Six trolleys, one signature
The lorry arrives at 7:30 with six trolleys of mixed perennials and shrubs. The driver is running late. Your goods in person counts the trolleys, looks at a couple of shelves, signs the delivery note and starts wheeling them to the plant area. By 9:00 the plants are spread across three zones.
Two weeks later the invoice arrives. It lists a variety you do not remember seeing, charges for a full shelf of a line that was actually half a shelf, and includes some hebes the buyer says were in poor shape. There is no record of what actually arrived, so the office pays the invoice and makes a mental note to have a word with the grower.
Why checking gets skipped
Checking plants properly means comparing each shelf with the order, line by line, variety by variety, in all weathers, while the driver waits and customers arrive. Paper purchase orders are in the office, not on the dock, and the grower's delivery note may list what was sent rather than what was ordered.
- The purchase order is not visible at goods in.
- Growers substitute varieties when they are short, without always saying so.
- Quality issues are noticed later, by someone else, on the bench.
- Counting plants on a laden trolley by hand is slow and error prone.
- Discrepancies are mentioned verbally and forgotten before the invoice arrives.
What an unchecked trolley costs
You pay for plants that never arrived and for substitutes you would not have chosen. Poor quality stock goes out on the benches and turns into losses and markdowns. The stock figures in your EPOS start wrong from the moment of delivery, which undermines everything built on them.
Peak season makes it worse. In April and May, several growers can arrive in one morning, and the goods in team is also the team that loads compost into customers' cars. The check that gets dropped first is the one nobody else will notice for weeks.
It also weakens your hand with growers. Without dated records and photos, complaints about quality or accuracy are easy to dismiss, and a pattern with one grower is never proved.
Checking against the order, on the dock
- Purchase orders from your EPOS or buying spreadsheet are loaded onto a handheld at goods in, grouped by grower and expected delivery.
- Staff scan each line, or tap it on screen, and enter quantity received. Lines not on the order are flagged as substitutes.
- A condition check with a few simple options and a photo is recorded for any line that looks poor.
- The handheld shows what is still missing before the driver leaves, so it can be noted on the delivery note there and then.
- Differences go into a queue for the buyer, who accepts substitutes, raises a credit claim or asks for a replacement.
- When the invoice arrives, it is matched against what was received, not what was ordered, so the office pays the right amount.
| Discrepancy | Typical outcome today | With goods in checking |
|---|---|---|
| Short delivery | Paid in full | Flagged before the driver leaves |
| Substituted variety | Found on the bench | Queued for buyer decision |
| Poor condition | Becomes a loss | Photo and credit claim |
| Invoice mismatch | Paid anyway | Matched against receipt |
If your EPOS already has goods receiving, we connect to it and add the handheld and photo layer rather than duplicating it.
A calmer goods in morning
Checking still takes a little time, but the order is on the screen and the handheld does the arithmetic. Most deliveries match, and the driver leaves with a note of any gaps. The buyer sees a short list of issues to deal with each day instead of hearing about them weeks later.
The office stops paying invoices on trust. Credit notes arrive because the claims are backed by records, and conversations with growers about recurring issues are based on dated evidence.
Signs your deliveries are not being checked
- Delivery notes are signed after counting trolleys, not plants.
- Invoices include lines nobody remembers receiving.
- Substituted varieties are found on the benches.
- Poor quality deliveries become losses with no claim.
- Purchase orders are not available at goods in.