SET DELETED is OFF.

The ANSI setting is OFF.

I'm not sure what you are saying about the PADR, but I am willing to try it.

Here are the results of the Sys(3054,11)
Using Index tag Upperramp to rushmore optimize table vindata
Using Indes tag HourCount to rushmore optimize table vindata
Using index tag UpperVend to rushmore optimize table vindata
Rushmore optimization level for table vindata: full

I have removed the two clauses in the where that were checking for empty.

>Try with SET DELETED OFF to test the speed difference.
>
>Also what are the SET ANSI setting? Try to use the whole length expression on the right side, e.g., if Ramp (what is it, BTW?) is 20 chars, you should use variable lcRamp=padr('CHICAGO',20), etc.
>
>You can try to drop index keys and run it again. Also show us, what SYS(3054,11) returned.
>
>snip<