A haulier's statement nobody can check
In the middle of spring, plant deliveries arrive every day on Danish trolleys. Each one comes with shelves and sometimes extensions, and the driver expects empties back. Some growers use a pooled trolley system, some own their own trolleys, some hauliers collect for several growers at once. Your goods in team signs the delivery note, strips the trolley and stacks the empties behind the polytunnel.
Months later a statement arrives saying you are holding more trolleys and shelves than you think, with a charge attached. The goods in lead flicks through a box of delivery notes, some damp, some with counts written in pencil, and cannot prove otherwise. The charge is paid, because arguing takes longer.
How the counts go wrong
Trolleys are equipment, not stock, so they rarely get a proper home in the EPOS or the accounts. The information about them is scattered across delivery notes, driver handhelds and the goods in yard.
- Counts of full trolleys, shelves and extensions in are written on paper, if at all.
- Empties handed back are not always counted or signed for by the driver.
- Different growers and hauliers share the same yard stack of empties.
- Shelves and extensions go missing into the plant area for display use.
- Nobody reconciles your count with the haulier's statement until a charge arrives.
The cost behind the stack
Charges for missing or held equipment arrive when nobody remembers the details, and without your own record there is no basis to challenge them. Beyond the charges, a yard full of empties that should have gone back takes space you need in spring, and a shortage of shelves on the grower's side can delay your next delivery.
There is also staff time. Every disputed statement means an afternoon of searching paperwork and phone calls with a transport office who has their own figures on screen.
A trolley ledger for the goods in yard
- We build a goods in screen on a tablet or handheld where staff record trolleys, shelves and extensions received against each delivery and grower.
- When a driver collects empties, staff record what went back, by owner, and the driver signs on the screen.
- The ledger keeps a running balance per grower or haulier of what you hold.
- Photos of the collected stack can be attached, which helps when a count is later questioned.
- When a haulier sends a statement, it can be compared line by line with your ledger, with the delivery notes and signatures linked.
- A yard view shows empties waiting to go back, so the goods in lead can chase collections before the stack builds up.
| Event | What gets recorded | Who confirms |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery arrives | Trolleys, shelves, extensions in | Goods in staff |
| Empties collected | Equipment out, by owner | Driver signature |
| Shelves used on display | Moved to plant area | Plant supervisor |
| Statement received | Comparison with ledger | Office |
The ledger sits alongside your EPOS and accounts rather than inside them, because trolley equipment rarely fits the stock model and forcing it in causes more problems than it solves.
A yard you can account for
At goods in, recording trolleys becomes part of signing off the delivery. The driver who collects empties signs for them on the same screen. The balance per grower is always up to date, and the office knows how many trolleys are sitting in the yard before anyone walks out to count.
When a statement arrives that does not match, the office opens the ledger, filters by that haulier and sends back a list of dated, signed movements. The conversation is about specific dates rather than whose memory is better.
Is your trolley count built on hope?
- Trolley and shelf counts are kept only on paper delivery notes.
- You have paid equipment charges you could not check.
- Empties sit in the yard for weeks waiting for collection.
- Shelves disappear into the plant area for displays.
- Nobody can say how many trolleys you hold for each grower today.