Back from the wholesale market: from the bag to the shelf

You went to the wholesale market in the morning and came back with several bags and boxes of goods. There is no receipt, but the seller scribbled something on a slip of paper. At home you are tired and say, "I will count and shelve it tomorrow." The bags sit for a day, two days, a week; the item a customer wants cannot be found among them, and the book does not show these goods at all. This is exactly when stock turns invisible. Here is a simple routine that guards against such losses.

At the market itself: check quantity and price

The cheapest place to fix a mistake is in front of the seller. Going back with "it turns out there were nine boxes, not ten" is far harder once you are home. Before the trip, make a list of what has run out and how many you need. Without one you bring back whatever the seller offers, and the missing goods stay missing.

• read the slip the seller gives you: are the name, quantity, price and total correct;
• count the boxes and sacks, at least by eye, and point out any opened or torn packaging on the spot;
• if there is no receipt, write the details in your own book, show them to the seller and photograph the slip;
• compare the price with last time, and note it if it has changed.

Say you bought 10 boxes of thread, 20 reels in each, at 80,000 so'm a box, 800,000 so'm in all. If the seller wrote nine boxes, the difference is settled immediately at the market.

At home: the same day

The rule is simple: goods are counted on the day they arrive, not tomorrow. Ten minutes is enough. The steps:

1. Put the bags in one place and lay everything out in view.
2. Check against the slip and count: name, quantity, size, colour. If there are two of you, one reads and the other counts.
3. Write a "receipt" in the book: date, item, quantity, purchase price.
4. Put the goods on the shelf and stick on a label.

If goods are booked in on the day they arrive and sold the next day, order is kept in the book and on the shelf alike. Goods that were never booked in produce a negative balance when sold and spoil the records.

If the goods arrive in the evening and you have no strength left, at least put the bags in one place and leave a note: "Not counted, first job tomorrow morning." That small note saves the bags from being forgotten. In the morning take ten minutes and do the four steps above before the shop opens.

Write down the purchase price

Market prices change fast: one today, another next week. If your book holds only the selling price, you will never know the profit exactly. Put the purchase price on every receipt line. Write the money spent on transport (a taxi, freight) separately, divide it by the number of items and add it to each. For example, if 10 boxes cost 50,000 so'm to bring in, each box carries 5,000 so'm.

If a defect turns up: the return window

Agree beforehand with the wholesale seller: if a faulty or wrong item turns up, can it be returned or exchanged, and within how many days? Write the condition on paper or in the book. Then open every box within that period. If a smashed item comes out of a box that has sat for a month, nobody at the market will take it back, and the seller will say, "It was whole then." Put faulty goods in a separate box with the date and reason written on it.

Common mistakes

• not checking the quantity at the market itself;
• keeping bags closed for several days;
• putting goods on the shelf without writing the receipt;
• not recording the purchase price and setting the selling price by guess;
• mixing faulty goods with those on sale.

Conclusion

Goods from a wholesale market can get lost on the way to the shelf in three places: at the market, on the road and at home. Checking in front of the seller, counting on the day of arrival, a receipt with the purchase price and an agreed window for defects close most of these risks. If you have no time to count on the day of a big purchase, the Sanab team can count the goods and hand you a ready receipt list.