A receiving inspection checklist you can actually use
Fourteen checks, in the order you would do them, from the vehicle pulling in to the record being filed.
The short answer
A usable receiving checklist covers the vehicle and outer packaging before signing, then the count against the order, then the condition of the goods, then the record itself. The order matters: everything that has to happen before the driver leaves comes first, because after that those checks are no longer available to you.
Written by Hamza Rivera, founder, dockcount. How these are checked.
A checklist is only worth having if it can be run with a pallet in front of you. This one is ordered by what you lose if you skip it, so everything that stops being possible once the driver pulls away is at the top.
Before you sign
- The delivery is addressed to you, at this site.
- The number of pallets or parcels matches the carrier's paperwork.
- Outer packaging is intact: no crushing, no tears, no water staining, nothing leaning.
- Seals and shrink wrap are unbroken where they should be.
- Anything wrong with the above is written on the carrier's paperwork, in words, before you sign it.
Worth knowing
“Damaged” on its own is weak. “Two cartons crushed, top pallet, photographed” is what a claim is built on.
Against the order
- You have the purchase order in front of you, not just the packing slip.
- Each line is counted, and the count is written down as it happens.
- Units match: the order is in cases and you are counting cases, or you have converted deliberately.
- Part numbers are read rather than descriptions. Two items described almost identically are the classic wrong-item delivery.
- Anything present that is not on the order is recorded rather than quietly put away.
Condition
- Damaged quantities are recorded separately from received quantities.
- Anything with a shelf life has its dates checked and recorded.
- Lot or batch numbers are captured where you would need to trace them later.
- Photographs are taken of anything a supplier would want to see before issuing a credit.
The record
The last check is the one nobody writes down: can somebody who was not there find this in three weeks. If the answer is no, the previous thirteen checks were done for the benefit of nobody.
DockCount does this job on a phone at the bay: count a delivery against the order it was placed on, photograph anything wrong, and the record writes itself. The same checks, in receiving software.