First Call part coming into the system at lower price

[rhillig]

I have thought a few times that there was a problem with pricing - today I caught it in the act.

Priced a H755BP bulb on the First Call site, let's say it is $8.20. Transfer it into the Mitchell program - it comes up as $7.99. While it is only 21 cents....it also makes the mark up incorrect. I am not sure how many parts it is doing this with, but happened to catch it in the act today. What would trigger it to come into the system at a lower price?

[Silky7]

The answer to this is usually very simple: You have the part in inventory with a cost of $7.99. That's part of the reason when you perform a price check it prompts to update fields. When you see a part cost change, it's probably best to adjust the inventory record as well. However, this also leads into a "Last cost vs. Average cost" pricing model debate that J.D. and Tim could probably spend a whole workshop day on.

[rhillig]

Thank you for the clarification, now we know what to look for.

I did not think we had this part in inventory before.

We don't use the update option when price checking, because it messes with the other parts on the work order that we had already adjusted the price on.

It would be nice if the parts that are in inventory would display different or have an indicator that shows it is a stocking part.

Also - we have another vendor, Mighty that when we bring parts over from their cataloging - even though we already have the parts in inventory - it will not pick up that part as being inventory, but will bring it in as a new part number & the regular mark up.

[Silky7]

This is also why receiving the parts from your POs is key. Over time, your Average cost will adjust for the higher cost you paid per item.

It would be nice if the parts that are in inventory would display different or have an indicator that shows it is a stocking part.

You should be able to see this. Next time you go to the Parts Ordering window, scroll over a bit and you can see items that are inventory and ones that are not. Inventory parts will have current stocking/commitment levels.

Also - we have another vendor, Mighty that when we bring parts over from their cataloging - even though we already have the parts in inventory - it will not pick up that part as being inventory, but will bring it in as a new part number & the regular mark up.

Check the manufacturer code you're getting from the catalog vs. what you have in inventory. The part # can be identical, but with different manufacturer codes, you'll not get a match.

[ricmorin]

The only problem with this is the program chooses the inventory price over the catalog price even when you have none in stock. I'd expect different behavior when none were in stock. This occurs when transferring from the catalog and the item is in inventory but NONE are on hand.

[Silky7]

Yes, now that goes back to the average vs. last cost concept, and also why the Update All will go with the new values. Maybe the best simple solution is to display (thus alerting you) a cost change/difference when a price check is performed on an inventory part?

[rhillig]

Yes, now that goes back to the average vs. last cost concept, and also why the Update All will go with the new values. Maybe the best simple solution is to display (thus alerting you) a cost change/difference when a price check is performed on an inventory part?

I think that would be a good work around!

[ricmorin]

Something is better than nothing. We got burned years ago on this so we have our own internal workaround.

[Silky7]

I'd certainly like this to be an open discourse as to any other suggestions as well. Just bear in mind that simpler = more likely to occur sooner.

[ricmorin]

Understood.

Remember that this occurs by simply transferring a part from a catalog where said part matches an inventory part. There's no price check involved here, simply a part transfer. On the order screen there is no indication that said part is an inventory part. There's no indication that the price changed. It just does. Then a shop sells the job and orders the part, that's when they discover that the price is different. The current workaround is doing a price check after transfer and updating. This is not needed on non inventory parts. The transfer simply occurs with the current price.