European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 18, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 letters the stars and stripes cafes explains Supply demand problems _.  _ in in if try �t�n4lin to trip Noti Filc if Kii Divorl m  think i be got it figured out. The real Mission of the commissaries and exchanges is to make us appreciate America so that we will defend her with vigor. They do it by making us live like russians. We go into the stores and face empty shelves or shelves filled with hundreds of boxes of unpopular products instead of the ones we want. We get dresses for 10-year-old girls with necks Only big enough for 5 year Olds. We go weeks without Basic items like Pota toes and typewriter paper. We learn to Hoard grabbing two of anything at All on the rare occasions when we see them because we know we May not see them again. We see school supplies arrive weeks late. We stand in Long lines for everything. We go to the unofficial Economy paying higher prices for substitutes just to get by. We write to beg overseas relatives for help. We see shelves emptied for management s convenience before inventories without regard to our hunger. We see How centralized management overcomes local common sense As when inventory Days coincide with scheduled deliveries so that shortages can last an extra week. No other americans Are privileged As we Are to experience what life in a soviet style Economy is really like. It is a real Eye opener i must admit. Enough humor. Let s speak bluntly. We All know there Are excuses for every one of these things so i m not interested in hearing details from Exchange or commissary officials. The Bottom line is that managers get paid to invent ways of getting around All of the problems so that they won t need excuses at least not every Day. Free world civilian businessmen Don t seem to have any trouble keeping overseas products in Stock so the Ocean is no excuse. One just has to order More and order earlier a concept that seems to have totally escaped commissary and Exchange management. Hon Estly any civilian business that was managed this ineffectively would go bankrupt. In t it about time somebody in authority cried enough and started whipping our retail services into shape How can we convince our foes that we could win a War when we Are blatantly incapable of running grocery stores of course if this is a plan to make us appreciate american life it s working too Well. Most people i know cannot wait to get out of the european theater. Is that the reaction we want Harry f. Noyes ii location withheld editor s note we received two replies to this letter. The first is from col. Donald e. Gilbert vice commander he cafes Europe let s face it no organization is perfect and we won t time if you see something that needs to be fixed let try to make that claim either. What we do claim is we will do our Best to provide service to each and every one of our 724,000 customers in Europe. With your own experience in Europe i am certain you understand some of the challenges we face. First look at All the potential customers cafes has. They Start at Newborn and go right on up. Their tastes and preferences Are As varied As the number of cities towns states and countries they come from. The average age is just Over 24, so we do tend to concentrate on items that have the great est Appeal to that age group. At the same time we have thousands of items in inventory to try to meet a Broad Range of individual desires. Us  s note the second reply is from col. Neil w. Meoni commander european commissary Region . Army troop support Agency speaking for the army commissary system we do not believe that the situation is As dire As you depict. Yes there Are times when we Are out of items. Yes we Are sometimes stuck with items that do not sell As Well As we expected. And yes customers Are often faced with Long lines when checking out at their commissary. But this is by no Means the Way of life in our commissaries. Suffice it to say that we try to do something about All these situations. Ordering More and ordering ear Lier unfortunately is not the easy solution that it., i i a lie  is him m Caqaj Aurum in Inot every store can carry every available item certain organizations throughout the department of items Are required. Depending on the Type and size of � to Chortan in Tima be required the Typ facility. Other items available where you shop Are based on the customer profile of that area. The customer profile reflects individual differences using previous Purchase history and customer inputs to the manager in the form of customer comment forms advisory councils and direct communication. I have also found store managers very willing to make special orders for items not routinely carried in Stock. Getting All these items to our 2,200 retail outlets in Europe is a full time Job. To improve our efficiency cafes undertook a major project to streamline our warehouse operations. Honestly we had a lot of bugs which caused some inventory problems and As a result some items were not on the store shelves but sitting in a warehouse. In other cases when an order is placed by a store the amount ordered is based on previous Pur Chase history. Sometimes actual demand is More than anticipated. Since the drop in the Dollar against the Deutsche Mark we experienced far More demand than we were prepared to meet. You guessed it we ran out of some merchandise and we had to go to the manufacturers to increase our orders. Unfortunately there is no easy solution to filling the Supply pipeline for some items. For clothes orders Are placed at least six months ahead of when you see them in the store. The same is True for Christmas toys and seasonal sports items. Right now with the arrival of the Spring summer merchandise we feel we Are catching up with the demands for More clothing at lower prices. The Bottom line is yes we recognize areas where we have room to improve. More importantly we Are work ing hard to make those improvements. Like other organizations As we fix today s problems we will probably discover new ones tomorrow. In the mean defense Are looking for ways to shorten the time it takes from ordering to delivery but at this time it takes four to six months from the time a commissary officer submits an order to receive it. While a commissary officer can certainly predict things like seasonal demand and troop build up other factors like the rapid decline in the value of the Dollar that we experienced last year and their consequences Are not As easy to Forsee so far in the future. It s also important to note that we can t just order More when we have no idea of How quickly the product will sell. We have a limited amount of warehouse and shelf space. Also if we order too much of an item too soon we May be stuck with outdated products. That s not fair to customers either. The commissary system is an appropriated fund system that Sells merchandise at Cost. Those two fac tors make it a completely different Enterprise than one that makes a profit or loss and can raise or lower its prices to suit the situation. The items that Are found on your commissar shelves Are bought with monies from the Stock fund a revolving account that is replenished by the sales in the commis sary. Your surcharge dollars Are used for such things As building new commissaries and buying supplies for the operation of the commissary. Funds appropriated by con Gress Are used to pay the salaries of the people w to work in and run your commissary. Like All other government organizations we must bite the budgetary Bullet to ensure that we stay within our allocated funds. We urge you to become a member of or attend your local commissary Council. Your commissary officer can let you knew when and where the Council meets. The commissary Council provides an Avenue for our customers to work with commissary management in solving prob lems. Often times a new viewpoint provides a fresh perspective. Thank you for writing and voicing your opinion. Air charter service replies to complaint pact with soviets outlined this letter is intended for the Benefit of those who do not consider the following two important aspects when planning a trip to or from the United states Fine print on various contract documents. Pros and cons when choosing aces As opposed to pan am. It is Seldom possible to be 100 percent sure two to three months ahead of the actual flight that we will leave and come Back on a certain Date. If you Are one of those do not choose aces. Go with such airlines As pan am at military rates. My sons in California had to change the flight sched ule. The change took place about six weeks prior to the previously booked flights with aces. Happily when i called aces there were two cancellations that would accommodate my sons. Aces would not take my Reser vation Over the phone this was a reschedule. They told me to come to their office. When i did that one hour later the seats had been sold. I had purchased a flight cancellation policy effective Only within 14 Days before the actual flight Date for $50 each ticket so out of a $300 Deposit they retained $160 cancellation fee of $15 per ticket per night and $ 100 insurance. Fortunately both pan am and Lufthansa had Mili tary rate seats available with flexibility and a professional customer relations business climate in addition. I feel that this time i paid a $ 160 fee for a course in consumer affairs is. Business Community. It has certainly taught me to Analyse time change Legal and Cost factors More carefully and be aware that a 10 cent savings today might Cost me $1 tomorrow. From now on i will Only Deal with the business Community that must compete to stay in business thus offering More in More ways than one. Andrew a. Wrote ski Offenbach West Germany editor s note Walter b. Mccarthy of american charter Enterprise services replies Fine print is not a Novelty with aces. The person should look at the Fine print on pan am s ticket. As a regulated business we Are no different from pan am i that we must establish guidelines for the Passen Ger sponsor to go by. We have to be firm about these even As pan am does. But we do not sell the same kind of transportation As pan am and our brochure Points out clearly the important terms of reference. We take literally hundreds of reservations a Layover the phone. Many people never follow through on the reservation and we firmly Tell them in Advance the reservation will be held Only for three Days. In the Case of Date changes and cancellations we insist that the sponsor put in writing either by mail or in an office the change or cancellation. You would be amazed i m sure at the disgruntled sponsor who has had a falling out with the passenger or vice versa and Calls in to cancel but then has a reconciliation. If we accepted an unverified change or cancellation on the phone which was never followed through can t you just imagine the chaos in our booking system so we Don t hold seats for Date changes and we Don t cancel passengers when called in to our reservations. Seats Are sold on a first come first served basis. Now your complaint is absolutely right that a per son should choose pan am if he needs flexibility beyond the terms offered in our Charters. If he in t 100 percent sure of the flight dates two to three month ahead of departure he should Book with pan am. On the other hand if he wants a cheaper rate try  Are Happy to change dates when it is done in an orderly fashion and within our guidelines. Our refund Protection plan is terrific. It takes Al the worry out of cancelling in the last 15 Days. There is no need for this plan beyond 15 Days because you can cancel with Only a penalty of $30 per round trip seat. The $50 per round trip seat refund Protection is a voluntary  Admire pan ant and Lufthansa and agree they Are professional and do a Good Job. I believe we have a ton of passengers because we too Are professional extremely competitive and do a Good Job for those whore looking for what we can offer. Too True our serv ices Are not for everyone and then the scheduled air line is the route to travel. I am interested in knowing Why soviet officers can buy items from the Frankfurt Exchange. Recently i saw a soviet military Liaison vehicle parked in the Exchange Complex. I approached a Mili tary policeman and he said they know about it and it happens a lot. I am very confused. We in the military Are told to Call such a sighting in and Here they Are with us buying articles which Are intended for the . Military and the nato allies. I was told by the maps that it is Normal. I do not believe this. I would really like an answer on this be cause i think that it is not fair for All of us. I would really like to see an answer for something that we Are told to be on guard for. Name withheld Mainz West Germany editor s note a Headquarters Usa eur spokesman replies under the provisions of the april 5, 1947, Hiibner Malinin agreement which established the . And soviet military Liaison Mission members of the soviet military Liaison Mission Frankfurt Are authorized to Purchase . Products. Reciprocal rights exist for . Military Liaison Mission members serving in the soviet sector. Usa eur has designated the Frankfurt area shop Ping Center As the one where soviet Liaison members May exercise their right to Purchase goods. There exists a single exception they May not buy any . Military equipment or uniform items. Although soviet Liaison members May be seen frequently at the Frankfurt Exchange All . Personnel still have an obligation to report sightings. All letters to the editor must contain the full printed name and address of the writer and must be signed. We do not read unsigned letters but we will withhold your name on request and protect your privacy. All letters Are subject to editing