Smart solution! :-)
Jim Nichols
Tullahoma, TN USA
On 12/14/2013 6:58 PM, Chuck Norcutt wrote:
> Your story reminded me on an incident when I was working as a purchasing
> intern at IBM between my junior and senior years at school. On of my
> tasks was to take care of tools orders from the machine shops. I
> received an order for a single grinding wheel. I called the
> manufacturer to get a price and was surprised when I was told (as best I
> remember) that a single wheel was $30 and two wheels were $10 for both.
>
> I was perplexed by the huge disparity in the unit price and asked the
> purchasing agent I was working with why that was so. He said: It's a
> message to you, the buyer. If you really, really want a single wheel
> we'll sell you one. But we make and package them in pairs and that's
> the way we want to sell them. The lightbulb came on and I understood.
> So I called the machinist back who had placed the order and told him I
> was going to order two wheels instead of one and why I was going to do
> it. He got extremely upset. He said his manager had been breathing
> down his neck over surplus inventory. He only needed one wheel and
> there was no way he was going to take two. I solved the problem by
> ordering two, taking delivery myself and sticking one of the wheels in
> my desk drawer in the purchasing department. Maybe it's even still
> there. :-)
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
> On 12/14/2013 4:02 PM, Jim Nichols wrote:
>> Glad you found it interesting. Here's another item to disturb the
>> bureaucrats and bean counters. When the original nozzle plates were
>> procured, two spare plates were also purchased and placed in the base
>> warehouse as spares, in case one of the originals were damaged during
>> use. The need was obvious to the original project managers and went
>> unquestioned for many years. Then, as USAF staff turned over during the
>> years, someone decided that spares must be justified. If they weren't
>> used within some specified time period, then they were deemed surplus!
>> It didn't matter that the plate material was no longer manufactured, or
>> that procurement would take quite a period of time, even if a source
>> could be found.
>>
>> Cooler heads prevailed, and, last I heard, the spares were still there.
>> Sometimes the writers of rules just don't understand that there must be
>> exceptions!
>>
>> Jim Nichols
>> Tullahoma, TN USA
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|