The Store's Day-to-Day Operation

Opening each day around 7am each day, the first thing to do is get the coffee/espresso/cappuccino equipment started. The store is small, about 300 square feet, with about 5,000 books on retail display shelves and anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 books in archive drawer racks. It might also have at any time up to 2,000 newly acquired books waiting to be processed into inventory. There is typically a single multitasking clerk working in the store at any time. This clerk is paid a base rate per hour of minimum wage plus commissions for in-store sales, incentive pay per piece for out-of-store sales fulfillment and cataloging books into inventory, and occasional bonuses based on store performance.

The next task is to check the computer for the list of unfulfilled on-line orders. On a typical day, there are usually at least 100 or so orders to fill by this time, with more showing up throughout the day. The list shows the current location within the store of each sold book. There may be a few that are on the display shelves, but most are in the archive drawers. The fulfillment directions are in order of easiest search. The clerk takes the tablet computer to drawer number x and gets the 12th book (the list also shows the title, author, and an image of each book), the 19th, and the 23rd book from that drawer, then go to drawer y, and so on. It takes about a half an hour to pull all the sold books if there are no interruptions and it is very important to keep them in proper order. The "pull list" is shown in color-coded lines which directs the clerk to put them (in order) into color-coded boxes. This color-coding facilitates the next stages of the distribution process. One set is for books that get distributed to other nearby stores. Another set is for those headed to non-nearby stores up the distribution chain. Some books will be prepared for the bulk shipping department, which is where the books are inserted into mailing envelopes, mailing labels are printed, the books are again resorted by zip code, and otherwise prepared for shipping. The store personnel need not be concerned with all of those fulfillment processes and not even be aware of the meaning of the color codes. By mid-morning a truck arrives with incoming books from other stores, The driver cross checks the count shown on her computer for each of the groups in the outgoing boxes looking to catch any possible errors, then drives off to the next store in her rounds before returning back to home base at the warehouse for further sorting and shipping.

All morning, there are occasional customers that drop by to browse, have a coffee or tea, or meet with a friend. Most are regulars, often retirees, and this is a stop along their daily routines. The clerk gets a percentage of every sale within the store and so is motivated to stop whatever else they are doing to greet or help the retail customers. If a customer asks about a particular title, the clerk can find its location and price on the computer. If it is not in stock but is available at an associate store, it can be purchased with an automated notice sent to the other store to pull it for the next driver. This store gets credit for the retail portion of the price and the other store gets the wholesale portion just as if had been sold to an on-line customer.

Several times a day, clients drop off books for store credit or large collections for consignment. The owner might bring in a batch or two from an estate sale. After the clerk is finished with the morning driver, attention can be given to processing these new books. The clerk starts an entry batch in the computer with some identifying information, then each book is examined for wear and tear defects. The clerk enters the book's ISBN (international standard book number) and a code for each defect found. At the end of each batch of data input, the computer makes a decision on each book on how it should be handled and then produces a new sorted list to follow. It may go onto a display shelf or into an archive drawer with other books of its size. This part of the workload is the most discretionary in that it can usually be easily put off for another day if clerk is too busy or would prefer to spend time reading a book or chatting with customers.

Throughout the day, customers might stop in to pick up an item that was purchased at this store from another store's inventory. Also, the clerk is receiving notices of books sold at other stores or online. The clerk checks off each item as the stock is pulled from inventory and processed for fulfillment. Fulfillment carries a much higher incentive pay to reflect its higher priority. These items are put into the color coded trays for the evening driver's pickup before closing up the store for the night.

To see the overview of the day, it is helpful to see how sales and other numbers add up.