The White Falcon - 08.04.1971, Blaðsíða 16

Many servicemen and their de-
pendents have misconceptions re-
garding the operations of the
Keflavik Navy Exchange. Our ex-
change facilities, like all other
exchanges, are managed through a
military chain of command. Over-
all authority for management con-
trol is vested in the Commander,
Supply Systems Command.
He in turn has delegated this
authority to the commanding offi-
cer of the Navy Resale Systems
Office (NRSO) in Brooklyn, N.Y.
It is the responsibility of this
office to maintain the two-fold
mission of base exchanges all
over the world of (1) providing a
convenient and reliable source
from which authorized patrons may
obtain, at the lowest practicable
price, articles and services for
their well being and contentment,
and (2) providing through pro-
fits, a source of funds to be
used for recreational purposes of
the base personnel.
All money taken in by our ex-
change through sales is turned
over to the NRSO. This office
then deducts 3.2% of the total
sales profit to pay for equip-
ment for all Navy exchanges and
to pay for the operating costs of
the headquarters. This 3/2% is
actually returned to us in the
form of equipment, improvements,
and specialized services which
our exchange, if it were operated
alone, could not afford without
increasing its prices.
The remaining net profit is
then split two ways; 25% goes to
BuPers, and the remaining 75% is
given to the NavStaKef commanding
officer for allocation to the
recreation department.
A major portion of the percen-
tage given to BuPers is used to
pay for the free movies used in
the fleet and our own Andrews
Theater. BuPers spends approxi-
mately $2.3 million per year on
these movies!
Out of the money that goes to
the recreation department comes
funds for athletic trophies, e-
quipment, tour programs, etc.
This fund also contributes money
toward the purchase of the new
canping equipment that is now a-
vailable to station personnel.
In the last 12 months our ex-
change sales totaled $4,458,700.
These sales generated a net pro-
fit of $255,000 to be divided be-
tween BuPers and the recreation
department. The percentage given
to BuPers amounted to $58,750,
while the NavSta rec department
received $196,250. The EM clubs
on base showed a net profit of
$49,000, which is retained for
the clubs' reuse.
Perhaps one of the biggest
problems in operating a retail
store the size of our exchange is
keeping the shelves stocked with
items that everyone wants. This
is the task of the merchandise
department.
Reordering is done on a month-
ly basis, with the NRSO control-
ling the purse strings. Each
month, the total sales of our ex-
change is sent to the NRSO, who—
after deducting our profits and
operating expenses—sends our of-
fice a statement indicating how
much may be spent that month on
reordering.
NRSO also distributes to over-
seas exchanges a list of all mer-
chandise available to Navy ex-
changes. However, due to finan-
cial and space limitations, it is
impossible for an exchange to or-
der everything that is made a-
vailable from the manufacturers.
This is why you may find a
particular 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 20 re-
tail departments.
So what the exchange offers is
a variety of items in each deig
partment, including, where poss*
ble, different priced models of^
particular product. In this man-
ner, the exchange has on hand
products which will fit every-
ones pocketbook.
The actual reordering process,
although initiated here in Kefla-
vik, is carried out by the NRSO.
Our exchange orders its stock by
general categories. All foreign
exchanges send a monetary commit-
ment for each particular retail
department to NRSO. The commit-
ment's value is determined by
planned sales and stock to sales
ratios for each category. NRSO's
experienced buyers then purchase
merchandise up to the monetary
limit for all foreign exchanges
taking into consideration their
peculiarities such as climate.
This consolidated buying makes a-
vailable to the exchange patron
quality merchandise at the lowest
practicable price. A
It is possible, however,
request particular items f<^
stock in our exchange. There has
to be enough local interest to
warrant ordering the item. For
this reason, if there is some-
thing you would like to see in
stock in the exchange, please use
the suggestion box in the main
store or call the Navy exchange
suggestion recorder, Ext. 8186.
So if1 •all this emphasis is
placed upon reordering, how come
the retail store runs out of
things?
This is basically a shipping
problem. As mentioned earlier,
orders are placed on a monthly
basis. However, due to the num-
erous 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.
But, even with advanced plan-
ning once the merchandise arrives
if customer demand is greater
than anticipated, it takes 3-5
months to receive reordered mer-
chandise and then hopefully e-
nough was ordered to satisfy the
hard-to-determine mind.
The Keflavik Navy Exchange is
composed of employees dedicated
to customer satisfaction. The
exchange service to its patrons^
is improving, and will conting
to improve.
Dns
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WHITE