Return Launder by Item

Action: RETSERIAL

Overview

The return by item function is a WinTPS® function that allows for one of two tasks to be accomplished-

• Items are marked returned from stores/accounts/customers. The item’s order status will be changed to Laundry, Wait Laundry or Done. The status depends upon the Return to setting within the Stores/Accounts maintenance form and Auto-Launder item? checkbox setting for the Item Type being returned.
• Items NOT out on orders (tracked & non-tracked, see Item Types for more information) can be tagged for Laundry. Simply enter the serial number of tracked items or the Style & size of non tracked items. The status will become Laundry or Wait Laundry.

The status depends upon the Return to setting within the Stores/Accounts maintenance form and Auto-Launder item? checkbox setting for the Item Type being returned.

Hint: The Store/Account where the terminal/PC is located that is performing the item return will determine the Return to status of the item(s) being returned. WinTPS looks up the Return to rule for the location of the terminal/PC performing the return.

Hint: Items given a Wait Laundry status must be sent to Laundry via the Send to Laundry function.

Returning

To return items from orders, simply enter any ID/Serial number of any tracked item on the order. It's status on the order must be one of the following: Shipped, Received, Picked up, Returned or Shipped Back, otherwise WinTPS© will complain & not allow the item to be processed. Once entered & auto accepted, that item and ALL non-tracked items (if any) on the same order will be marked returned automatically and will be given a status of Wait Laundry, Laundry or Done.

The system will alert the operator to Items that have been marked with a RETIRED date in inventory and unavailable for rental. This allows the operator to properly handle the item. These items do not necessarily have to have been on an order. Also, when items in inventory have been marked unavailable for rental and DO NOT have a RETIRED DATE, the system will prompt the user to clear the inventory status and make the item available for rental. This is useful in situations where the item may have been placed on store display and is now being returned.

Note Item Statues are determined by system setting in the Store/Account form and the Item type form.

Note: In WinTPS Plant Production only (No WinTPOS) software installations that have a locally own store (not a WHOLESALE account) insure the Store/Account setting: 'Ship orders to:' is set to SHIPPED (not received) so the NO SHOW flag is not triggered when the order is eventually Returned in the WinTPS production system.

Note In larger service centers, multiple stations may be performing returns concurrently. When a item on a order is scanned concurrently on multiple workstations the system will display the scanned tracked item and all non-tracked items found on the order.

There is no negative side-effects of this behavior. The first station to actually complete the return will be successful at marking those items back in and they will be listed only on that stations Return/Laundry report when optionally printed. Orders with ALL non-tracked items (those without ID/Serial numbers) must be returned via the Return by Orde (production)r function.

Occasionally, items being returned are needed immediately for orders that are being assembled. These items are considered HOT. Hot items returned will display HOT within the grid’s note column. The operator should expedite those items thru laundry so they can quickly be made available for the new orders being assembled. WinTPS utilizes a formula for determining which items should be tagged as HOT: Total number rentable of style/size in inventory (TotRentable) – total number that cannot be assembled to a new order (NoAssembly) ( items with status of Wait Shipped, Shipped, Received, Picked Up, Shipped Back, Wait Laundry or Laundry cannot be assembled) – Total number of style/size with status of In Assembly (InAsm), i.e. (TotRentable – NoAssembly) – InAsm = difference. A positive difference indicates there is sufficient inventory to assemble onto new orders and a negative difference indicates a shortfall. A shortfall will cause WinTPS© to display the HOT message for the item.

Items being returned from orders are tagged for laundry when the ‘Return to’ Store/account setting is set to Laundry, Laundry by Type, Wait Laundry or Wait Laundry by Type.

The Laundry by Type and Wait Laundry by Type settings will first cause WinTPS to check the Item Type laundry setting Auto-Launder item? Checkbox to see if it is enabled (checked). Enabled, WinTPS will modify the order status of the item being returned to Wait Laundry or Laundry.

Items with a Wait Laundry Status must be sent to Laundry via the Send to Laundry function. Items in Laundry must be returned via the Return from Laundry function. Any older orders also containing the tracked item are set to status Done if they are not already marked Done. If the item being returned is marked as not available for rental in the inventory it is marked as available and the inventory status is cleared.

Lost Fees

This function does not create LOST fees. Items are assumed to be Late until they are marked returned via this form.

At some point Production management may wish run a report of all past due Orders, via the Orders Report->Orders. The status of the non-returned items on the order can manually be marked LOST and a LOST ITEM sales transaction in the amount of item's replacement cost can be manually added to that order's original ticket. The next time an invoice is printed for a wholesale account that has had new transactions created,i.e. LOST fees, the invoice will contain the fees/charges. At some point service center management must manually mark the inventory items LOST. Reports & dunning letters for wholesale accounts are provided by WinTPS© to help management make the LOST decisions.

Late Fees

If an item is returned late, and the late fee method is set to Retn (set in System/Store Setup – Rental Tab) ProfitSystem® computes a late fee as the daily late fee charge for the item type (on the Item Type form) times the number of days late. For Wholesale store/accounts the shipping Ret Days is added to the order's Return Date & not counted in the lost fee calculation.

If the late fee is set to Daily, then the late fee is computed when the entire order is returned, and is the total number of days late times the daily late fee, as set in System/Store Setup – Rental Tab). For Wholesale store/accounts the shipping Ret Days (set on the Shipping Method) is added to the order's Return Date).

Late fees are Sales transactions with a Store Style called “Late Fee” and are automatically created. Late Fee transactions obey the System Setting-> Rental Production-> Apply late fees to retail accounts when returning in production? Unchecked, Returning by Order (Production or Return by Serial, the system will NOT charge late fees for orders with RETAIL pricing/type Pickup at Store/Account. Check it will calculate and apply late fees to retail customer tickets.

Late Fees are entered onto the order’s ticket for the customer/account to pay. Of course a Late Fee may be manually adjusted as any other sales transaction. Late Fees for store/accounts with Pricing/Type of wholesale will be invoiced for the fees the next time a invoice for the account is printed.

No Shows

Occasionally, rental orders are placed and the customer does not pick it up. ProfitSystem© will tag those orders with a NO SHOW when returned with status of RECEIVED.

Mark Items for laundry

Track & Non Tracked Items NOT out on orders may be marked for cleaning as well. Just scan tracked items ID/Serial numbers or enter non-tracked items style, size & quantity. Those items entered will display within the grid. They will be given a Laundry or Wait Laundry status determined by the Item Type setting and the Store/Account of the terminal/PC location used for processing the return.

Batch/Bag Numbers

Batch/Bag numbers are a tracking & data entry tool allowing for items being returned from orders and/or send to Wait Laundry/Laundry to be grouped together. Batch/Bag numbers can be manually entered or computer generated.

Computer generated numbers are always unique and fulfills a service center’s need to distinguish between each time a group of items are returned.

Manually assigned Batch/Bag numbers may be reused and thus are NOT unique. WinTPS™ appends the current date as an aid to distinguish between manually assigned numbers, but numbers re-used on the same date cannot be distinguished between each other. This is not an problem for most service centers. Some companies will use laundry bags with imprinted numbers. Bag numbers can be changed while items are being entered on the grid. This is required if physical bags are being utilized and they become full. A new bag number can be entered and the items entered after the change will be assigned the new bag number.

Items may be sent to laundry by batch/bag number, see Send to Laundry topic for more information. Reports may be generated by batch/bag number that list the items contained within that batch/bag. See the Laundry Report for more information. Batch/Bag lookups are offered to the user and will display the batch/bag number and the date it was used.

Upon conclusion of an Return by Item session a Return report can be generated. The System Setting- Rental Production Tab “Print Return Report” determines if/when a return report is ran.

Return Date & Laundry Date

An item on a order ‘return date’ is automatically assigned by WinTPS® when the item is returned within the Return by Item or Return by Order functions. An item’s laundry date is set to the current date during the physical return of the item when it’s status is set to Done or Laundry (determined by the Store/Account ‘Return to’ setting). The laundry date of an item with a Wait Laundry status is set to the current date when it is sent to Laundry via the Send to Laundry function.

Grid

Lists the items returned during this session.

Fields

Return from Orders/Launder from Inventory…This drop-down selects what WinTPS© will do as serial #’s are scanned.

If Return from Orders is selected then serial numbers from orders that are out must be scanned. If a serial number is scanned then WinTPS will locate the most recent order out that has that item. If more than one order is out that has the item, the older orders are automatically changed to status Done. The most recent order is then added to the grid. If a serial number is entered that is not out on an order then WinTPS will display an error message.

If Launder from Inventory is selected then serial numbers must be scanned directly from inventory. As they are scanned they are taken from inventory and added to the bag for laundering. If a serial number is scanned that is out on an order then an error message is displayed and the item is not added to the grid.

Current Batch/Bag...Users have the option to assign a tracking number, called a batch/bag number, to a batch of items going to laundry. Batch/Bag numbers can save time when the items are being returned. The operator could enter only a batch/bag number to return every item from Laundry/Dry cleaning that was in that bag/batch. Batch/Bag numbers could be a method to audit laundry activity, which is particularly useful when using off site laundry services.

New Batch/Bag Number button...Allows the operator to create or change the bag number for the items to be returned.

The system will prompt for the number when a session is started and the user forgot to add one first. A user does not have to manually enter a number in when prompted. A blank prompt will cause the system to automatically create one.

Pressing this button during a session will allow for the creation of a new batch/bag number and all items entered after the change will have the new number.

Tracked Items

Serial Number...Enter the serial number of the item to return or send to laundry. System will display an alert and wait for user confirmation if scanned bar-code is invalid.

Non Tracked Items going to laundry

Style code...style number of non tracked item

Size code...size code of non-tracked item

Qty...quantity to send to laundry

General Info about number of Items returned

Tracked Items Entered... display only and shows total of tracked items entered in grid. Non-Tracked Items Entered...display only and shows total of non tracked items entered in grid.

Buttons

Un-Return Item...This function will remove the highlighted item from the return grid.

Return All Items...Completes the return process and marks all the items in the grid as returned, updating the status as outlined above and will print a Return Report based upon the System Setup Rental Return Report setting entered. A Return Report will list all items by batch/bag and item type returned including sub-rented items.

Done Button...Exits the form. The user is warned if items were scanned but Return All Items has not been pressed.