Is Matel Stalinist?

[Tyler Durden]

Tim May wrote...

"Not only does it not make sense, but clearly this would cause pileups at 
_some_ stores (too much Spam) and shortages at _other_ stores (still not 
enough Spam, even with the latest "send more Spam to all stores" order. The 
fact that neither shortages nor pileups (that I can see) are apparent at any 
of the stores I visit, and that all of them use UPC and POS methods for 
_all_ sales of ordered products, is consistent with the reorder method 
described earlier."

Oh I have certainly experienced those back in my retail days during college. 
I was working in a Waldenbooks where the auto-inventory was sent based on 
sales (as a scaling factor). The store I worked at was basically quite 
small, but with Class A sales, so during some seasons we were DUMPED with 
books that we simply couldn't keep up with. They were eventually thrown out 
or listed as "shrinkage". (But all of that was behind the scenes...the 
customers couldn't SEE the pileup.)
But, notice how Waldenbooks has gotten WACKED by these big Borders' and 
B&Ns. Maybe these are smarter (or, these "giant" bookstores don't really 
need to consider shelf space...).


Continuing...

"I repeat: the "despised by anti-capitalists" Borders store has a deeper and 
broader inventory of books than the "cherished by Greens and locals" 
locall-owned bookstore. And they also use UPC and POS and reorder books 
dynamically."

Well, don't lump me in there. My point was not that such stores COULDN'T 
provide the level of service that an indpendent could. My point was that the 
"statist" culture that we are so used to prevents many big retail chains 
from taking advantage of their "human capital". If Borders learned, then 
great. (In fact, I helped quash a local bookstore during aforementioned 
stint...the guy was just a shitty, arrogant businessman and deserved to be 
run outta town. My only regret was that I made $3.35/hour to do it.)

Food is different from music or books, however. Books are much less of a 
commodity in that a particular neighborhood may respond very strongly to 
certain types of books, and ignore other kinds. Inventory systems can't 
really get the ball rolling on that kind of thing...they don't tell you what 
the locals want (but you don't have), they only tell you what they've 
already bought. Thus, a well-run chain would hire smart local college kids 
and let them order (in additionto the "basics" that come from the inventory 
systems). What I've yet to see is where a low-level retail kid is actually 
given a piece of the action: "Here kid...if you increase the sales of this 
Sci-Fi section by 45% then you'll get 2% of each book sold after that." I'd 
like to see a chain try that kind of a thing, but that seems WAY too down-up 
for most corporate cultures.

-TD



>From: Tim May <timcmay at got.net>
>To: cypherpunks at lne.com
>Subject: Re: Is Matel Stalinist?
>Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 11:36:03 -0800
>
>On Dec 11, 2003, at 1:56 AM, ken wrote:
>>
>>>Corporations have sales tracking software out the wazoo. If it sells, 
>>>they buy more and sell them. Sounds like they're doing precisely what 
>>>their owners want them to do.
>>
>>Yes, but, it might be that a corporation makes more money for its owners 
>>by centralising and systematising and reducing the local autonomy of 
>>business units. It's a lot easier to manage a thousand identical stores 
>>than a hundred unique ones. So from "Tyler Durden's"'s POV there might be 
>>more responsiveness from an independent  store than a chain.
>>
>>Though like you said, that doesn't seem to apply to books.  Might to food 
>>though.
>>
>
>I doubt it applies to food, either.
>
>If my local grocery store runs low on "Spam," say, they will order more. 
>This is why they track items with POS terminals and UPC labels (largely 
>replacing the inventory people who used to be seen in the aisles counting 
>items and entering them into a small computer or, earlier, onto an 
>inventory log sheet).
>
>It makes no sense to "lump" or "consolidate" all of the stores into one 
>lump calculation and then issue order to "send more Spam in this amount to 
>each store." Not only does it not make sense, but clearly this would cause 
>pileups at _some_ stores (too much Spam) and shortages at _other_ stores 
>(still not enough Spam, even with the latest "send more Spam to all stores" 
>order. The fact that neither shortages nor pileups (that I can see) are 
>apparent at any of the stores I visit, and that all of them use UPC and POS 
>methods for _all_ sales of ordered products, is consistent with the reorder 
>method described earlier.
>
>I repeat: the "despised by anti-capitalists" Borders store has a deeper and 
>broader inventory of books than the "cherished by Greens and locals" 
>locall-owned bookstore. And they also use UPC and POS and reorder books 
>dynamically.
>
>(For another list I've been discussing lazy evaluation languages, like 
>Miranda and Haskell, and like Scheme can be "forced" to do, and the 
>similarities between demand-driven evaluation of partial results and the 
>obviously demand-driven inventory practices of modern businesses is 
>striking. There's an essay here for some political thinker, along the lines 
>of Phil Salin's "Wealth of Kitchens" essay drawing parallels between free 
>markets and object-oriented systems.)
>
>--Tim May

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