A pallet at the back of the chiller, three days from its date
Your customers own the stock; you store it. Some of it sells quickly. Some sits: a product line that was delisted, an over-order, a pallet that got pushed behind newer stock. Dates pass quietly.
The customer finds out when they order it and it has too little life left for their buyer, or when your stocktake flags it as past date. They ask why nobody told them. You point out that you are a store, not their stock controller. Both of you are a bit right, and the stock is lost either way.
Why short-dated stock goes unnoticed
Dates are known at goods-in, but they are not always captured in a form the system can act on, and each customer has different rules about what counts as short.
- Dates are on the product label, not always in the warehouse system.
- Customer shelf life rules for their buyers differ by product and destination.
- Picks sometimes take the nearest pallet, not the earliest date.
- Nobody sends customers a regular view of their dates.
- Stock that stops moving is not flagged.
What date-expired stock costs
The stock owner loses the product. You lose storage income on stock that will be disposed of, pay for its handling out, and often absorb the blame. Picking errors that skip earlier dates cause rejections at the buyer's depot when product arrives with too little life.
How we track dates for every pallet
- At goods-in, dates are captured by scanning the product barcode where it carries the date, or entered on the device, and stored against the pallet.
- Each customer's shelf life rules are set up: how many days of life their buyers require, by product or destination.
- Pallets approaching those cut-offs are listed for the customer on a schedule you agree, with warnings well ahead.
- Stock that has not moved for a period the customer chooses is also reported, as a prompt for them to act.
- Pick lists are checked against dates, so where a customer requires first-expiry-first-out, a pick of a later date is flagged before it leaves the store.
- Customers see their stock by date in a portal or a scheduled report, and can raise instructions from it.
| Rule | Set by |
|---|---|
| Shelf life required at dispatch | Stock owner and their buyers |
| Warning period | Stock owner |
| Rotation rule for picks | Stock owner and your procedures |
| Slow-moving threshold | Stock owner |
Decisions on what to do with short-dated stock belong to the stock owner and their quality team. We make sure they know in time.
What your customers see after
Regular, clear warnings about stock approaching their cut-off, while there is time to sell it, move it or discount it. Fewer surprises at order time. Picks that follow the rotation they asked for. And a record that you told them.
The reports also start better conversations. When a customer can see which of their lines move slowly in your store, they can adjust their ordering or production, which keeps their stock fresher and your racking free for stock that moves.
Is stock dating out in your store?
- Dates are not captured in your warehouse system for every pallet.
- Customers find out about short-dated stock too late.
- Picks have gone out with later dates than stock left behind.
- Slow-moving stock sits unreported.
- Date-expired stock turns up at stocktake.