Simon offers you many ways to tailor your mailbox rental and mail forwarding system. I'm sure that you would not want to conform to our idea of a perfect system, so we have offered hundreds of options so you can adjust the way Simon works for you.
There are three preference areas where you can set options--General, Mailbox Rental, and Mail Forwarding Preferences. This demo will only deal with the Preference Wizard which is a compilation of the more important preferences that you will want to set before using Simon. You can open the Preference Wizard by clicking on Quick Setup in the Simon Helper, Maintenance area and, or course, it runs automatically the first time you open Simon because you cannot use Simon without making some critical decisions on how to run your business.
This page is simply an announcement screen telling you what is coming up and how to reach us if you need to do so.
You can move forward in the Preference Wizard by clicking on the NEXT button, back by clicking on the BACK button, or you can cancel the Preference Wizard by clicking on the CANCEL button. Pretty straight forward wouldn't you say.
Here, you should add your business address information.
Here, you should add your telephone numbers and motto if you have one.
If you charge tax on some or all of your mailbox rental services, you should set your taxes here. There are two sections to this tax area of the Preference Wizard. First is that page shown above where you set the tax rate, or rates, you will be charging for goods and services. To get to the other areas, you will need to click on one of the two option buttons in the yellow area to set which goods and services you will be charging tax.
While on this page, however, you will want to set your tax rate in the area to the right of the yellow box. Create a three-digit code for the tax rate, the actual name of the tax and the rate. Once you have set your tax rate, you can move on to the other areas by clicking on the option buttons as mentioned above. By the way, Simon does not limit you to just one tax rate. You can set as many as you want and can use them on different goods and services.
When you choose Forwarding Detail Descriptions, this is the screen that will appear.
You can set the shown services and goods one at a time by clicking on the down-arrow button at the end of the box next to the description shown that needs to have taxes charged, or you can click on the Select All button to select all of the goods and services in the list. Now, you can do the same for the History Descriptions items.
Here, you should select the box size/types that you rent at your business. You can add your own as well and you will want to set the sort order as you want the sizes/types to appear in lists shown within Simon. I think the information shown on this page give ample instruction on how this works. As you can see, I have many sizes listed here, some of which I created by clicking on the pencil button. You can do the same if you like.
Here, you should select the usage types that you use at your business. You can add your own as well and you will want to set the sort order so that the smallest number denotes the most likely usage type used and the usage type used the least should have the larger number. As you can see in this scenario, we are using two usage types--business and standard--with standard being the default (which means that it is the usage type offered when setting up a new client).
Here, you should select the rental durations that you use at your business. You can add your own as well and you will want to set the sort order so that the smallest number denotes the most likely duration used and the duration used the least should have the larger number. These numbers need not be in sequence, but should be kept to small numbers if at all possible.
Note that I have added two durations that you will not find when running through the Preference Wizard. Both illustrate how you will want to set durations where you give a free month or two. For instance, let's look at the '24 Months (2 Free).' duration. The name illustrates that the duration is for 24 months with 2 months given free. The duration box is set to 26 months.
Wow! The last three pages give you a huge amount of control on how you will charge rents for your boxes. Now, you will still have to set prices for all of these alternatives. We have that covered too!
What type of mailbox access do your clients have? Do they use a key, a combination lock, or both?
Do you charge a mailbox rental setup fee? The Mailbox Rental Fee Editor is where you will want to set your pricing on the different alternatives shown in the last three pages (the Mailbox Rental Fee Editor is reviewed in one of the other pages of this feature preview). And, how much you charge as a key deposit.
Do you allow your mailbox rental customers 24-hour access to their mailbox? If so, you can set up the preferences for this here. Simon allows you to charge a setup fee that will be charged if the client wants after-hours access to their box. Simon allows you to charge a monthly fee to use this service and will charge this monthly fee when opening the box and upon renewal of their box. For instance, if they rent the box for 6 months, the boxholder will be charged 75 cents times 6, or $4.50. (See above screen capture.) If you issue keys to your after-hours entry people, you can keep track of the number of keys available and the deposit amount for key holders. And, lastly, Simon can keep track of pass codes that you might give to your after-hours entry clients, if this system is used.
The Form 1583 ID Descriptions list is used to fill a combo box where you can choose the type of ID a potential boxholder can use when renting a box. you can add your own here and delete the ones you do not want to take. Of course, Simon does not require that you only take the IDs shown here, but it does save time for your employees so they do not have to type in each and every ID type a person might use when renting a box.
Add the timings when due and past due notices are distributed, how late fees will be assessed, and a calendar you can use to test your timings to make sure that, considering your scheduling of events, will everyone get notice in plenty of time to react.
When you first set up Simon, the 'block of days...' item is set to 30 days. Assuming that you will be doing rent due and past due notices twice a month, 30 days is about right. This block of days will allow that each boxholder will get at least 15 days notice that their box rents are due. This should be enough time for the boxholder to respond before they are past due. Simon does expect that you will set up a rigid schedule for issuing rent due and past due notices, say, on the 1st and the 15th of every month. If you do not set up a rigid schedule for issuing notices, some boxholders will not get notice when their rents are due and your business will appear to be disorganized and unprofessional. If you need prompting to distribute notices, you can have Simon remind you that notices should be distributed using the reminders tool.
What is the address of the post office where you delivery your postal quarterly report? This address will be used on your 1583A form.
This is how your boxholder clients' address will appear when you create mailing labels for them, how it will appear on the 1583 and rental agreement, and how the boxholder should be instructed to use the address. You have many options here. Fool around with it to see how many different ways you can set up the address to your mailboxes.
This is an example of how your boxholder clients' address will appear when you create mailing labels for them, how it will appear on the 1583 and rental agreement, and how the boxholder should be instructed to use the address. You can also set a price on how much to charge for a sheet of mailing labels for your clients.
Mail forwarding preferences. Everything listed here is described on the form so it should be difficult to understand.
Mail forwarding preferences. The typical deposit is just a default value that can be changed when the boxholder gives you a deposit other than what you set as typical. And, if the client plans to give you a $100 each time deposits are needed, that client's record can say so.
When doing a mail forwarding event for a client, Simon can either do invoicing automatically, not at all, or Simon can give you a message asking if you want an invoice for each event you do.
One-time forwarding is set to 183 days which is 6 months. This value is what the DMM requires. You can, however, change this if you like.
Mail forwarding preferences.
Mail forwarding preferences.
You are now ready to set up your box numbers. Yes, Simon needs to know all of your box numbers, sizes, etc. You can use the Box Number Creator to easily set up the boxes you have for rent. The Box Number Creator is described in another preview here.
If you are just starting and want to get your boxholders into the Simon system fast, you can use the Boxholder Builder tool. This tool asks for just a little information to get someone into the system. You can use the Boxholder Information form later to fill in the information not added by the Boxholder Builder. This tool is also reviewed in depth in another preview area here. This tool should not be used once you have your people in the system and you want to keep legitimate history for all transactions with present and future clients.
The Boxholder Wizard should be used when potential new clients walk into your business. The Boxholder Wizard walks you through many steps asking for all of the information needed to rent a box and create a legitimate 1583 for the client. In essence, you should not be renting a mailbox to anyone unless they come prepared to give you all of the information needed to satisfy postal requirements.
That's all folks! Simon does require a lot of information to get you started. If it didn't, then you would have to follow someone else's idea of how to run your mailbox rental and mail forwarding system. Right?
Hope this helps!