Receiving is the step where goods become stock. Every quantity in your system, every valuation figure and every reorder calculation starts from what was recorded at the door. A delivery recorded wrong is wrong everywhere, and the error is found weeks later by a count that cannot explain it.
It is also the step most often done in a hurry, with the driver waiting. A short checklist, followed every time, is the fix.
Before the lorry arrives
- Know what is expected. Every delivery should match an approved purchase order. A delivery with no order is a question for whoever placed it, before the goods are unloaded.
- Know who receives. One person owns each incoming delivery. If three people can receive, three people assume someone else did.
- Know where it goes. The order says which location the goods are for, and ideally which shelf.
At the door
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Match the delivery note to the order number. No order number on the note means the supplier’s paperwork and yours are already apart. Note the order number on the delivery note by hand.
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Count units, not parcels. Ten boxes of 50 is 500 only if every box holds 50. Open a sample, and open every box for anything valuable.
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Check condition before signing. Crushed boxes, wet cartons and broken seals are noted on the driver’s copy. Once signed clean, a damage claim against the carrier is nearly impossible.
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Compare each line with the order. Right product, right variant, right quantity. A similar code is the most common substitution.
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Record what arrived, line by line, on the day it arrived. The delivery date is the date the stock existed, the date its cost is counted from and the date the supplier’s payment terms may run from.
Short, partial and over
Partial delivery. The supplier sent 300 of 500. Record 300 against the line. The 200 stay outstanding on the order, and the next delivery is recorded against the same line. An order can take several deliveries over weeks.
Shortage inside a delivery. The note says 500 and the count says 480. Record 480, tell the supplier the same day with the delivery note number, and leave the 20 open. The supplier will send them, credit them or dispute them; the open quantity is your record that they owe you.
Over delivery. The supplier sent 520. Receive the 500 on the order to close the line, then decide about the 20: send them back, or keep them and have the supplier invoice them. If you keep them, they enter stock as a separate movement, with a comment, so that the order still shows what was agreed.
Wrong product. Do not receive it against the line it is not. Keep it apart, tell the supplier, and record it only if you agree to keep it.
Faulty goods
Goods that arrived and turned out to be defective, on the day or three weeks later, need two things to happen. The faulty units must stop being available, so nobody ships them or builds with them. And the supplier must owe you a replacement, visibly, until it arrives.
The first part is a quarantine: the units are blocked where they are, or moved to a holding area, but not counted as usable stock. The second is a claim: a record against the delivery the units came in on, with the quantity, the evidence, and the status of the replacement.
Two details that go wrong without a record:
- Replacements at zero. A replacement delivery is usually free, so it arrives with no price. If it enters stock at zero, your stock value drops by the cost of the faulty units and the next cost of goods sold figure is too low. The replacement should carry the cost of the units it replaces.
- Replacements that never come. A claim the supplier ignores is a loss. It belongs in your accounts as one, not as units still expected.
After the door
- Put the goods away and record the shelf, as part of receiving, not as a separate job for later.
- File the delivery note with the order, with any photos of damage.
- Pass the invoice, when it arrives, to whoever matches it against the order and the deliveries.
How StockBold handles receiving and claims
In StockBold deliveries are recorded in Shipments, against the approved purchase order, one line at a time with the quantity and date that each arrived. Saving the delivery is what adds the stock, at the order’s location, at the order price in your currency plus that line’s share of duties, freight and other costs. A date in the future, or before the order, is refused. Each shipment can be assigned to one person, and the list shows what each person still has to receive. For products tracked by shelf, you choose the shelf as you receive.
A line can be received across several deliveries, and anything missing stays open on it until it arrives. For an over delivery, you receive the ordered quantity to close the line and book the extra units with a stock movement.
For faulty goods, you report the defect against the delivery the units came in on. If the units are still in your warehouse, they stay on hand at full value but are blocked, so no stock-out, assembly or count can consume them. If they are gone, they leave stock with their value moved onto the claim. Either way the claim tracks the replacement the supplier owes, across several deliveries if needed, and replacement units come in at the price you originally paid. If the supplier refuses, the claim is closed and the loss stays recorded for your accounts.
Read more about shipments and receiving and suppliers and claims, or the help guide on recording a delivery on a shipment.