Counting a cold store and perishable goods

In a cold store a count is not just about goods: the temperature regime and staff health matter too. If the door stays open for long, the temperature in the room rises and the goods may suffer. And a person cannot work accurately in the cold for long: hands go numb, attention drops, mistakes multiply. So a count in such a warehouse is planned more strictly than in an ordinary one. Here are the main rules.

Do not break the temperature regime

The key rule: the count must not harm the quality of the goods. To that end:

• Count the rooms one at a time. While one is being counted, the doors of the others stay shut.
• Prepare everything outside: the list, labels, pens, tools. Once inside the room, time should go only on counting.
• Write down the room temperature before the count begins and after it ends. If a temperature log is kept, check it too.
• Do not leave the door open unnecessarily: the counters go in once and come out once.
• Do not carry goods out of the room to count them outside. Goods that warm up and are put back may lose quality.

Put the room in order before the count: put goods in their places, take out ice and packaging waste, clear the aisles. Then the counter wastes no time in the room and the temperature regime is not broken.

Staff: clothing and breaks

A cold room needs special warm clothing, gloves and footwear. Set working times and breaks in line with your company's occupational-safety rules and a specialist's advice. Short spells inside with rest in a warm room between them usually work best. Form the team accordingly: more people, so each goes in less often, but each works only briefly.

It is hard to write and read codes in gloves, so try the gloves out beforehand and pick tools to suit them.

Tools and labels

In the cold, electronic devices discharge faster and the screen may dim. Keep the device in an inside pocket, bring a spare battery and prepare a paper list as a copy. Damp and ice spoil labels too. An ordinary sticker falls off and paper gets wet and unreadable. A label made for cold, or writing under film, lasts better. A code covered in ice cannot be read until it is cleared, so take a soft cloth if needed.

Expiry dates and frozen goods

For perishable goods the main data is not quantity but the expiry date. During the count, record the expiry date of every batch and sort the list by date. Set aside goods nearing expiry and pass them to the manager: they can be sold in time or taken off sale. Check the placement as well: by the usual rule, goods nearing expiry stand in front and new ones behind. If a new batch has been put in front of an old one, note that too.

An example: in the list one article is split into three batches: 40 pieces (5 days left), 120 pieces (12 days) and 200 pieces (30 days). Writing only "360 pieces in total" is risky: if the first batch is not sold in time, exactly those 40 pieces become a loss. Count opened packs and goods sold by the piece separately too, and write down the quantity inside.

Frozen products have their own features. A layer of ice on the packaging adds weight, so accuracy falls when counting by weighing. Separate zones with above-zero and sub-zero temperatures and count them separately. If ice crystals or damage are visible on the packaging, it may be a sign of a broken storage regime even when the date has not passed: mark such goods separately and tell the person responsible.

The report

Besides the usual list of differences, you need a list by expiry date: which batch ends when and how much stock is out of date. Show unusable goods separately from usable ones, so the write-off document is drawn up correctly.

Conclusion

A count in a cold store solves two tasks at once: counting the goods and not spoiling them. Count the rooms in turn, prepare outside, protect people from the cold and record the expiry date as carefully as the quantity. StockCheck agrees the working routine for such warehouses in advance and delivers the report broken down by expiry date.