Receiving goods

Before you start, open this page: Stock / Goods receipts.

Can’t find one? It may be turned off for your business, or your account may not be allowed to open it. Ask the person who set up your FeePrime. They can fix both.

This is the most important lesson in the course.

Receiving goods is where businesses lose money without noticing. It is also the step people rush, because there is a driver at the gate waiting to leave.

What you write down when goods arrive

A goods receipt holds:

A receipt number and the date the goods came.
The purchase order you are receiving against.
The supplier who sent them.
The location receiving them. Which shop, or which store.
The supplier delivery note number, from their own paperwork.
The lines, which means what actually arrived, and how much.
Notes, and proof for a photo.

Receiving happens in three steps, not one

A receipt moves through three stages:

   received    the lorry is unloaded and you have counted
   inspected   somebody has actually looked at the goods
   put away    it is on the shelf, in its place, and can be found

These are three different moments. Keep them apart, because each one tells you something.

Goods that are received but not put away are goods nobody can find.

Goods that are received but not inspected are goods you accepted without looking. Once the driver has gone, any damage is your loss, not the supplier’s.

You can also mark a receipt with a discrepancy, or cancel it and give a reason.

Write down what arrived, not what you ordered

This is the one habit this lesson is here to teach.

The order said 100. Only 94 arrived. Receive 94.

Never type 100. It is quicker, and it feels harmless, but it does three bad things at once.

It adds 6 items to your stock count that are not on your shelf.
It wipes out the proof that your supplier sent you short.
It lets the supplier’s bill for 100 pass the check that was meant to catch it. FeePrime compares three things: what you ordered, what you received, and what you were billed. If your receipt says 100, all three agree, and nothing gets flagged.

The gap between what you ordered and what came is not a problem to hide. It is the whole point of this step.

Mark the gap, and write a note

Tick discrepancy, then write in discrepancy notes. That is how the gap becomes something you can act on.

“Six short” is a start.

“Six short. Supplier says the rest comes Tuesday. Driver agreed.” is a note that settles the argument two weeks later.

Use proof for a photo. A picture of a crushed box, taken at the gate before the driver leaves, is worth more than anything you write afterwards. It is often the difference between getting your money back and having a long argument.

Receiving is what moves your stock

The receipt is what brings the goods into your stock. It does three things at once.

It creates the stock movement.
It cancels the “on its way” amount that the purchase order created.
It puts the “on hand” amount up, at the place receiving the goods.

So receiving carefully matters for more than keeping your supplier honest. What you can sell, what you need to reorder, and what your stock is worth all sit on top of this one number.

Try it

On staging.feeprime.com, receive less than the purchase order ordered. Tick the discrepancy and write a note. Then look at the item’s “on its way” and “on hand” numbers, and at the stock movement your receipt created.