Inventory troubleshooting

When counts drift from the shelf, the cause is nearly always an unrecorded flow: a delivery that wasn't received, damage that was tossed silently, a restock that wasn't transferred, or sales rung on the wrong product. Diagnose the flow before touching the number.

Before you start

Physically count the product in question — both sales floor and backstock.

Steps

Compare shelf to system per pool — Check sales floor and warehouse separately; a transfer gap looks like a shortage in one and a surplus in the other.
Check recent receives — Was the last delivery received, and for the counted quantity?
Check damage and returns — Anything discarded or returned that never got recorded?
Check for ring-up substitutions — Staff ringing a look-alike product shifts counts between two items in opposite directions.
Correct through the right flow — Record the missing receive/damage/transfer rather than editing the count, so the history explains itself.

Common mistakes

Blind count edits that erase the evidence of what actually went wrong.
Investigating totals only — pool-level (floor vs. warehouse) comparison finds transfer gaps immediately.

Troubleshooting

The same product drifts every week.

That's a process problem — usually one unrecorded flow in your routine. Watch that product's flows for a week to find it.

Counts changed with no one claiming responsibility.

Review who received, damaged, or transferred recently; individual staff logins make this answerable.

When to contact support

Counts change without any corresponding receive, sale, damage, or transfer on record.