Friday, June 29, 2007

End of quarter purchasing

It's 4:45 Friday afternoon and I am just pooped. Tomorrow is "end of Quarter" which means the company must try to ship (and bill) everything which isn't tied down. Anyone who has ever been in Sales or purchasing knows exactly what I mean (right Ralph??). One would imagine that planning would know exactly what products are required months in advance so that purchasing could procure them in time to meet end of quarter but unfortunately this is not so.

Every end of quarter I find myself scrambling to place some outrageous requirement which can take 2 or more weeks to get, but we need it the next day and every effort must be made to locate said product before I have to convince management that I have made every effort. Very frustrating and this week was no different, except that I was gone last week on vacation, so EVERYTHING caught up with me this week. My last nerve is frazzled.

I have been a buyer for 40 years now. Considering 4 quarters to a year, I have survived 160 end of quarters. One would think it would get easier but it's just not so. The older I get, the tougher it is.

The bottom line is that even though I really have 2 more years to work, I actually only have 8 more quarters to suffer. The number 8 really sounds very good to this tired mind.

3 comments:

Lynn said...

Good for you for looking at the 'glass 1/2 full' (only 8 more end of the quarters) instead of 1/2 empty (2 more years in hell):~)

Joan said...

Trust me...those 8 quarters will just fly by and then you'll never have to suffer again!

Travelin'Oma said...

The final countdown! Good luck!
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