Trail Leaders - Ordering from Placemakers

Placemakers Evans Bay supports the Club with special pricing. This pricing applies transactions that are run through the club account ONLY, not to Cash Sales. The discounts are variable depending on the item and range from 5-60%.

In order to get this special pricing, the Club operates a pre pay account with Placemakers. This ensures that we never expose the club to too much debt. Only the Officers of the club can place an order with Placemakers.

How DOES THE PROCESS WORK

1. First, agree with the other trail leaders on your project what you need to order.
   
2. Check you have the funds.
   Account balances for each project are recorded separately. You can ask the Treasurer for your balance at any time, and are presented with the financial report at each committee meeting.
   
3. Send an email, describing your order to the Club officers (President, Secretary and Treasurer).
   Make sure that the email cc's in at least one other trail leader from your project, and it clearly states that you have all agreed to order the items. 
4. The officers will contact Placemakers and get a quotation for your items.
   We will send you the quotation to confirm the order.
   
5. The officer processing the quotation will check your project has the funds to cover the quotation.
   If need be, the Officers will transfer more funds to the Placemakers account to cover your order.
   
6. If the project has the funds, the officer will process the order.
   
7.  Once the order arrives, Placemakers will notify the Officer, who will then let you know it is ready to pick up.
   
8. When we receive the invoice, the Treasurer will make payment from the WMTBC general account, and then transfer the funds out of the Project account into the general account (this is where your Project pays for the goods).
   

FAQS

Wow, seems a bit convoluted.

Yep it is, but it is worth it to get the special pricing. We can't risk someone showing up and charging something to the club account and going into debt. Also the pre pay account is a bit non standard for Placemakers. They are trying to be good guys here, so we work with in this process.

How long does it take?

You should allow a week to process an order.

If Placemakers have the items in stock, then it can be handled more quickly (wood and concrete they always have a supply of what we are after), we can turn this type of order around in a day or so.

For tools, in particular Mattocks, they don't tend to hold them in stock, and when they do, not in the volumes we are after (more than 2), so it can take a week or so for the items to come in.

Planning ahead is the best way to get the best discount. If you can give the Officers a couple of weeks notice, then that gives everyone time to talk to each other. Especially if we are ordering non standard items, Placemakers can go and get quotes for us.

Can we order from the counter?

Not if you want the discount, only the officers can order from the counter and get the discount. The officers know the balance of the account and can use a password to order items there and then. 

You can pay retail and then get a refund. However there are limits on how much we will refund, and you will need to notifiy the committee of your intent to purchase before making the purchase. See the Trail Leaders page for more detail.

Can the guys on the trade counter tell me how much the discount will be?

No, all the discounting happens in their accounts department. Placemakers run different levels of discounts for different types of trade accounts.  As our discount is not a flat rate, it very much depends on what we are ordering. On some tools it will be 60% on others it is 10%. The Trade Counter guys have no way of viewing this information using their system. Our Placemakers Account Manager, who works with the Officers, will do us Quotations.

What happens if my project doesn't have enough money?

The club has a general account that Projects can apply for money from. In order to seek money out of the general fund, your project needs to put forward a request to the committee via the Club Secretary. If the funds are needed in a hurry, the Committee has an email voting process that can get you a decision within 2 days, otherwise it will be put forward to the next committee meeting.

Project can also apply for funding from outside sources (e.g lottery grants, GE Slush Fund). If you intend to apply, note that you will be doing so in the name of the club. Once again you need to notify the committee, via the Club Secretary. This is so that we can update our register of who we have applied to, when and how much. Some funders have limits on how many times we can apply for funds and how much within a certain period. When it comes to asking for money, if in doubt, contact the committee to check before you start.