The pallet at the back of the racking
A picker reaches past a newer pallet and finds one with three weeks left on the date. Nobody knew it was there, because the system knows how many cases you have, not how old they are. By the time it gets to the sales office, most customers will not accept anything with less than a set amount of shelf life remaining. It ends up at a clearance buyer for pennies, or in the bin.
The same thing happens on a smaller scale every week. A fresher delivery gets picked first because it was nearer the front. The older stock sits. Customers complain about short dates on what they did receive.
Why dates are invisible
Many wholesale stock systems track quantity per product and location, but not by batch and date, or they can but the dates are never entered because goods-in is busy. So the only record of shelf life is the label on the case. Rotation depends on warehouse discipline, and short-dated lines are discovered, not predicted.
| Where dates should be | What usually happens |
|---|---|
| Captured at goods-in | Skipped when a lorry is waiting |
| Shown on the pick list | Picker takes the nearest case |
| Reported weekly | Found during a stock count |
| Checked against customer rules | Customer rejects on delivery |
What short dates cost you
Write-offs and disposal are the visible part. There are also discounts given to shift stock in a hurry, refused deliveries when a customer's minimum life rule is broken, credit notes, and a reputation with buyers for sending short-dated goods. Buyers also reorder lines that are already overstocked because older stock is not visible as a separate problem.
Seasonal lines make it worse. Stock bought in for a summer promotion or the Christmas run has a short window to sell through, and without dates in the system nobody sees which of it is still on the shelf in January until the stocktake.
How we build date tracking
- At goods-in, a handheld or phone scans the case barcode and captures the best before or use by date, with the date suggested from the supplier's advance notice where they send one, so staff confirm rather than type.
- Each pallet or location holds its own date in your stock system, or in a light layer alongside it if your system cannot hold batches.
- Pick lists and handheld screens direct pickers to the earliest date first, and show the date so it can be checked.
- Customer minimum life requirements are held against the account, and a pick that would break them is flagged before it is loaded.
- A weekly report lists stock within a window you set, sorted by value, with the customers who buy that line most, so sales can offer it before it becomes a problem.
Dates are a food safety matter for your own procedures. The tool records and reports what you enter; your technical or quality lead sets the rules it applies.
A normal week after the change
Every Monday, the sales team has a list of lines to push, with suggested customers. Pickers rotate stock because the handheld tells them which case to take. Deliveries stop bouncing for short life. Buyers see ageing stock before placing the next order. Write-offs become a number you can watch rather than a surprise at stocktake.
Recognise any of these?
- Short-dated stock is found by pickers, not by reports.
- Customers reject deliveries for short life.
- Your system cannot tell you the oldest date on a product.
- Clearance sales happen in a rush.
- Goods-in skips date checks when it is busy.