Damaged goods and supplier credits

Every store receives damaged goods and most absorb the cost quietly, because the claim process feels like more trouble than the item is worth. Across a year that is a real number, and most of it is recoverable with a routine that adds two minutes to receiving.

What should be recorded at receiving?

Anything short, damaged or wrong, on the delivery paperwork, before the driver leaves. A note signed at the door is the difference between a claim and a conversation.

Photographs on a phone, taken at the moment, cost nothing and settle most disputes. A photograph of a crushed carton on a pallet with the delivery note visible is very hard to argue with a week later.

Why do most claims fail?

Timing and evidence. Suppliers set windows for reporting damage and shortages, and a claim made after the window is usually dead regardless of merit. Evidence gathered later is weaker than evidence gathered at the door.

That is why the routine matters more than the effort. Two minutes at receiving is worth more than an hour of emails afterwards.

Who should be allowed to sign for a delivery?

Somebody trained to check it, which is a smaller group than "whoever is nearest." A signature is an acknowledgement, and a signature on an unchecked delivery gives away the position before anything has been counted.

Where a delivery genuinely cannot be checked at the door, signing subject to check is common practice and should be written exactly as your supplier's terms allow.

What about goods damaged in store?

Different category, same discipline. Record it, so that shrink numbers separate breakage from loss. A store that cannot tell damage from theft is investigating the wrong thing.

A damage log — item, quantity, reason, date — takes seconds per entry and turns an unexplained variance into a known cost.

What can usually be claimed?

Short deliveries, transit damage, incorrect items, and in many cases product that fails within a stated period. Date-expired stock on delivery is another, and it is common enough to be worth checking rather than assuming.

Check dates at receiving on anything dated. Accepting short-dated stock without noticing means selling it at a markdown later at your own cost.

How do you keep track of outstanding claims?

A list, with date raised and amount. Claims get forgotten, and a supplier is not going to remind you. Reviewing it monthly alongside the invoices is enough.

That review also reveals patterns — one supplier, one route, one product that arrives damaged repeatedly — and a pattern is a conversation worth having rather than a series of small claims.

What does the whole routine cost?

Two minutes per delivery and a monthly review. Against that, the recovered value is usually meaningful for any store receiving several deliveries a week. Receiving supplies and record sheets sit in store supplies and office supplies.