Recounting in a grocery: dates and weighing

Two features of the goods set a grocery count apart from other shops: part of the stock is sold by weight, and part of it spoils quickly. With the first there is no such thing as a "piece", and with the second what is on the shelf today may be waste tomorrow. So it pays to do the weighing and the expiry check in the same walk-round as the count, so that you do not have to go back to the shelf twice.

Goods counted by weight

Rice, flour, dried fruit, nuts, sweets, cheese and meat are measured in kilograms. A few rules apply:

• use one set of scales and check them before you start and after you finish with a 1-kilogram reference weight or a pack of exactly known weight. If both results agree, you can trust the readings;
• subtract the weight of the container. For example, a basket of dried apricots weighs 14.6 kg gross and the empty basket 0.9 kg, so the net is 13.7 kg;
• record the weight in the unit used in the books, usually kilograms, to two decimal places: 13.70;
• if the same product is sold both pre-packed and loose, these are two separate rows.

Natural shrinkage

Loose goods dry out, spill and are used up in packing. An exact zero is therefore rare for goods sold by the kilogram. Agree a limit in advance, based on past counts: for example, a difference of up to one per cent on dry goods is not written up as a shortage. A difference above the limit is looked into separately. The cause may be badly set scales, too much put in during packing, or a little "extra" thrown in at the sale.

For example, the books show 250 kg of rice and the count gives 247.6 kg. The difference is 2.4 kg, or 0.96 per cent: within the limit. For sugar the books show 80 kg and the count 77.8 kg, a difference of 2.75 per cent. That one is investigated, since a sack may have been opened and not weighed at the sale.

Checking dates alongside the count

Add a "nearest date" column to every row. The counter picks the goods up and sees and writes down the expiry date at once. Sort the goods into three groups and stick on coloured labels:

1. green: most of the shelf life remains;
2. yellow: the date is approaching, for instance less than a third of the total shelf life is left; sell faster or mark down;
3. red: expired.

Expired goods are not included in the ordinary balance. Put them in a separate crate, list them and write them off with a signed certificate. If they are simply thrown away, they stay in the books as a shortage. Move goods with the nearest dates to the front of the shelf so that the older batch sells first. Write the value of the red group in so'm on a separate line: it shows what date losses cost and lets you adjust future orders.

Goods packed in the shop

Do not reweigh pre-packed bags on the scales. If the label shows the weight and the packing date, multiply the number of bags by the label weight and convert to kilograms: 37 bags of 0.5 kg give 18.5 kg. Such goods often have a short internal shelf life, so check the packing date too. Bags past their internal date go into the red group. Bags with no label, or a worn one, should be gathered into one box, weighed and relabelled.

Fridges, freezers and daily goods

When counting dairy, meat and ice cream the cold chain must not be broken. Divide the fridge into sections, count each one quickly and do not leave the door open longer than needed. Let the counter look, close the door and only then write. Do not carry freezer goods out to count them: they thaw, and refreezing spoils them. Note the thermometer reading on the sheet at the time of the count.

Bread, milk, eggs and fresh vegetables arrive daily. Count them after the last delivery of the day and tie the earlier deliveries to the delivery documents. To avoid mixing the morning and evening batches, stick labels with the delivery time on the crates.

Conclusion

A grocery count rests on checking goods, weight and dates in one walk-round. The Pereuchet team weighs loose goods on one set of scales, checks dates together with the count and hands over the result as a file for Excel or 1C with a signed certificate.