The annual buying conversation
Once or twice a year you sit down to decide what to buy. Someone says the dehumidifiers were always out last winter. Someone else says the tile cutters never go out. You look at the hire system's revenue report, which tells you income per tool category but not how many days each unit sat on the shelf, how often a customer was turned away, or how much went on repairs.
So you buy what feels busy, and sell off what feels quiet.
Why the numbers you need are not in one report
- Hire days per unit are in contracts but not summarised by tool type and branch.
- Turn-aways are never recorded, so demand you could not meet is invisible.
- Repair costs sit in the workshop records.
- Cross-hire costs, where you re-hired from another company to cover demand, sit in purchase invoices.
- Seasonal patterns are lost when you only look at yearly totals.
The cost of buying by feel
Money tied up in tools that sit on shelves. Missed hires on tools you should have had more of. Cross-hiring bills that would have paid for your own unit. And repair costs on ageing tools that would have been cheaper to replace.
A fleet report per tool type
- Hire days per unit are calculated from contracts, by tool type, branch and month.
- Turn-aways are recorded at the counter with one tap when a customer asks for something you do not have available.
- Repair and parts costs are brought in from workshop records per serial number.
- Cross-hire costs are matched to the tool type they covered.
- The report shows, for each tool type: units owned, how busy they were, turn-aways, cross-hire spent and repair costs, month by month.
- You can filter by branch and season, and export it for your accountant or bank.
The report shows the data. What to buy, sell or move is your decision, and your accountant's where finance is involved.
What the report puts side by side
| Tool type | Shows | Suggests looking at |
|---|---|---|
| Busy with turn-aways | Demand you could not meet | Buying more, or moving stock |
| Rarely hired | Idle units | Selling some, or promoting |
| High repair cost | Ageing units | Replacing rather than repairing |
| Regular cross-hire | Borrowed capacity | Owning your own |
Buying decisions with numbers behind them
The annual conversation starts from a report rather than memories. Seasonal buying is planned before the season rather than during it. Idle stock is moved between branches or sold. And turn-aways are finally counted, which is often the most surprising part.
Why turn-aways matter most
Of all the figures in the report, turn-aways are usually the most revealing, because they are the only record of demand you could not meet. A tool type that is on hire most days might look fine on a revenue report, but if customers are also being turned away for it every week, that is where extra stock would earn.
The catch is that turn-aways only exist if staff record them, and they will only do that if it is one tap. We put the button where the counter is already looking when they say no, and show them the result, so they can see their taps turning into buying decisions.
Is your buying based on gut feel?
- You do not know how many days each tool type is on hire.
- Turn-aways are never recorded.
- You cross-hire regularly for the same tool types.
- Repair costs per tool are not visible when deciding what to replace.