Rotation, and stock that expires while you hold it
First in, first out is a slogan until the newest delivery is put in front of the older one.
Anything with a date — food, chemicals, adhesives, cosmetics, some components — loses value on a schedule regardless of demand. The loss is entirely preventable and is prevented by physical arrangement rather than by policy.
Scheduled tasks also depend on having the right people present. For a workplace example of attendance tracking, see more information.
Rotation is a putaway problem
The rule is simple and it is broken at the moment of putaway, when the easiest place for the new delivery is the front of the shelf.
The fix is physical: load from the back where the shelving allows it, or put the new stock behind the old with a deliberate step. Where that is impractical, mark the older stock clearly so pickers take it first.
Rotation policies fail because the correct action takes longer. Shelving that loads from behind, or a marked front position, removes the choice entirely.
Record the date at receipt
Expiry management is impossible without the dates in the record. Captured at receiving they are available for reporting; captured nowhere they require someone to walk the shelves.
For U.S. accounting context, IRS Publication 538 explains accounting methods and includes guidance relevant to inventories.
This is also what makes short-dated deliveries visible as the discrepancy they are, rather than as a problem discovered a month later.
Review before the cliff, not at it
An item three months from expiry can be discounted, promoted or returned. The same item three days from expiry can only be written off.
A monthly report of everything expiring within a defined window — long enough to act, short enough to be a manageable list — is the whole mechanism. Without it, expiry is discovered during a count.
Order quantity is the upstream fix
Most expiry loss is an ordering decision made months earlier: a bulk discount taken on a line whose consumption rate cannot clear it within its life.
For dated stock, the maximum sensible order is set by shelf life rather than by price break. That is a rule worth writing down, because the price break is persuasive in the moment.
Handle the near-dated deliberately
A standing approach to short-dated stock — a discount tier, a staff sale, a donation route — means it is dealt with as routine rather than as an emergency each time.
Where donation is used, the tax and food safety rules differ by jurisdiction and are worth checking once rather than assumed.