E 1.0
Six steps, two of which wait for you
A written quotation comes before a purchase order, so a purchasing office approves a specification rather than a species name — and so there is a document to check the box against when it arrives.
Institutional buying has a shape, and it is not the shape of a shopping cart. A department asks for a figure, a purchasing office approves a figure, and somebody has to make sure the thing that arrives is the thing that was approved.
That middle step is why a written quotation exists before a purchase order rather than after it. A purchase order raised against “12 frogs” approves a species name. One raised against a quotation approves a species, a grade, a size, a holding fluid and a pack size — and when the box is opened there is a document to check it against.
Two of the six steps below are hold points: nothing moves past them without something from you. That is deliberate. The alternative is a supplier making reasonable assumptions on your behalf, and a reasonable assumption is still somebody else deciding what your lesson contains.
E 1.0 The sequence
Six steps, in the same order every time
-
S1
Specify
Telephone with the lesson rather than the catalogue number: what it has to show, how many students work in pairs, and which week it is scheduled for. We turn that into the five fields. If you have already keyed it out from the catalogue, read us the terminal you landed on and we will confirm it fits.
same day -
S2Hold point
Written quotation
Every field on its own line, with the unit price at the pack size stated, shipping shown separately, and any hazardous-materials surcharge itemised rather than folded in. Nothing is reserved and nothing is charged. This is the document a purchasing office approves, and the one the packing list is later checked against.
1 working day -
S3Hold point
Purchase order or payment
A district or institutional purchase order quoting the quotation number, a card, or net terms where they have been established. Tax-exempt institutions send a certificate once and we hold it on file; a W-9 is available on request. Nothing is picked before this arrives.
your cycle -
S4
Pick and check
Picked against the quotation rather than against the species name, and checked against a packing list that repeats all five fields back to you. If something is short you hear about it here, rather than by opening a box and finding a substitute — see substitutions.
24–48 hours -
S5
Ship
Preserved material on any working day. Living material Monday to Wednesday only, so nothing is in transit over a weekend. Cold or heat packs are added when the forecast at either end calls for them, and they are itemised rather than absorbed.
Mon–Wed live -
S6
Receive and check
Unpack against the packing list on arrival, not on the morning of the lab. You have one week from receipt to tell us anything is wrong with preserved material, and living material should be reported the day it lands — the honest window for something perishable.
1 week
E 2.0 Paperwork
The documents a purchasing office asks for
None of these needs a conversation. Ask on the telephone and they are sent; most are one-time and are then held on file against your account.
If your district requires a supplier to be set up in a procurement system before a purchase order can be raised, say so at S1 rather than at S3. Registration is routine but it is rarely quick, and it is the most common reason an order that was going to be fine misses a lab week.
On request
- Written quotation
- All five fields per line, shipping itemised, valid for a stated period.
- W-9
- Sent on request for supplier setup.
- Tax exemption
- Send your certificate once; it is held on file and applied to later orders.
- Safety data sheets
- For any holding fluid supplied, current at the date of shipment.
- Packing list
- In the box, repeating the five fields, so a delivery can be checked without the original quotation to hand.
- Invoice
- Quoting your purchase order number, on the terms agreed at S3.
E 3.0 Timing
When to place an order
Order processing is 24 to 48 hours. Everything else in the timeline is your procurement cycle and the carrier, and both run longer than people expect in August and January.
| Material | Order ahead by | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Owl pellets and instruments | any time | They keep indefinitely. Buy when the budget exists, not when the lesson is due. |
| Preserved specimens | 3–4 weeks | Covers a purchasing cycle plus transit. They keep once they arrive. |
| Preserved, at term start | 6 weeks | August and January are the two weeks of the year when everyone orders at once. |
| Living cultures | 2–3 weeks | The order is placed early; the ship date is set against your lab week. |
Planning ranges for a conversation, not commitments. The date for your order is confirmed on the quotation at S2.
Start at step one
Telephone with the lesson, the class size and the week. We will turn it into a written quotation with all five fields on it, and nothing is picked until you have approved it.
Niles Biological, Inc. · 9298 Elder Creek Rd, Sacramento, CA 95829