"FatterDumber& Happier Moe" wrote in
message ...
Ned Flanders wrote:
Tegger wrote:
Molly wrote in
news:583f6164-8d8b-4092-
:

Is it more profitable to stop stocking the shelves a month before an
inventory like Home Depot does so that you have less to count so that
you don’t have to pay as much in wages for the inventory personnel or
to keep stocking the shelves so that you make-up the time/money you
lose doing the inventory by selling as much as possible?




Inventory and shrinkage (theft) monitoring are considered routine costs
of
doing business.

It would be more profitable to always have fully-stocked shelves so
consumers can buy things. Any retailer will tell you that the absolute
worst thing you can have happen at retail is to have empty shelves.

Agreed - I have 30 years in Retail Grocery.


Lack of stock means lack of sales. And those potential lost sales (plus
lost consumer confidence) would cost far more than the wages paid to
inventory that same product.

True, but there are limits, excess backstock can be very costly (product
going out of date, damaged, too many high theft items displayed thus lost
when boosted, and employee theft or grazing in the backroom).



Stores are rated by their sales per-square-foot of sales-floor space.
Empty
shelves severely cut into that number. In fact, you can tell the
better-run
stores because they're more likely to always have full shelves.

Our stores are measured by sales per man hour. Shrink is compared against
sales and lineal footage.


For examples of two retailers who are probably the best in the business
at
keeping product on the shelf, see Staples and Costco.

By the way, shelves are stocked regularly as they empty, which can be up
to
several times a day for very high-volume product.


Temperature control, service, in stock position, rotation, inventory
control, and anti-theft are all important.

Aldi has a neat set up. A lot of the frozen and dairy stuff is in racks
and shoved up to the doors from inside the walk in. Two people can run
the whole store. No baggers, no bags, you bring your own or use one of
the used boxes from the store, put a quarter in to get the shopping cart
and you get your quarter back when you park it back in the rack. Limited
selection but great prices. The store here is clean and fast check out.
Cash or debit card only, no checks or credit cards.
http://www.aldifoods.com/us/html/com...?WT.z_src=main
The Walmart here, sorry sorry sorry, half the time the isles are blocked
by the restocking crew and the prices are among the highest in town. But
they are open 24 hours a day and that I like.
Inventory? Gotta count the chickens and eggs to know if any are missing
and who isn't laying and if all the eggs are making it to the basket. If
there is loss (and there will be) the earlier it's caught the better.


You must shop weird hours...The re-stocking crew does not start wheeling out
stock on pallets until after 9:30 PM..Sometimes their is a few left at 7 AM
for the day crew but are gone in an hour or 2..Sometimes the outside venders
are there in the AM as well..Mostly Coke , Pepsi , ect...But to say there
are pallets in all the isles half the time is being a bit over the top
unless one shops very late at night....Wal-Mart will match ANY local
competitors advertised price...The price over ride button is on all the
computer screens at the registers and they are used sometimes , though
Wal-Mart does do a VERY good job at knowing their competition and
prices..The Wal-Mart world wide distribution and stock monitoring system is
so good and efficient that the Pentagon has copied it as has many
others...HTH......