Question: What method of payment do you use in the bookstore?
Answer: Cash, Check, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express
Question: How much cash do you start with in your registers?
Answer: Each register starts with 9-$10s, 16-$5s, 30-$1s, 40 quarters, and 20 each of dimes, nickels and pennies.
Question: How do you pick which products to carry?
Answer: We carry only books, music, small group studies, bibles, and message CD’s and DVD’s. We choose not to carry any fiction or gift items. Our ministry staff is encouraged to make recommendations, keeping in mind that we want to stay mission-focused.
Question: What is your return policy?
Answer: Opened music, single message CD’s, and opened message series are not returnable. Returns on all other products can be made within 30 days with a receipt. We try to show grace when we can. Defective merchandize is exchanged.
Question: How do you manage inventory?
Answer: We manage inventory through a software system called POSIM (Point of Sale /Inventory Management). It is from a company called Ensign. It comes in a Mac and Windows version. We use the Mac version. A physical inventory is done twice a year.
Question: How do you use volunteers?
Answer: Volunteers are used extensively. They run registers, help customers, assemble and produce products, and send out Web orders. Our ministry could not operate without a volunteer corps.
Question: How do you recruit volunteers?
Answer: We have two or three Sundays set aside each year when attendees can sign up to volunteer in the various ministries. Each ministry sets up a booth in the main hallway. If we need additional volunteers during the year, we can use the bulletin to enlist and pre-service computer graphics to help.
Question: How do you care for the volunteers?
Answer: Monthly newsletters, two major dinner/fun events and a large Christmas event, birthday cards, card and/or flowers for deaths/births, and product discounts are all methods we use to keep the volunteers feeling cared for and enthusiastic about serving.
Question: How do you burn CD’s?
Answer: We use CD printers to preprint the CD title for the upcoming Sunday message. We have CD burning towers that burn the message onto these preprinted CD’s on Sunday morning. The CD master comes out of the studio within 5 minutes and is then duplicated by our volunteers.
Question: How much do you charge for the CD’s?
Answer: $3.00 for a single message CD