Inventory Process
We've tracked inventory a few different ways in the past, but we've found using a super simple system works the best for our team and our clients. Below you can find all the info on our inventory process as well as an example of our Inventory spreadsheets.
FIND OUR MOST UP-TO DATE INVENTORY & RECEIVING POLICIES HERE
Inventory Spreadsheet
MacPac uses Google Sheets to track the inventories in our warehouse. We love Google Sheets because they connect to a variety of tools we use in the office, and we can customize the sheets to exactly what we and our clients need.
Each of our clients has view-only access to see their inventory so that you can plan accordingly. We do not provide reports, but you can easily download your spreadsheet from Google and edit or create your own reports as needed.
You will be able to access your inventory sheet through a private link we sent to your team when you get started with us. This URL will never change, so you can bookmark it or save it to send to the rest of your team.
Download Your Inventory
Downloading the inventory is super simple. Open the link to your Sheet, choose “File” in the upper left corner, then choose “Download As”. You can download the Sheet as an excel file. Once you’ve saved it, you can open your file and unhide columns, edit numbers and run any reports you need.
Reading the Spreadsheet
The left side of every spreadsheet (Columns A-C) are used by the MacPac team to quickly calculate weights and cubic, you won’t need to use this section.
The left section of each Sheet is frozen to keep the products and details in sight. The right side of the Sheet is where we track the inventories. We hide past months and columns as we go to keep the sheet small and make it easy to view. The columns are just hidden and can easily be accessed by downloading the file and unhiding all columns.
Inventory columns are marked in yellow
Received columns are marked in red
Shipments out from MacPac are marked in green
End of month inventory columns will have the last day of the month and say “EOM”
View our example spreadsheet here to get an idea of what this looks like.
Expiration Dates and Lot Codes
If your product has expiration dates and lot codes, we track each expiration date as a different product, meaning every expiration date has its own line. This helps us track your products well and avoid chargebacks as we ship multiple dates to Amazon.
We use FIFO (first in, first out) on all products with the exception that you send us a product with an older expiration date than we already had in stock at our warehouse. Although, we do ask that you try to avoid this situation.
As expiration dates zero out of the inventory, we will hide the old rows. Again, you can easily see these rows by downloading the Sheet and unhiding all rows.
Any product that has more than one expiration date will have a “master row” with the product name, weights and UPC numbers but a blank expiration date and lot code space. Rows below the master row will have the expiration dates and the inventories correlating to that date. We try to color-block the master row with its various expiration dates so it’s a bit easier to see on the sheet.
Amazon’s 90 Day Expiration Policy
Amazon labels any product that is within 90 days from expiration as non-compliant. This label results in a charge-back of $2 plus 100% of the cost of the product for every unit we send them that is within those parameters. You can read the full Amazon policy here.
If you have expiration dates on your products and ship primarily to Amazon, we will set up your spreadsheet to automatically mark your dates with the following key:
White - Date is good and ready to ship to Amazon
Yellow - Date is within 118 days of expiring
Orange - Date is within 104 days of expiring
Red - Date is within 90 days of expiring (Amazon’s limit)
Pink - Date is expired
This automation on your spreadsheet is meant to help you and your marketing team keep up on your dates to make sure product is being sold, returned or donated before the expiration date.
Sister Carmen is a local food bank that we work closely with to schedule donations most weeks. If you’d like us to automatically donate any dates within Amazon’s 90 day policy, they are a great organization and you can let us know if you’d like to handle your product in this way. If you choose to donate, we’ll email you donation receipts as the product is removed from our warehouse.
If you’d like to discuss other options besides donating older product, feel free to call us and discuss.
Monthly Physical Counts
At the end of every month, we do a physical count of your products and put it into the spreadsheet, so that we start every month with clean accurate data. Your team is responsible for checking your inventory spreadsheets regularly and letting us know about any changes you wish to make.
For more information on our inventory process or to find out about working with us, please visit the Contact page
