Stock batches, stock checks and expiry

What is a stock batch?

A batch is a group of units that belong together, usually from the same delivery. For example, 6 tins that expire in November can be one batch and 4 tins that expire in December can be another. Both are the same product, so they stay in one Contents entry and add up to one total of 10.

Batches let you use the oldest stock first, and see what is about to expire, without keeping a separate entry for every delivery. This suits food, medicines, first-aid supplies, chemicals, cleaning products, craft materials and any stock that is delivered in lots.

Before you start

A Thing only has Contents if its Category allows it, such as a freezer, cupboard or stock room. See Contents and quick entry for how to turn this on and add the product as a Content.

Stock that you add without a batch still counts toward the product’s total, so you can start using batches whenever you like.

Check stock in

When new stock arrives, record it against the product and choose which batch it belongs to.

1. On Android, open the Content and choose Add stock. In the web portal, use the action for receiving stock, then enter the quantity.
2. Choose one of: add without a batch, add to an existing batch, or create a new batch.
3. For a new batch, enter the details you have. All of them are optional: a label, the date stocked and the expiry date. A label can be a supplier code, a colour such as Red tape, or any text you will recognise.
4. Write dates as YYYY, YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD. If you leave out the day or month for an expiry date, ThingzSafe uses the last day of the period: 2027-11 means 30 November 2027, and 2027 means 31 December 2027.

Good to know: You can switch on batch suggestions for a Thing whose Category allows Contents. Each Content can follow that setting or have its own. With suggestions on, you can still add stock without a batch.

For ordinary arrivals without batches, see Add stock and quantities.

Take stock out

Open Stock batches and choose to take stock out. ThingzSafe suggests which stock to use, in this order:

1. stock with no batch
2. batches with no expiry date
3. batches with an expiry date, earliest expiry first

If you took stock from a particular batch on the shelf, choose that batch before you save, instead of the suggestion.

What happens next: The quantity goes down and the change is added to the Content’s history. See also Remove stock.

Count and reconcile stock

A stock check compares what ThingzSafe has recorded with what is really there. With batches you can count in two ways.

• Count the total only. Use this when you know how many units there are but have not counted each batch. If 10 tins were recorded and you find 9, ThingzSafe records the missing tin as an unallocated difference until you say which batch, or unbatched stock, it came from.
• Count batch by batch. Enter 0 for a batch you checked and found empty. Leave the count blank for a batch you did not check.

When you can account for a difference, choose Allocate stocktake difference and assign it to a batch. Do this before you use the suggested take-out order, because the suggestion is only reliable once the batch quantities add up.

Check expiry and rotation

1. Open the Thing, tap Contents and choose Expiry and rotation.
2. Choose the period to check: the next week, month or three months, or enter your own number of days.
3. Read the report. It separates stock to use first, expired stock and stock with no expiry date.

Good to know: If a stock check difference is still unallocated, the batch quantities are marked as uncertain. Allocate the difference to make them reliable.

To be told about upcoming expiries, switch on expiry reminders for the Content. See Reminders for how reminders appear.

Print labels

Choose Print batch labels to label a batch on the shelf, so you can see which batch to use next. Printing a label does not change the stock quantity. To label each unit instead, see Individual Content labels; for other labels, see Print barcode labels.