The White Falcon - 22.08.1969, Page 6

6
THE WHITE FALCON
August 22, 1969
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
All money taken in by our exchange
through sales is turned over to the
NRSO, This office then deducts 3.5%
of the total j*ross profit; (the difference
between the cost of an article to the
exchange and the selling-price-)! to pay
for equipment for all Navy excnanges
and to pay for the operating costs of
the headquarters. This 3.5%ris act-
ually returned to us in the form of
equipment, improvements, and special-
ized services which our exchange, if
it were operated alone, could not af-
ford without increasing its prices.
The remaining net profit is then
split two ways; 20%’Ys turned over to
BUPERS, and the remaining 80% is
given to Naval Station^' Keflavik for
allocation to Special Services.
A major portion of the percentage
given to BUPERS is used to pay for
the free movies used in the fleet and
our own Andrews Theater. BUPERS
spends approximately $2.3 million per
year on these movies!
Out of the money that goes to Spe-
cial Services comes funds for the
field house trophies, equipment, tour
programs^dnd the expense of opera-
ting and maintaining the fishing camp
at Whale Bay. This fund also' con-
tributes monfey toward the purchase
of the new camping equipment that is
now available to station personnel.
^ In last year’s fiscal report, our base
exchange sales totaled approximately
$3,600,000. This resulted in a net
profit of $260,000 to be divided be-
tween BUPERS and Special Services.
The percentage given to BUPERS
amounted to approximately $42,000,
while the naval station had returned
to it over $170,000. The enlisted
clubs on the base showed a net profit
of $50,000 which remained here for
the club’s reuse.
Perhaps one of the biggest prob-
lems in operating a retail store the
size of our exchange is keeping the
shelves stocked with items that every-
one is interested in. This is the task
of the(orde?Jclepartment.
Reordering is done on a monthly
basis, with the NRSO controlling the
purse strings. Each month, the total
sales from our exchange is sent to the
NRSO, who — after deducting our
profits and operating expenses (3%)
-- sends our office a statement indi-
cating how much may be spent that
month on reordering.
NRSO also distributes to overseas
exchanges a list of all merchandise
available to Navy exchanges (at re*
duced prices.J However, due to fi-
nancial and space limitations, it is
impossible for an exchange to order
everything that is made available by I
the manufacturers.
This is why you may find a particu-
lar garment in the retail clothing store,
but the color you like is not available
in your size. If our exchange were to
order every color in every size of a
particular style, there would not be
enough money left to reorder items in
the other 1 ^departments!
So, therefore what the exchange
offers is a variety of items in each
department, including, where possible,
different priced models of a particular
product. In this manner, the exchange
has on hand products which will fit
everyone’s pocketbook.
The actual reordering process, al-
though initiated here in Keflavik, is
carried out by the NRSO. Our ex-
change orders ^its stock by general
categories, ^or example, in the re-
ordering of records, a form is made
out requesting NRSO to supply us
with 200 country and western albums,
100 rock and roll albums, etc. NRSO,
in turn, contacts a supplier who then
sends them (NRSO) the hottest selling
records in each category in New York.
(This might possibly Be the reason
why that favorite record of yours
doesn’t turn up at the exchange7)jThis
is the same process used throughout
all Navy exchanges!}
It is possible, however, to request
particular items for stock in our ex-
change. There has to be enough local
interest to warrant ordering the item.(
For this.reason, if there is something
you would like to see stocked in the
if exchange?^ t would pay to mention it
to the store manager^
So if all this emphasis is placed
upon the reordering, how come the
retail store runs out of things?
This is basically a shipping prob-
lem. As mentioned earlier, orders
are placed on a monthly basis. How-
ever, due to the numerous shipping
and labor problems on the East Coast,
it takes an order from two to three
months to arrive. With this delay in
mind, reordering is normally planned
six^ months in advance.
ft^But even with this advanced plan^
ning, it is not an uncommon occurance'1
for an order to miss a ship and wind
up sitting on a pier for an extra month
or two. :