Section · 6 guides
Goods in, checking against the order, recording the discrepancy while the pallet is still on the floor.
Receiving is where stock records are made or ruined. A delivery accepted without a check enters the system as the quantity ordered rather than the quantity that arrived, and the difference surfaces months later as an unexplained variance.
This section covers the process at the door: what to check, how to record a shortage so the credit actually gets claimed, and where to put things so they can be found again.
Receiving is also the least measured labour in most small operations. Knowing how long a delivery takes to book in, per pallet or per line, is what turns 'goods in is a nightmare on Tuesdays' into a staffing decision. The figure comes from a fortnight of recording, with a spreadsheet or a task timer .
Signing for a pallet without counting it transfers the supplier's error onto your stock record, permanently.
For shift-based receiving work, employee time clock software is one way to keep start and finish times separate from throughput measures.
Receiving and putaway also have a safety dimension; OSHA warehousing guidance summarises common warehouse and material-handling hazards.
Read the guideMost small businesses find discrepancies and never claim them, because the process for claiming is more effort than the amount involved.
Read the guideReceiving is treated as an interruption rather than a process, which is why it is understaffed on exactly the days it is busiest.
Read the guideA delivery that is complete and damaged has been received correctly and is still a loss.
Read the guideCustomer returns are the most common way stock records gain phantom quantities that are not there.
Read the guideConsignment, customer-owned materials and goods on approval sit on your shelves and belong on nobody's stock record by default.
Read the guide