After the orders are filled and charged, they are checked on the order register. About once a week all of the unchecked numbers on the order register are compared with the unfilled orders. If an order should become lost, the fact would not remain unknown longer than one week's time.
It should always be remembered that in case an order is not completely filled and is "back ordered," the back order should always show the original order number in order to prevent confusion. A little practical experience will quickly show how wrong it is to use a new number for a back order.
=Back Orders.= In the problem of systematizing any kind of business, the question of back orders and the proper method of handling them is one of the most troublesome. Some firms do not wish an order blank returned to the warerooms after it has once been there, because they do not wish the wareroom or factory to know the prices which are placed on order blanks in the office after they have been received there for pricing, extending, and billing. Many firms therefore make an entirely new order to be returned to the factory or wareroom with the letter A used in connection with the order number, as follows: _1013A_. This of course delays the filling of the order until the back order is typewritten. If it is necessary to make a second back order, the same would read _1013B_. Other firms use the color scheme. This is a very good idea, as it indicates clearly to the order fillers old orders which should receive attention first.
Many important improvements in the order and billing methods have been inaugurated in recent years in the business of wholesale grocers. Formerly it was the custom, after the order had been numbered and recorded in the order register, to pass the orders out into the warehouse with the general understanding that they were to be filled as quickly as possible. The order fillers would generally start at the top floor and pick all of the items which were to be shipped, place them on a truck and take them to the next lower floor, and follow this plan until the order was entirely filled. In stores above a certain size this resulted in considerable delay.
The first improvement was to send the orders to the shipping department, where they were split up by clerks known as _Slippers_, who wrote on slips the items which were to be taken out of stock, each slip representing the goods to be gotten out on a certain order from a certain floor. This idea allowed the order fillers on all floors to work simultaneously, and resulted in considerable saving of time.