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Textbook Nerd Calculates Orders
04/23/04
Dressed like a scientist—white lab coat, pocket protector, and large black-framed glasses—Scott Franz put on a show during ConTEXT and delivered an important message about simultaneously improving sell-through and customer service at college stores. In his session, Confessions of a Textbook Nerd, Franz explained how his self-derived calculation method is based on class enrollment numbers."As a textbook manager, you really only need to make one quantity decision each term that takes care of all your problems," said Franz, a textbook manager who claimed to have saved Gonzaga University Bookstore, Spokane, WA, more than $70,000 since implementing his program a few years ago. He's most proud that he was able to improve the bookstore's relationships with faculty and students.
Franz calls his calculation method the Textbook Decision Program. Using a Texas Instrument TI-83 Plus calculator he derived his method, only after years of costly mistakes. During his ConTEXT session he confessed to his three biggest mistakes when it came to trying to find the best way to order the right number of textbooks. He said the goal is to have enough books for students and also not to have any excess after the buying period.
Franz, who has a degree in history and is working on his MBA, confessed that before developing his calculation method he:
Liked to cut faculty orders—"Faculty estimates are so unreliable," he said. "Our returns were so high that I had to get tough." But he also admitted he was "cutting orders that should have actually been increased."
Relied too much on sales history—He used sales history to make adjustments to faculty estimates. "The problem is that books are rarely used enough to establish any history," he said.
Was "suckered" into sell-through—"I went so far as to adjust faculty estimates by the sell-through rate to arrive at my order quantities," he said.
Enrollment is the key to making good order quantity decisions, according to Franz. He said the best place to start is at the registrar's office. He cautions that you should never use average enrollments as your order quantity.
Franz demonstrated the step-by-step calculations to determine textbook purchases during his session. He also offered to program a TI-83 for anyone interested in his method. All you have to do is contact him, mail him your calculator (cost about $100) to program, and he'll return it to you with detailed instructions and sample problems.
Franz even helped a colleague create an Excel program that does some of the same calculations. Keith Penner, textbook director at The Co-op Store, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, said Franz's method has changed his life. "I don't have to agonize over this stuff anymore," he said.
Franz can be reached at (509) 323-6861 or at franz@gonzaga.edu.
Sound Off!
Madeline De Long (delongm@smba.org) 4/28/2004 3:17:50 PM
I also would be interested in the Excel method.
Gloria Samuels (g.samuels@uleth.ca) 4/23/2004 10:39:13 AM
Scott Franz was like a breath of fresh air!! I didn't make it to his presentation but I did meet him at the airport and got the scoop there. It was so exciting!!
Craig Conolly (cconolly@knox.edu) 4/23/2004 10:37:25 AM
I would sure like to learn more about this. Can it be done without the TI-83? Could the Excel program be posted?
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