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| occupancy | The costs associated with a building (either a distribution center or store), including lease payments or amortized capital outlay, plus all maintenance and utilities. |
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| Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) | A federal agency that sets workplace safety standards and inspects facilities for safe working conditions. |
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| off-invoice (OI) | A method of payment for a manufacturer's trade deal or promotion where the amount of the allowance for merchandise is deducted from the manufacturer's invoice. |
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| off-label | A special label affixed to a package or can that indicates a lower-grade of product. |
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| off-line | A condition when the computerized system goes down and the back up system is utilized to continue processing data, e.g., register system, printing invoices. |
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| off-shelf | A special product display that is not part of the regular store set, e.g., seasonal merchandise or promotion items. |
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| OI | Off-invoice. |
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| OJT | On-the-job training. |
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| one-stop shopping | A store that provides a wide variety of products and services at one location. |
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| online debit | Accessing a customer's checking account for payment in real-time. |
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| on-pack promotion | A coupon or premium attached to a product. |
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| on-premises bakery | An in-store bakery that produces a variety of baked goods from scratch or by bake-off procedures. |
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| on sale items | An item that is temporarily reduced in price, advertised or not advertised, and marked by in-store signs. |
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| on-the-job-training (OJT) | An instructional method to teach employees skills as they work. |
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| Ontario Food Processors Association | 6533 Unit C, Mississauga Rd. Mississauga, Ontario Canada L5N 1A6 (416) 821-2321 |
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| O-O-S | See out-of-stock. |
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| open account | A business or person with a line of credit that is not backed by collateral. |
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| open dating | A date stamped or printed on the label of perishable items to indicate a pull date (a date by which the item must be sold or removed from the shelf) or pack date (the date the item was packaged). |
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| open stock | A product offered in a normal case or pack that is purchased and sold at regular price; a product that is not bought in a special pack or as part of a manufacturer's production. |
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| opening funds | The money on hand the first day of a week or at the start of a cashier's shift. |
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| operating expenses | The costs of operating a business. |
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| operating income | Net sales minus all direct and indirect operating costs and before deducting the cost of capital, extraordinary items and taxes. |
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| operating statement | An accounting statement that itemizes revenues, expenses and profits of a department, store, division, company or other business unit. Also referred to as a P&L statement or income statement. |
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| operations | A division responsible for overall store operations and performance, including personnel, finance, warehousing and distribution. |
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| operator | A retailer who owns and operates a grocery store. |
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| opportunity cost of capital | A possible rate of return on the next best use of dollars invested by a company. |
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| optical fiber | (fiber-optic cable). A tiny (smaller than a hair) cable made of glass and plastic. |
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| order book | A printed catalog of products in stock and a price listing used to place orders with a wholesaler and distributor. |
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| order code | A product's number used to order items from a warehouse. |
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| order fill rate | The rate per hour that a selector or a shift of selectors assembles orders in a warehouse. |
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| order form | A form used to list products to be ordered, along with sizes, quantities and prices. |
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| order lead time | The time lag between receipt of a retailer's order by a wholesaler or vendor and delivery of the products to the store; the time needed to process, select, load and transport. See lead time. |
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| order padding | An increase in a retailer's order without his/her permission, approval, or confirmation. |
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| order picking | Selecting and assembling an order at the warehouse or distribution center for loading. |
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| order point | The amount of inventory on hand in a warehouse or store used to determine when to purchase replacement stock. |
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| order-to-order credit | A transaction term that means that payment in full is required before a second order can be placed. |
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| ordering number | See code number. |
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| organically grown | An imprecise term that means a grower did not use chemicals or that a processor did not use preservatives in a product. |
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| orientation | In electronic space management, product placement and positioning on the shelf. |
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| OS/2 | An IBM operating system for computers. |
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| OS&Ds | Overs, shorts and damages. |
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| OSHA | Occupational Safety and Health Administration. |
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| O-T-C | Over-the-counter. |
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| other assets | All assets except property and equipment with a life exceeding one year, e.g., investment in other companies, long-term receivables. |
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| other current assets | Assets with a life of less than one year, e.g., cash accounts receivable, prepaid expenses and short-term investments. |
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| other income | All non-operating income, e.g., interest income, gain on sales of securities. |
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| outbound | The direction and flow of customer traffic just prior to entering the checkout aisles and leaving the store. Also, the flow of products out of a warehouse after order selection. |
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| out of code | A product with an expired code date. |
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| out-of-stock (O-O-S) | A product temporarily oversold and unavailable in a retail store. Also, product not in supply in the warehouse. In wholesaling, it is a customer service standard used and measured as a percentage of orders placed that cannot be filled. Also known as Outs. |
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| outside salesperson | A wholesaler's marketing employee who visits retailers to order products and services, to provide management reports and to do merchandise displays. |
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| ovenable | A food ready to be heated, either in an oven or microwave. |
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| over & under | A management standard for cash-register receipts and for inventory discrepancies, e.g., breakage, price adjustments. |
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| overhead | The basic direct and indirect costs of a business operation, such as labor, rent, utilities and insurance. Total operating costs, including fixed and variable expenses. |
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| override | The management authorization needed to continue operating a cash register once preset HALO or LALO levels are exceeded. Usually done by inserting a key and entering code numbers. |
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| over-ring | The ringing or scanning of the price of a product higher than its shelf price. |
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| overstock | An excessive amount of product purchased in anticipation of increased sales volume. |
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| overstoring | A concentration of too many retail stores that saturates a market and cuts into the profits of each store. |
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| overs, shorts, damages (OSDs) | A discrepancy between products ordered and those received. |
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| overwire hanger | Hanging signs visible on both sides to customers. |
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| over-wrap | To wrap a plastic container in cellophane to prevent tampering. |
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