From FGVwiki

Contents 1 Store Procedures 1.1 Making a sale 1.2 Selling machines and motherboards 1.3 Non-functional Hardware Sales 1.4 Laptop Power Adaptors (Bricks) 1.5 Receiving a donation 1.6 Issuing Store Credit 1.7 Using Store Credit 1.8 Applying Discount for Volunteers, Staffs, and Directors 1.9 Cash return 1.9.1 Preventive measure 1.9.2 Procedure 1.10 Kanban 1.11 Answering the phone 1.12 Day-end cash-out procedure 1.12.1 What if the computer is down, the spreadsheet is gone, etc. 1.13 Adding an item to the POS database 2 Common Customer Questions 2.1 Someone wishes to make a purchase "on account" 2.2 Someone wishes to make large-quantity (wholesale) purchases 2.3 Someone wants a very specific product that isn't in the store 2.4 Setting the price 2.5 Someone want to hold items 2.6 Miscellaneous Notes

Store Procedures

Making a sale

1. The main categories are all in the bottom/right of the screen. After selecting the main category you can either select the product itself or subcategories to get to the product. Click on the product to select the item and add it to the shopping list at the top of the screen. If the customer is buying more than one of a particular item, then you can either click repeatedly on the product, or click on the pencil icon in the middle of the screen and edit the number of items.
2. Once all items are selected and the customer is ready to pay, click on the volunteer discount button at the top right of the screen if applicable.
3. Then add any items for which the volunteer discount is not applicable (i.e. laptops and multi-core machines).
4. If there are any miscellaneous items that are not in the product database, then use the numberpad at the right of the screen to enter the agreed upon price, and click the plus sign to add the item to the shopping list. You can then click on the pencil icon to add a description of the item, and edit the after-tax price.
5. When using the numberpad, you can enter just the dollar amount, but if it's not exactly an even amount (i.e. there are cents), you will need to enter the cents including the decimal point.
6. 'If an item is added to the shopping list accidentally', or if the customer no longer wants that item, then click on the button with the delete key symbol to remove it.
7. If a different price than the advertised one has been agreed upon with the sales coordinator or core volunteer (e.g. for wholesale, bulk and multiple items), or if the product fits “in between” products in the database, e.g. 430W Power supply), then either select the higher-priced item and use the on-screen numberpad to enter the amount of the discount followed by the minus sign, or enter the item manually, as previously described.
8. After all items have been entered (and the volunteer discount applied) click on the equals sign on the numberpad at the right of the screen. A window will popup where you can enter the payment given. This window will also calculate the amount of change to give back to the customer.
9. Hit OK--the receipt will print and the cash drawer open.
   

Selling machines and motherboards

1. Please, make sure the customer buying a box installed with Ubuntu receives a copy of the pamphlet "Taking home your computer"
2. For motherboards, the build/test sheet should be stapled to the receipt, and the serial number and CPU detail written on the receipt or the item description edited accordingly.
3. If you or the customer notices that a laptop's 'wake up' procedure is not functioning properly (i.e. it's frozen when you open the lid), inform the customer that if s/he purchases it, we can help s/he set it up right away after purchase to fix that problem. If you know how to do End-User setup and change Ubuntu's power management settings, the store isn't busy, and someone can cover cash, you may fix it in the store after the purchase on the side-table. Otherwise, instruct the customer to go upstairs and ask for the Build Manager to help him/her set up the laptop (usually Geoff will be available).
   

Non-functional Hardware Sales

From time to time we may sell non-functional hardware (i.e. for parts and novel uses). To maintain our standards as ethical recyclers we track these sales and form an agreement with any and all customers buying non-functional items.

1. The customer must sign our non-functional hardware sales agreement.
2. If the customer is not already on the FGDB contacts/volunteers list, an entry must be created for them (the sales coordinator will have to do this).
3. The FGDB contact number is used as a customer number in the POS.
4. After creating/selecting a customer number, enter the sale as usual. A negative item will be applied to reflect the discounted, non-functional price (see above).
   

Laptop Power Adaptors (Bricks)

We are mostly unable to test power adaptors for laptops, yet there is a huge demand as it is one of the components which most frequently fails. Therefore we will only sell this item when the customer brings his or her laptop to the thrift store, where it can be tested on the spot.

Receiving a donation

For the purposes of the POS system, there is a tax-exempt product "Donation", in a category "Donation". The default amount is $1, but you can edit this as above. Please edit the amount rather than the number of units, as this will give us more useful/accurate data.
NoteWe are a not-for-profit society, rather than a registered charity. Neither are we a qualified donee for the purpose of issuing a receipt for tax credits.

Issuing Store Credit

Store credit can only be issued within 7 days of the sale, and only when the customer presents the item in question, as well as a receipt.

1. Get the invoice book which is beside the computer
2. Write your name on it, date it
3. Write "Returned", the item returned, and the credit amount.

Refer the back of the receipt book to see a sample credit receipt.

Using Store Credit

When a customer brings you one of these they can redeem it for its full or partial amount.

1. Take the credit receipt from the customer
2. If they are not using the full amount, cross out the amount and write the new amount on it. Write the new amount instead.
3. Sales made using store credit must not be entered into the till
4. If the sale requires cash in addition to the amount on the credit, enter only the cash portion as a new sale in the till.
   

Applying Discount for Volunteers, Staffs, and Directors

Volunteers, Staff, and Directors gets a 40% discount on all items (even AS-IS and scraps) except laptops and multi-core machines.

1. Open a browser and enter fgdb/id in the address field. You need to enter the first and last names exactly as they were entered into the database to find the ID number and info. The record includes if the person has volunteered 12 hours in the last 90 days.
   
2. Enter the regular price as usual
   
3. After all items for which the discount applies have been entered (i.e. everything except for laptops and multi-core machines**, hit the discount button at the top right of the screen.
   

[A multi-core machine, for this purpose, contains Intel Core2/AMD k10 series CPUs or more recent].

Cash return

We do not do cash returns under any circumstances. Reason behind it:

• Even among the directors and staff, not everyone can extract money from the safe, if it's a large amount
• People may exploit the system. We, afterall, do have credit and exchange in place.
• Record keeping issue
• The actual amount of money available in the till.
  

Preventive measure

• The more we know about what we're selling, the less likely we are to have with people wanting to return items. If in doubt, ASK another volunteer or member of staff.
• Do not use the word "Return". It implies refund. Only use "exchange" or "credit". (Basically, leave no room for misinterpretation)
• Do not make empty promises. If you will disappoint customer either way, may as well tell the truth.
  

Procedure

However, if you made an error punching in the amount of a sale, or is the same day as the sale, it could be conducted at your discretion, without explicit approval from a staff or director. Cash returns can only be issued on the same day as the sale, and only if you have the customer's original receipt.

1. You must be logged in as admin.
2. Click edit sales.
3. Find the sale by refining the search (by date and time is usually easiest).
4. Edit then delete sale.
   

Kanban

We have virtually no storage space for large items in the store/cave, and very little for the numerous smaller items that we routinely carry. For this reason, there is a high rate of traffic between the store and the warehouse and various testing stations, and we practice Just-in-Time scheduling as a matter of necessity. For many items, we receive a far greater quantity of donations than we can ever use.

The kanban[1] web-app should be fairly self-explanatory. Items can be added into a column according to priority and are coloured green by default. Volunteers in the warehouse or testing stations will bring items down to the store accordingly. To "turn the faucet off", click on the item and it will turn red. Once effected, the list can later be managed, deleting items.

Answering the phone

• From time to time we are short-handed in the store -- the customers in the store will always take precedent over those on the phone.
• If it is already very busy in the store and the sales coordinator/core volunteer is helping another customer, then take a message or ask the person to call back.

Day-end cash-out procedure

1. Shoo everyone out of the store and lock the door. Nobody else should be in the store while you count cash.
2. You must be in the admin section of OpenBravo.
3. In the main menu, select "close cash", and again there the close cash button that appears in the bottom right of the screen.
4. Open the spreadsheet called 201X-Sales.ods on the store computer Desktop.
5. Find the row corresponding to today's date.
6. Fill in all of the yellow fields in the first set of columns based on the printout from the till.
7. Remove the money from the till, remembering to check under the drawer for large bills.
8. Put the float back in the till ($150) using denominations lower than $10, as far as possible.
9. Count the remaining money (all of it, even the pennies!)
10. Enter the number of each denomination in the second set of columns.
11. If any cheques were received for donations (or sales, although that is against our policy), enter it in the cheques column
12. Edit Sales, then search by category 'Donation', to find the amount for that column.
13. Go to Product Sales (upper row) and restrict search by customer 'Wholesale' to find the amount for that column.
14. Press 'Settlement' on the verifone terminal and follow the prompts. Keep the details report, as well as the settlement report. Enter the total amount from this report in the Cards column of the 201X-Sales spreadsheet.
15. If there is an excess or shortfall, try to explain it in the comments field along with any other remarks about the day.
16. Make all of the bills face the same way.
17. Put all of the money in an envelope or sealed bag along with the report and any other documentation from the day (returns, used store credit receipts, accidental receipts, etc.)
18. Mark the envelope with the date, total amount (the spreadsheet will tell you this), and your name, and place it in the safe under the desk in the cave.
    

What if the computer is down, the spreadsheet is gone, etc.

If you are unable to access the 201X-Sales.ods spreadsheet, write the same information down on a piece of paper, or use the Backup Cash Out Sheet on the store computer desktop. Print it and place it in the envelope before putting it all in the safe.

Adding an item to the POS database

You must first be logged in as admin in the POS.

1. The POS icons allow for only a very limited number (~10) of characters. Yet we want the item description on the receipt to be as detailed as possible. Use as many subcategories as needed to make the POS navigable enough to find the item, while in the product description put the finest detail (e.g. memory size on a video card) first.
2. All products within the main category should be at the same level of subcategory, i.e. there should be no categories or subcategories that contain both products and subcategories one level down. This is a requirement of the part of the application that tracks sales data.
   

Common Customer Questions

Someone wishes to make a purchase "on account"

On occasion, we set up charge accounts. Have them contact Tim or Luke (me at lukecyca.com).

Someone wishes to make large-quantity (wholesale) purchases

These transactions are usually restricted to a director or staff member.

If the client needs to purchase something and can not wait for a director or staff member, we have an "Approved Wholesalers" spreadsheet on the Desktop of the store computer. In this spreadsheet you will find a list of companies or individuals that have been interviewed and are confirmed to comply with our standards of recycling. This spreadsheet also contains prices for items to purchase. If what they want is not listed in this file or if wholesaler is a new client and has not yet been approved by our standards questionnaire then no transactions are to proceed without the approval of a director or staff member.

Someone wants a very specific product that isn't in the store

• Option 1: Send the customer upstairs with an experienced volunteer to ask around in build or the warehouse to see if it can be found.
• Option 2: Take their request and contact information and put it on the Request List on the store computer desktop.
• Option 3: Use fishing licence (see above)

Setting the price

The nature of what we do means there will always be items not found on the main price list on the wiki. Using the following as a rule of thumb.

• If it is a current item, then visit one of our more immediate competitors (such as NCIX) websites to find out what they are typically charging for it (not "Hot Deals"/"Mail-in rebate" etc.) and give a discounted price two-thirds of this.
• If it is specialized/niche but no longer possible to find new, then visit eBay for a guide as to the price. Ideally, there should be at least two completed listings in the last year. Our price would be roughly 20-30% lower than a stable eBay price.

We do deals when one or more of the below are satisfied:
Important: When giving discounts for bulk purchases and damaged items, always quote the discounted price rather than the amount of the discount. This is because all the prices we quote include taxes. Not only the before-tax price but also the discount itself will have an amount added as tax.

• Item have been sitting around for too long
• Bulk purchases
• Damaged goods.
• Size of item.
• demand of item (eg: 1 GB RAM is so high demand we don't do deals on them)

Typically we also factor into rarity and the detail of the item.

Someone want to hold items

Depending on the item and the situation we can hold items for a short period, on the green shelf in the cave.

We will not hold items which are in high demand beyond the end of the day. For anything else, we can hold it until the end of the week, but it is important that the name of the person and the date they will pick it up is clearly indicated, otherwise it will be put back on display.

Miscellaneous Notes

• Cell Phones & PDAs Cell phones and PDAs are on limited sale at the moment. All cellphones and PDAs require data removal and removal of any external memory cards (including SIM cards). The exception is old PDAs like Palm IIIs which lose all their data when the batteries are pulled.
• Memory Cards: Unblanked memory cards/USB flash goes in the till for safe keeping until they can be erased. The ones in the display case have been erased and can be sold.