Archived Attn GSTLs/GSAs: PO Question

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BadWolf4531

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I'm looking to clarify what current Best Practice is on Purchase Order transactions. My GSTL and I have conflicting opinions on this, and when we look on Workbench the information appears to be outdated.

Back in the day when a purchase order came through, the guest had to present a duplicate form; Target kept one copy, and the guest kept the other. It's my understanding that this practice changed a few years ago, and that the store no longer needs to keep a copy of the PO. I've worked in two stores that follow this practice, which is why I think the Workbench page I found is outdated (it still says to keep one copy of the purchase order form).

Where my GSTL and I disagree is this......
When I do a purchase order, I have the cashier ring up the items, I verify that the items meet the requirements listed on the PO and that the total does not exceed the PO amount. I then scan the barcode from the binder, type in the PO #, the guest signs on the card reader, and a normal receipt prints out for the guest, with tax and the 5% automatically deducted (the only POs that ever come through are from school corps). Done.

My GSTL tells me we have to ring up all PO transactions as Tax Exempt (meaning we have to K5 it and spend 2 extra minutes typing in all of the organization info first), before scanning the binder. This way, a Tax Exempt slip prints and we get credit for the tax exempt transaction.

This method seems redundant, since Target already has the organization info if they are already in the binder. Plus, the tax is still deducted automatically when it's a school corp. Any other GSTLs or GSAs able to clear this up for me?
 
We never EVER rang P.O.'s as Tax Exempt before scanning the binder. Of course, it may vary from state to state on what the correct method is of doing P.O.'s (but I doubt it).
 
I've always rang them as Tax-Exempt, never knew that it was done automatically by scanning the barcode in the binder.

As for the forms, they usually have two sheets one normal sized piece of paper, and a smaller piece stapled to it, we usually keep the smaller sheer and put it in the same envelope that tax exemption slips go in at the end of the night. We don't keep the large full-size sheet they bring in though.
 
Ringing it as tax exempt is redundant as the tax automatically comes off when the agency's barcode is scanned.
Our guests always had 2 parts of the PO & we kept a copy with a receipt copy stapled to it. Those went into the green media envelopes under "purchase orders/vouchers".
Our cashiers would call over the GSA/GSTL so we could fetch the binder & help process the purchase. Afterwards, we printed the duplicate receipt to attach to the paperwork we kept.
During the holidays, lots of care agencies shopped our store so I'd sometimes set up a register with GSA/GSTL or GSTM to process them all. Agencies loved it (& it made my HR happy).
 
I've only had one since I've worked here and have only knowm about one or two more. The one I had ended up not going through likely because the state owed Target money (paying bills isn't something this state is known for) so it was denied. Oh, the guest and the agency were not happy.
 
In 4+ years, most of which were spent as a cashier, I can't remember whether or not I've ever had a purchase order transaction.
 
Weird, they're way more common here, though the last time I did one that guest in question told me I'd checked her out the last 4 times she'd come and that she intentionally went to me when she saw me because I always did the PO's w/o a hassle whereas she had had many others not know how to do them and have them take ages to finish.

I think I do a PO every month or so. During the school year anyway, so probably 8-10 a year.
 
One summer we had a couple of hurricanes sweep thru so we had LOTS of folks coming in with vouchers/POs.
I had just updated all our scan sheets for our state & several surrounding ones.
My ETL even sent me to 2 sister stores to update & train their front end on POs.
 
Huh, I wonder what the binder is? I have never done an order with a PO but have seen a gstl do one. There was no binder used.
 
We have a binder, but we also have a copy of the booklet attached to a cork board with a tack in our supply closet.
 
The tax exempt comes off with the barcode so there's no need to do the whole tax exempt dance. But recently we've had a couple of school districts with different issues. Apparently someone was using the benefit of the PO without the benefit of permission so now when one of these school districts comes in, we have to call for authorization. It's a real pain in the butt, because the authorization people (71?) don't know anything about it so I have to call the 800 number in the scan book and have them tell me I should call 71? for authorization but they'll do it for me this time.

Yes, it's another brilliant example of Target's help desk. ;)

At any rate, search on Workbench for purchase order/vouchers. There's a scan code available for all the voucher recipients in your State. Copy this and keep it at guest service. Typically, when it's time to pay, just scan the bar code and everything gets paid for. We were told that we don't have to keep a copy of the purchase order, with the exception of the two school districts mentioned above.
 
At any rate, search on Workbench for purchase order/vouchers. There's a scan code available for all the voucher recipients in your State. Copy this and keep it at guest service. Typically, when it's time to pay, just scan the bar code and everything gets paid for. We were told that we don't have to keep a copy of the purchase order, with the exception of the two school districts mentioned above.

This is how I do it already. My GSTL just seemed to think it was more complicated.
 
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