A free method

Write receiving before the carton hits the bench

For owner-run shops and people starting a shop. Receiving is how a carton becomes stock. If it lives only in your head, nobody else can open the door.

The first carton of the week is easy when you are standing there. It is hard when a helper is there, or when you are on the phone, or when the count is wrong and you tell yourself you will fix it later.

Write the steps while the shop is quiet. SOP means the written steps for one job. Receiving is the first one to write.

Open the purchase order first

A purchase order is the order you sent the vendor. Confirm the item code and the quantity you expected before you cut tape. If you cannot find the PO, do not put the units on the shelf. Park the carton and write one line on the exception log.

Count out loud

Count what is in the carton. Say the number. Write it. If it matches, date the carton and write the PO number on the side. Then put it away in the bin the listing thinks it lives in.

Example: PO 441 said 24 blue mugs. You count 24. You write 441 and today’s date on the carton. The bin is MUG-BLU. Done is the units in that bin, not the carton in the aisle.

If it does not match, photograph and stop

Wrong item, short count, crushed corner. One photo. One sentence on the exception log. Tag it vendor or stock. Do not mix the bad units into a good bin so you can “sort it Friday.”

Then tell the vendor the count you expected and the count you got. Ask for a date on the missing units, not a status. That chase is a separate page.

Done looks like this

One owner. One done line: the units are in the right bin, or the mismatch has a photo and a row. A helper should be able to finish a carton from this page in under ten minutes.

If you have not received a carton yet, write those four lines anyway. The first rush will not wait for you to invent them.

Why this works

Most stockouts start at receiving. A listing that says in stock when the bin is empty is often a carton that never got counted. The page is short on purpose. Long receiving manuals do not get used on a Tuesday.