Craig,
You might start a letter writing campaign to your elected officials. The vast majority of industrial standards in the US are developed and administered without government financial assistance. The eroding manufacturing base along with mergers and acquisitions have cut into the membership base of many of these standards organizations including X12. The economics of fewer members means higher member fees and higher cost to purchase finished products, i.e. standards. Unfortunately e-commerce related standards have not been on the radar of policy makers to help the SME that cannot afford to purchase the standards you are discussing that will ultimately help them be more competitive. David Frenkel _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Craig Dunham Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 10:14 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [EDI-L] Re: SCAC CODE LIST I, too, am like many in this group that feel that you should defend and support the standards. However, I'm also a realist and know that too many of these "agencies" realize that they have the public by... well, by the *unmentionable body parts* and impose astronomical fees and charges to use their "proprietary" data. these practices of over-charging for the data ends up meaning that far too many people will take far too many short-cuts or just ignore the request for the data all-together. I had found, previously online, a zip file that contained a fairly current and accurate SCAC code list in Excel format. I downloaded and have used it once or twice. But what I tell all of My trading partners, however, when they ask what the SCAC code is and where to get it - I point them directly to 'the other source' for the code - the freight line/trucking company/shipping service - that they are using. Any of these carriers should be aware and know what they're own SCAC is. Yes, the NMFTA has control of the data and may even be so "generous" as to give one or two codes at no cost... but by charging hundreds and thousands of dollars for controlling this information - that's just highway robbery. And I have a bone of contention in the original post - about having the "intelligent conversation" and describing the "benefits from using the standard correctly".... For any of us in the EDI world - using the standard correctly is simply getting a correct SCAC code in the required segments and documents. Period. As EDI people - it is not our job to see that this vendor or that supplier or this retailer or that distribution center purchases or subscribes to what is - arguably - a horribly overpriced collection of data. That is left to the person providing the code - and that is on their conscience.... It is not our place, as EDI professionals, to dictate another company's business practices and tell them that they have to subscribe or purchase such data.... Instead, it is the job of our warehouses and distribution centers, of our manufacturers and shippers, of our own internal receiving and logistics and routing departments to monitor and enforce the compliance with NMFTA and their codes. It is their decision to require only an NMFTA coded carrier for any shipments and to be valid in their status with their SCAC code. If the NMFTA feels such a need to provide data in such an overpriced way and some companies feel the need and drive to purchase said overpriced data, that's fine. But they cannot expect the rest of the supply chain universe to be the same. I'm fairly sure that the NMFTA makes money off of the creation and maintenance of the SCAC codes and that UPS and FedEx and Yellow Frieght and all the other carriers out there pay regular fees to keep that SCAC code in good standing and current. But charging end users of that data - again, the suppliers and retailers - too high of a price to access small bits of that data is just too much. Again, is the SCAC data a good requirement and the standard important? Yes. But the way that the data is provided - well, that's up to each of us individually to decide and implement. Craig Dunham EDI Coordinator Big 5 Sporting Goods. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ... Please use the following Message Identifiers as your subject prefix: <SALES>, <JOBS>, <LIST>, <TECH>, <MISC>, <EVENT>, <OFF-TOPIC> Job postings are welcome, but for job postings or requests for work: <JOBS> IS REQUIRED in the subject line as a prefix. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EDI-L/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
