RECORD STORE TALES Part 199: Hooray! Hooray! It’s Stock Transfer Day!
A couple weeks ago, I was out driving, rocking to Kiss’ Hotter Than Hell. Suddenly I realized the car in front of me was being driven by my former boss at the record store. We happened to be going in the same direction. I followed him as he pulled into the old record store, where he turned off. He didn’t see me wave but from the stop lights, I could see him go to the back of the vehicle and pull out a big box of discs for the record store.
This brought back a vivid memory — Stock Transfer Day! STD!
Twice a week, the local store managers were required to travel to a central location to pick up stock from the other stores. This stock could include special orders being transferred from store to store. The majority of the boxes were full of stuff for our shelves, and fresh jewel cases since we went through hundreds a week. These would fill the trunk, pile up on the back seats, and once in a while the passenger seat too.
The managers decided to do stock transfer on Monday nights, and Thursday afternoons. I hated Monday nights and Thursday afternoons. The only good thing about stock transfer was the chance to see some of my store manager friends, such as the eternally interesting Joe. It was during one of these stock transfers that I witnessed the immortal Open Door Piss.
What bugged me most about the stock transfer arrangements were that the time, gas and mileage on our cars was considered to be “part of our salaries”. This part of it really sucked, as you could spend a good chunk of your night hanging around doing nothing, waiting for someone. Sometimes a traffic accident or tie-up on the highway could screw somebody’s route home. That’s just the way this city was(n’t) planned out.
So while you’re waiting for someone with some orders that you absolutely need, you’re sitting doing nothing, burning your own time. This happened frequently in winter, but in the summer too. While this is ensuing, at home your porch is unoccupied and lacking in beverages. And that is a shame.
Next time on Record Store Tales…
200th episode!!
mikeladano.com 
You could spend your time chatting with the friendly “Distribution Centre” manager, giving him headaches and making messes.
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Why didn’t they just UPS everything and write it off as a business expense?
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That was a lot lot lot more expensive to them.
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You missed the part about business expense. Yeah maybe it’d be expensive up front, but I’d wager that’s a recoupable expense. At any rate, they didn’t see it like that and, instead, they took advantage of their staff. Boy do I wish that was a tale of unusual circumstances. It isn’t, it happens all the time.
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Yeah none of us were made privy to the costs of Canpar vs. us driving around. We were just told what they told us.
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you had to use your own car and not get an allowance of any sort? I hope you slipped some CDs into your bag – 5 finger discount to say thank you for using your car.
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I always wondered, what if I decided to sell my car and ride a bike? Would I have lost my job? What if I had a serious car accident while on work business? What then?
We also had to carry around our bank deposits and they wouldn’t even get me a lock box to put them in. I had to keep them in my house overnight for the Thursday transfer. What if my house was broken into?
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Bike as in big bad ass bike or bicycle with a basket with flowers on it? You had to do what? Are they crazy? They could have gotten you guys killed – seeing you with the cash and following you home – real crazies out there!
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Yeah man and the last 2 or 3 years I worked on the shady side of town! I saw crackheads every other day.
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just what you need to boost your sense of security.
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