From: demes@chopin.udel.edu (Jim Demes)
Subject: Re: Beatlefest blows it!
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 21:17:35 GMT

As a former Beatlefest employee, maybe I can help shed some light on
the discussion.  Just please remember that I no longer work for Mark
(too far to commute) and this is all my opinion - not Beatlefest's.

Beatlefest is a very small, family-run operation.  Yes, Mark does
hire temporary workers (such as myself), but there are a few full-timers
as well.  Carol is never in the office, and Mark does occasionally
step out of the office for business or personal reasons.

The problem is communication between the operators and the packaging
people.  When things are slow, there's no problem.  But at this time of
year, when everyone wants things yesterday, mistakes are going to be made.
After all, they are people too.

The shipping people can't process the orders as fast as they come in
- the mailbox is overflowing and the phones ring off the hook.  Also,
the operators do not know how many of each item are in stock at any
particular time.  When an item is out, someone will tell the operators
so that they can tell the customers.  What probably happened was that
the book in question was indeed in stock at the time of the call, but
the remaining copies were sent out in previous orders.

The ideal situation would be some kind of computer system where the
operators would have direct access to how many of each item were
still in stock, so that they could tell the customers.  Unfortunately,
neither Mark nor any of his staff (nor the people who setup his
computer system) have been able to successfully integrate this
feature into the order-entry system.  (They're using Filemaker Pro
at the moment for order-entry as well as the customer database.)

So the mistake, as I see it, was the omission of the word "RUSH" on
the order.  So when the order got over to the stockroom and they noticed
one item was out of stock, they probably just put it aside to get as
many complete orders out as possible.  If the item was due in soon,
it is standard operating procedure to wait until it comes in to ship out
the order together.  Of course, those companies promise Beatlefest that
things will get there by a certain time also, which sometimes doesn't
turn out to be true.  Those companies, then, make Mark look foolish.

Raising your voice to the operators or Mark won't get your books to
your doorstep any faster.  Polite, intelligent people are much easier
to listen to and sympathize with than those who throw tantrums.
By the time the error was pointed out to them, what could they do?
Just ship out the one book in stock and write the letter of apology,
right?  Just tell the person receiving the books as gifts that another one
is on the way.

I'd write more, but my system is going down, and I don't want to
type this for the 3rd time!

Replies are welcome.

--
UU    UU      Jim Demes  (demes@chopin.udel.edu or demes@freezer.cns.udel.edu)
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From: dennis@hpwrce.mayfield.hp.com (Dennis Alstrand)
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 16:30:12 GMT
Subject: Re: Re: NO, THEY'RE *NOT* REFORMING!
Organization: the HP Mtn.View Resp. Cntr.