Rental/Sale, Rental Only, Sale, Hour meter and other types of inventory items are defined by their Type in the item record.
Rental Items:
All rental items can be sold from your rental inventory unless their type is set to Rental – No Sale.
If the rental item is sold, the price in Sell Price field of the item record is the price that will be charged. This “suggested” selling price may in most cases be overridden by the counter person by changing the Price column on the contract processing screen.
If an item is rented it must have period (hrs) and rate information in the rental rate table. This table may have up to ten time periods and ten corresponding rates. For example:
|
Period |
Hours |
Rate |
Comment |
|
(1) |
2 |
7.00 |
Minimum |
|
(2) |
4 |
10.00 |
|
|
(3) |
24 |
15.00 |
Daily |
|
(4) |
168 |
45.00 |
Weekly |
|
(5) |
672* |
90.00 |
Monthly (See Note below) |
|
(6) |
0 |
0 |
|
|
(7) |
0 |
0 |
|
|
(8) |
0 |
0 |
|
|
(9) |
0 |
0 |
|
|
(10) |
0 |
0 |
|
*Note: If 744 is entered instead of 672 the program will interpret this as a full calendar month instead of a 4 week “month.”
When an item is rented out (opened) the estimated rental time period must be entered to the nearest hour. You may not enter minutes or fractions of hours. However, when the item is returned (closed) the program will automatically charge for actual time out to the nearest minute, or you can override the rental time period by entering a new period in hours.
The default rate code marked in Parameters (Chapter 9 – Configuration) determines how the program computes rental charges. You can override the default rate code on an individual item by selecting that rate code in the item record. The rate codes are as follows:
Rental Equipment Register (RER) (2) - If the rental period is one 24-hour day or less, the calculation is the same as the 24-Hour Code. Otherwise, the actual hours are adjusted using the “Clock overtime” parameter. The adjusted hours are then used to compute the charges as described for the 24-Hour Code.
Party Rate (3) - If the rental period is one day or less, the calculation is the same as the 24-Hour Code. Otherwise, a minimum of 24 hours is charged for everyday late, but will allow the item to be returned anytime during the day. This is the most common setting for Party Rentals, because they usually charge by event rather than time out to the minute.
Iterative (4) - For any time period the largest period hours less than the charge hours are charged. The period hours are subtracted from the charge hours and the process starts over again to find the highest rate for the number of hours left. This is continued until there is no more charge hours left. Each of the period hours is then added together to get the total charge. This rate code will definitely charge the highest rate and could be difficult to explain to your customers.
24-Hour (0) - The program compares the rental hours to the Period entries. If a match is found, then the corresponding Rate will be used. If the rental hours out fall between two periods, the hourly rate for the smaller period is used to compute the charges. Then the smaller of the computed rate or the next rate in the table is used.
Interpolative (1) - If the rental period is one day or less, the calculation is the same as the 24-Hour Code. Otherwise, any hours in excess of a 24-hour day are adjusted based on the “Clock overtime” parameter. The resulting hours are then compared to the Period entries in the table. If a match is found, then the corresponding Rate will be used. If the resulting hours fall between two periods, then a linear interpolation is done to compute the charges. Then the smaller of the computed rate and the next rate in the table is used.
No Hourly Overtime (5) - For any item that you do not want to charge overtime by the hour on, you can set this as the default rate code in the item record. You can also set this as the store’s default rate code in parameters if you do not charge hourly overtime on any of your inventory.
As an example, if “Clock overtime” is set to 6 hours in a day and 5 days in a week, a 49 hour rental using the example price table on the prior page would produce the following charges:
RER - $32.50 (1 Day + 1 Day + 1/6 x $15.00)
Party Rate - $30.00 (1 Day + 1 Day)
Iterative - $33.50 (1 Day + 1 Day + 1/2 x $7.00)
24-Hour Rate - $30.63 (1 Day + 1 Day + 1/24 x $15.00)
Interpolative - $20.83 (1 Day + $30.00/6 + 1/6 x $5.00)
Another possibility allows for a set “extra charge for extra time”. If a period is defined that is less than or equal to the previous period, then it will be interpreted as the extra time period and the associated rate will be the charge for the extra period. For example, the following is a valid price table:
|
Period |
Hours |
Rate |
Comment |
|
(1) |
2 |
10.00 |
Minimum = $10 for 2 hours. |
|
(2) |
1 |
3.00 |
$3 for each additional hour up to… |
|
(3) |
24 |
22.00 |
$22 for the first day. |
|
(4) |
24 |
18.00 |
$18 for each additional day up to… |
|
(5) |
168 |
76.00 |
$76 per week. |
|
(6) |
672 |
228.00 |
$228 for the first month (4 weeks). |
|
(7) |
24 |
7.00 |
$7 for each day thereafter |
|
(8) |
0 |
0 |
|
|
(9) |
0 |
0 |
|
|
(10) |
0 |
0 |
|
Rental - Hour Metered Item:
A metered item will prompt the counter person for an hour–meter reading in tenths of hours each time it is rented and returned. The qty field must be 1. The system will compute the price based on the maximum of time rented or meter hours used. The number of hours the item can be used within daily, weekly and monthly time periods is defined in the Program Parameters under Meter Overtime.
Meter overtime is calculated this way:
1. Calculate the Meter Hours - ((Meter Hours) / (Hours In a Day x Days In a Week)) x (168) (this converts the meter to 24 hour days)
2. Calculate the Meter Hours Charge - Using the above hours result and your Rate Formula and Item Rate Structure.
3. Calculate the Hours Out Charge – Using the actual Hours Out and your Rate Formula and Item Rate Structure.
4. Calculate Overtime Charge = ((Meter Hours Charge – Hours Out Charge) * (% charge for meter overtime)).
5. Final Rate - (Hours Out Charge + Overtime Charge)
Example 1 for Iterative Rate (1Day = $10 1Week = $30 1Month = $90) item out for 9 days with 80 hours of meter usage:
Parameters set to 8 Hours in a day, 5 Days in a week, and 100% charge for meter overtime.
1. ((80) / (8 x 5)) x (168) = 336
2. 336 hours = $60 in charges
3. 9 Days (216 hours) = $50
4. (($60 – $50) * (100%)) = $10
5. ($50 + $10) = $60 Final Rate
Example 2 for RER Formula Rate (1Day = $10 1Week = $30 1Month = $90) item out for 9 days with 120 hours of meter usage:
Parameters Meter Overtime set to 10 Hours in a day, 5 Days in a week, and 75% charge for meter overtime.
Parameters Clock Overtime set to 6 Hours in a day, 4 Days in a week.
1. ((120) / (10 x 5)) x (168) = 403
2. 403 hours = $82.50 in charges
3. 9 Days (216 hours) = $45
4. (($82.50 – $45) * (75%)) = $28.13
5. ($45 + $28.13) = $73.13 Final Rate
Rental - Usage Items:
Some “rental” items actually have two chargeable components. Diamond blade rentals usually fall into this category. For example, many rental stores “rent” diamond blade either for a daily, weekly and monthly charge or a minimum rental charge and charge an additional amount for blade wear or usage that is generally measured in thousandths of an inch. The usage item may also be used for items such as helium tank rental/usage. The qty field must be 1.
Rental - Header Items:
The Rental Header item is used to group like serialized items together. The Rental Header item would be rented on a reservation contract and when the contract is Sent Out, the counter person would be prompted to select the serialized item that is being sent out.
Rental - Accessory Items:
The Rental Accessory item is designed to rent an item either for your normal rates or for free. An example where this would be useful is if you rent heavy equipment trailers and also provide them free if the renter is getting a backhoe. In that case for inventory control you’ll want the same item on all contracts but if you rent a backhoe you want to make the rent price zero. The only difference operationally between a Rental/Sale item (above) and the Rental Accessory Item is that the program will ask the counter person “Do you want to charge for this item?” each time it is rented unless it is automatically added via a link or kit for which no amount will be charged. The preferred method instead of using an Accessory item would be to use the discount under the Item Kits.
Rental – No Sale Items:
An item that may be rented but not sold such as items that you have on consignment should have an item type of Rental – No Sale. Pricing computations for these items is identical to Rental/Sale items (above) except that the counter person cannot sell these items.
Rental - Miscellaneous Items:
The Rental Miscellaneous item is designed to rent an item that is not in your inventory. You will be requested to enter the minimum, daily, weekly, and monthly rates for the item. This item is meant for minimal use since you lose historical analysis of the different items rented under a Miscellaneous Rental item.
Rental - Coupon Items:
This item type gives a way to offer a credit on a contract and have it reduce rental instead of sale income. It could be used to offer defective equipment credits. For example suppose you want to have a defective item credit. The item Key maybe any 12 characters, so choose DEFECTIVE. The item name can be DEFECTIVE ITEM CREDIT, qty should be 1 and the item type must be Rental - Coupon. The Sell Price field must have a negative selling price that will limit the maximum credit amount i.e., -200.00 for $200.00. To use this feature you simply add the DEFECTIVE item to a contract. The program will prompt the counter person to enter in the credit amount. Of course the program will automatically store month, year and lifetime credits given away and the number of times this credit item was used.
Rental – Package Items:
This item type gives a way to group a package of items. The components of the package are listed in the Item Kit. The price is automatically calculated from the price of the kit items. The quantity available is also computed from the availability of the kit items.
Rental – Dynamic Quantity:
This item type gives a way to dynamically compute the quantity available based on the quantity required of items in the package. The price is calculated just like a regular rental item.
Sales Items:
An item that may be sold but not rented such as blades, sandpaper, parts and sale only inventory must have an item type of Sales Items. If a Sell Price has been entered into the item record and the item is sold, the price displayed on the contract screen will be that price or some multiple thereof unless you have defined a multi-level sale price as defined below.
Some stores offer discounts if items are bought in larger quantities. There are ten “disc qty:” and ten corresponding “price:” fields that are used to define quantity discounts for sale items. For example, you may want to charge $9.95 for a 12” abrasive chop saw blade in quantities of 1-4, $8.95 in quantities 5-9 and $7.95 in quantities of 10 or more. If so, enter 9.95 in the sell price and enter this into the item record as follows:
Disc qty: Price
5 8.95
10 7.95
Sales - Fractional Quantity:
This item is designed to sell items such as fuel in tenths or hundredths. When selling a Fractional Item you will be allowed to enter a decimal value. Otherwise it is the same as a sale item.
Sales - Miscellaneous Items:
In many cases you may want to “on the fly” enter in a sale price for an item. For example, suppose you just purchased a wheelbarrow full of small hand tools with their “suggested retail” prices printed on each item. There are 25 different tools and you don’t want to take the time to put them in as 25 different sale items because this is a one-time purchase. In this case you may want to add one item to your database with a name of “SMALL HAND TOOL SPECIAL.” Use whatever Key you wish but be sure the item type is Sales – Miscellaneous, qty 9999 and do not put in a sell price. Whenever you “sell” this item, the program will query you for quantity, sell price and you’ll be able to type in a new name for the item if you wish. The price that the counter person can enter will be anywhere from the purchase price up. The default price will be the sell price.
Sales - Labor:
The Sales Labor item is used to charge labor to a Work Order or Internal Repair Order. When the Sales Labor item is selected, the counter person is prompted to select the date the labor was done and enter the hours worked.
Sales - Parts:
An item that is used for repair parts should have an item type of Sales – Parts. The sell price for parts is the same as regular sales items. By default parts items do not show on the Item More screen when writing a normal contract. You can have parts display by clicking the Show Parts check box. When writing an Internal Repair Order or a Customer Work Order, the parts will be displayed.
Sales - Percentage Items:
The Percentage Sales Item charges a percentage of the line item directly above it on the contract. This is useful for line item taxing such as road tax. Put the percentage amount in the sell price field. For example, enter 8.75 in the sell price to charge 8.75% of an item. Then put the percentage sale item in the link field of the item you want to charge the percentage on.
Sales - Header:
The Sales Header item is used to group like serialized sale items together. When the Sales Header item is selected, the counter person is prompted to select the serialized item that is being sold.
Non-rental Asset:
The Non-rental Asset item is used for items that you want to depreciate and keep track of purchase price and dates; however, the item is not a rental item. This is most commonly office equipment, shop fixtures, and delivery trucks.
Work Order Item:
The Work Order Item is used for items that are added to Customer Work Order contracts. This can be a generic item such as WO-Small Engine or a specific item for a customer.