantities are converted into the equivalent pieces. 

2. Print Purchase Order and Fax to vendor.

Order By Brochure.  Some vendors now want you to order product per brochure. We can do that.

Why UltraScan – Why Now?

Most of our 75+ UltraScan users tell us they have doubled their packing speed AND increased their accuracy.

UltraScan tells you IMMEDIATELY if you scan too many of an item or an item that does not belong in that order. And, since it tells you when an order IS 100% correct, our instruction to our operator is, "It doesn't get past you without a green light."

Version 2.0 PREVENTS you from going on to the next order if the previous order was less than 100% accurate. The Report Module keeps track of orders you “packed short” (packed minus the sausage that is coming in tomorrow, for example). It will also give you a list of product ordered compared to product scanned. It also gives you orders scanned and lets you know if there were any orders NOT scanned….. and if so, which orders those were.

Chances are, if you have a normal sized packing crew, I can show you on paper how to pay for UltraScan in 2-3 WEEKS (not months or years) of normal Fall-time operation.

A Note About Scanners

A few people have asked me about scanner prices. In particular, why it might be possible to find a lower priced scanner.

First, we have several options, ranging from $647.50 - $2200. Actually, scanners can be had for about any price. I could even find one cheaper than those, if you want it. The scanners we recommend are top of the line. 

Second, our price on new scanners includes express replacement. That means, anytime during the warranty period that your scanner needs repair, we will send you a loaner to use while yours is being repaired.

And finally, not all scanners are the same. For example, in an earlier test of a low end scanner we noticed the following, compared to our top of the line hand gun.

• The laser was not as aggressive. Aggressive is a term the scanner vendors use. Actually, the cheaper scanner had a less bright light. More aggressive scanners pick up the bar codes faster.

• The range was less -- that meant we had to get closer to the target.

• The light turned off after each hit, so we had to pull the trigger more often.

• The tech notes didn't mention survivability of drops.  Ours, for example, says it will survive multiple drops from 6ft onto concrete.  When we had one that didn't, the manufacturer replaced it immediately.

• The warranty was 1yr. The warranty on our hand scanner is 30 months (2.5yrs).

Comparing is fair. But compare everything.

Scanner Friendly Suppliers

Because we believe most of the major players in the fundraising industry are now compliant with placing bar codes on products, we will not continue to publish our scanner-friendly list in each newsletter. We have a list posted on the web site and invite and encourage you to let us know of suppliers to add. And, of course, we also want to know if someone we've listed is NOT 100% compliant. Check with your vendors before purchasing our scanning program.

This month in PRIORITY

Find out why one of my favorite vendor reps often begins what he's going to say with, "this isn't for your newsletter".   PRIORITY tends to be even more opinionated than RUNTIME. Why? Because RUNTIME goes to just about everybody whether they ask for it or not. PRIORITY goes to people who pay for it.

Orlando Show Analysis. My show notes usually stir some controversy, which is why I now include them in the subscription letter rather than this RUNTIME promotional letter. In addition to observations about cookie dough, hot cocoa and the best chocolate I tasted at the show, you'll read comments and compliments about booth themes and designs at the show. Included in my observations will be the report of  where my employees received the friendliest and best service at the show. It wasn't that way in every booth they visited.

If you weren't there (and many of you were not), this is one of the next best things.

Some of the things we were asked to do (or consider).  Enabling customers to enter their orders or do their tallies on the Internet and allowing remote sales reps to access or generate reports from home are a couple examples.

Ideas on using Internet Stores as a value-added offering to your schools and end users. Free product? Coupons? Gift Cards? We'll share our ideas and hope you'll share yours as well.

WinUltra and Accounting

Great Plains Accounting

We can get tally data, including prizes, from Ultra into Great Plains Accounting. So far, our bridge is a DOS program and takes data from the DOS version 7.2 of Ultra into the DOS version of Great Plains.

If you have the DOS versions of either Ultra v7.2 or Great Plains, and are interested in this concept, call. We have not yet explored the windows version of Great Plains, but will if sufficient interest exists.

DacEasy Accounting

Purchase Orders.  When you have finished tallying, WinUltra helps you create a Purchase Order with the tally software. Data is then transferred into the Purchase Order portion of the DacEasy Accounting System. Once there, you can use DacEasy for all your inventory ordering, receiving and tracking.

Invoicing.  The other thing that you can do after completing the tally is to send that data into the DacEasy Order Entry Module as a Sales Order. A Sales Order is like a picking ticket. Once you have packed and shipped or delivered an order, you tell DacEasy the order has shipped and DAC automatically turns the Sales Order into an Invoice. So, you don't have to enter 150 lines of items if you want to use an accounting package to track receivables and aging.

Other Accounting Packages

Data from WinUltra is stored as text in standard data base tables -- and if your accounting system can import text, then we should be able to integrate.  Both Great Plains and DACEasy required our going through their approved 3^rd party vendor for the programming to get the data into the accounting programs.

Inventory and I-Scan

The concept is ready when the industry is. This remote hand scanner can enable you to reduce two more bottlenecks in your operation.

1. Receiving product off the truck. Instead of counting the boxes for the driver and his Bill of Lading and THEN pulling out the multi-page packing slip to check in the product, you scan the product on the pallets and get both a case count (for the Bill of Lading) and receive the product automatically into your WinUltra Inventory Module.

2. Conducting Physical Inventory. Whether it is to conduct your end of the year physical inventory, or to take a quick count of a line before ordering product, the combination of the keypad and screen, plus the efficient way the scanner straps onto your hand makes scanning inventory easy and efficient.

However, until more of our industry suppliers are placing bar codes on the cases, it is a concept not ready for market. Visit our web site for more information about how this new scanner can help your business.

Web Site Design

There are lots of places to get a web page designed these days.  Why consider QDP?  We know fundraising. Quoting an absolute price for web design is not totally unlike quoting home construction with all its variables.  We think we've got better than competitive prices and would appreciate an opportunity to prove it to you.

If you're serious, we'd like learn more about what you're looking for and then we'll quote you a price.

On-line Stores

We've just activated a new domain name for our fundraising on-line store. If you're on our email list, you already received it. We'll be featuring that more in PRIORITY as well.

QDP Pre-Pack is Different, Legal and Better

There are an increasing number of distributors getting into the prepack business. There will be a wide variety of offerings. Buyer beware. We're not new at this.

• We’ve been pre-packing 15 years.

• We use both the WinUltra Order Tally System and the UltraScan Bar Code Scanning System for Order Accuracy Verification. And we are converting to our TallyScan Order Form program to scan order forms.

• When we tally your order, the printouts you receive will have YOUR NAME on them, not some other company acting as a service bureau.

• The software we use is legal, its OUR SOFTWARE. If you use another source, ensure that they are either using someone else’s software to do the tally – or, that if they are using Ultra or WinUltra, it is a legitimate and properly licensed copy.

Free for the asking: "QDP E-Notes"

Snail Mail works for RUNTIME, and we will continue to use it. However, for late breaking notes or announcements, a little humor and even some advertising, email John@QDPCorp.com.

Last Modified:  05/27/2008