Joe's Journal

Well, sports fans, we’re on the home stretch of our five part series entitled “5-Steps to Successful Inventory Management.” Today we discuss the fourth step: Auditing Receipt of Invoices.  Of all the five steps (order process, communication, receiving inventory items, audit invoices, and reports), auditing invoices and vendor deals is the last chance in the cycle to be certain your vendors’ invoices are accurate.

The following are 5 tips to consider when auditing invoices and vendor adjustments:

• Verify cost and retail extensions. When deliveries are made store personnel should have either a pre-printed invoice or, if checking by hand-held scanner, an invoice should be printed using the store’s pricebook cost. Instant verification while the delivery driver is still in the store will set the tone for your relations with the vendor in that you have a real time system in place to verify invoiced items. Remember in your 20s (or perhaps last week), when you were too busy boozing and schmoozing to check your bar tab at the end of the night…only to discover the next morning that all of those cocktails your friends kept pushing your way (and theirs!) were actually going on your tab?  Don’t be that guy. Check your receipts…before your friends and, in this case, your vendors leave the building.

• Verify cost and selling price. Whose cost and selling price is right? Yours or your vendor’s?  Make this all about you.  After all, it is your store.

• Rebates, Buy Downs, Allowances…Oh My! Rebates, Buy Downs, Allowances, Mark ups, Mark Downs…they all affect the inventory value. Don’t forget to account for any items affected. Cigarette rebates in our industry are critical to your bottom line, so be sure you have a policy in place to track your rebates.

• Stick to the plan. Most importantly, be sure to have a policy and procedure in place to account for any cost and selling price changes which will affect your inventory valuation. OK, so you find an error on an invoice…now what?  Be sure your store personnel know what the next steps are.  In Washington this pre-season, All Pro tackle, Albert Haynesworth, came into training camp out of shape and assumed, as in the past, no one would be checking up on him.  But with a new coach who is excellent at establishing and enforcing the rules, Haynesworth learned the hard way what it was like to play with the scrubs last weekend in an exhibition game.  He was not amused.  Likewise, when you set the rules and encourage your employees to follow through, your vendors will know you intend to be the head coach of your store. They must play by your rules or get out of the game.

• Post the items to inventory with all adjustments and corrections. You have worked hard to build a solid foundation with the previous four steps, so go ahead and post your items secure in the knowledge that you have an extremely accurate inventory valuation in place.

Next week, we will wrap up our 5-Steps to Successful Inventory Management series as we discuss reporting and the information you need to know in order to achieve success.

If you had asked Darlene, our favorite local c-store manager, a few years ago “What does it mean to “go green”?” her reply would have included the words “leprechauns”, “selling those green beers for all that green money”, and “some Saint named Patrick”.  In today’s environmentally conscious world, however, “going green” has become not only both the responsible and trendy choice, but an economically savvy one at that. Nowadays, going green can actually save you green!

While companies like CMI can save you the cost of paper (and for the planet – the cost of a tree), the big industry buzz is how energy efficiency (from energy efficient refrigeration and HVAC to energy efficient light bulbs) can save you significant long term dollars. In fact, according to EnergyStar.gov, 38% of energy use in grocery & convenience stores can be attributed to refrigeration.  The report goes on to list some practical, no-cost tips on how to save on your refrigeration energy use. Examples would be:

• Check temperature settings - If settings are lower than necessary, chances are you are wasting energy. The most common recommended settings are between -14 degrees and -8 degrees Fahrenheit for freezers and between 35 degrees and 38 degrees Fahrenheit for refrigerators.
• Clean cooling coils – Dirt accumulation impairs proper heat transfer and lowers the efficiency and capacity of refrigerators.
• Check door seals - Tight seals and properly closing doors prevent warm air from entering the unit, which reduces cooling energy and prevents frost buildup. Use this rule of thumb: If you can easily slide a dollar bill into the seal, have the seal adjusted.
• Keep doors shut - Repeated fluctuations in temperature will damage food quality and will cost money.
• Maintain equipment - Perform any scheduled maintenance on the units and keep evaporator coils clean and free of ice build-up.

Simple steps like these are easy ways to get your stores thinking (and saving) green.

Yes, by some, the green movement may be seen as threat as more energy efficiency cars may, in theory, decrease the volumes of gasoline sold at the pump. However, in the long run, our industry will adjust as we have proven to be nimble enough to take on any challenge.  Convenience stores will still be the place to go to fuel your vehicle…be it with gasoline, diesel,  E-85 fuel, electric, biodiesel, green beer or whatever else the future holds for powering our modes of transportation.

One thing, however, will never change.  Darlene, our Irish lass wannabe, will still wear green on St. Patrick’s Day and peddle her green beers.  Her customers will still shop in her store…if only to see that friendly smile and hear her latest words of wisdom. Rumor has it, today she will be blessing customers with this old Irish prayer as they stop in for their pre-package corned beef sandwiches:

May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.”

Have a great Patty’s Day!

I recently saw a tagline to an advertisement that read “Tough Times Call for Proven Solutions.”

The ad went on to point out the areas of businesses where you need to optimize your workforce to gain the most productivity.  The bullet points are: Staffing, Quality, Cost, Service, Performance, Sales and ROI.

Over the last several years, as c-store operators become more sophisticated, the survivors have been those companies who invested in the technology to most efficiently tie in the bullet items above.  They can operate quickly and more accurately than ever before, thus increasing their customer service levels since staff would be free to attentively serve customers instead of being bogged down with paperwork.

The best practice tools are available today, not just from CMIsolutions, but by an entire industry of POS vendors, grocery distributors and oil companies.  We work with thousands of stores each day to help our clients succeed. If you are on the sidelines, the urgency to get in the game has never been greater.

The c-store industry has been a cash cow for bankruptcy attorneys.  Ever wonder why?

Thanks to all of those who responded to our last blog: THINK PINK! at NACS. October is not only about NACS and a shaky economy, but also about creating awareness for a disease that affects millions of people worldwide each year: breast cancer. We heard from several of you regarding your participation in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

• CMI’s marketing manager, Stephanie Flury, ran along with 14,000 others in Charlotte, NC on October 3rd.
• Jan Underwood, controller of Davis Oil in Georgia notes she will be running in Macon, GA on October 24th.
• Jerri Smith, of PF&E, will be running in Austin, TX on November 1st. Jerri has been running in this event for 10 years! She and a group in her office wear PINK to work every Friday during October as a way to raise awareness.

This is just a small sample of how the Petroleum Distributing and Retail industry employees, retailers and suppliers always step up to back a worthy cause no matter the economic climate.

Again, kudos to all of the runners involved in the cause. See you at NACS next week and remember to THINK PINK!

After I finished my workout on Monday evening, I went to my gym’s snack bar to pick up my usual dose of Muscle Milk. Of course, they were out.  Luckily, my favorite convenience store was on my way home and I knew that they would always be stocked.  As I headed toward the cooler, the store manager, Darlene, (obviously not used to seeing me in shorts) let out a catcall.  We started talking about fitness and she mentioned that she has spent the last six weeks training (and fundraising) for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k coming up this Saturday.  Not only has Darlene involved herself in such a worthy cause, she also recruited her sister and two co-workers to join as well!

As October officially kicks into full swing today, we at CMI are getting pretty darn excited about what this month will bring. Many of you, like Darlene, will be participating in fundraising and public awareness activities for Breast Cancer Awareness month. We at CMI are doing our part as well.

We all have been affected by breast cancer either directly or indirectly…most likely more than once.  This year CMI’s NACS theme is to THINK PINK!. We have purchased pink wristbands for distribution at NACS and they will be given to the first 1,000 visitors at our booth #3857 located in the technology pavilion. Stop by and pick up your wristband in honor of your mother, grandmother, sister, daughter, spouse, friend, co-worker, neighbor, and 1.3 million others diagnosed annually.

If any of your employees are walking, running, or otherwise participating in Breast Cancer Awareness this month and will not be able to visit us at NACS, let us know and we will mail them a wristband as we salute their effort to help find a cure!