The Merchandise Delivery Check That Protects Your Margin

First, verify what arrived

Match the delivery against the invoice before signing it off as correct. Check the item, UPC, size, pack count, quantity, and condition. A substituted flavor or smaller case can have a different cost even when the description looks familiar.

Record shortages, damaged items, and returns, and follow the supplier’s process for resolving them. Keep an expected credit separate from a credit actually confirmed. Otherwise the store can calculate a margin using a discount it never receives.

Use a short delivery pricing sheet

Start with frequently reordered merchandise and any item whose cost or promotion changed. The first version can be a notebook page or a spreadsheet. Use one line per exact item so a manager can trace the calculation back to the invoice.

Test promotions as a full transaction

A normal shelf price can be profitable while a two-for offer loses money. Suppose a drink’s unit cost rises to $1.35, but an old two-for-$2.50 offer remains active. The two drinks cost $2.70. That offer loses $0.20 per bundle before operating expenses; 100 bundles create a $20 gross loss.

Check all paths that change the actual selling price: mix-and-match offers, loyalty discounts, coupons, register overrides, and multipack settings. Confirm which discounts stack. Test a qualifying basket at the register rather than reviewing only the regular shelf price.

If supplier support funds a promotion, verify the dates, eligible items, quantities, and credit terms. Do not count an unconfirmed rebate as guaranteed income. End or review the offer when the support expires, and update its signs at the same time.

Make the shelf and register tell the same story

After a price change, scan the item and check the displayed price and receipt. Verify the shelf tag, cooler sign, endcap, and any promotional display. Undercharging can hurt the store; charging more than the displayed price can hurt customers and trigger complaints.

Michigan’s official scanner-law guidance describes how prices must be visible where items are offered for sale. Stores elsewhere should use their own state’s official pricing guidance. For regulated products such as tobacco, confirm applicable pricing and promotion rules before making changes.

A paper note saying “raise the drinks” is not enough. Write down the exact items, new prices, effective date, and who verified that the change reached both the register and the shelf.

Assign the exception to someone who can finish it

Separate completed checks from items waiting for a decision. A cost change may need an owner’s approval, a supplier correction, or a POS update. Each open item needs a responsible person and a next action.

1. Receiver: verify quantity, pack size, condition, and invoice cost.
2. Manager: compare the new unit cost with current register and promotion prices.
3. Owner: decide on flagged prices, supplier disputes, and deliberate low-margin offers.
4. Closer: scan the changed items, update signs, and record that the check passed.
5. Next delivery: review any unresolved credits and repeat the cost comparison.

Review the repeat problems once a week

Look for products with repeated price increases, expired supplier allowances, large differences between expected and received quantities, or discounts that keep running without approval. Start with the biggest dollar exposure rather than trying to rewrite every price in the store at once.

If the store chooses to hold a price below cost deliberately, document why, how much it can spend on the offer, and when the owner will review it. Measure whether the wider basket makes the decision worthwhile. A planned promotion deserves evidence; an accidental loss deserves a correction.

Keep the daily record easy to maintain

Keep invoices, product costs, and register settings in the appropriate supplier and POS records. Station Pilot helps move the owner’s daily sales, expenses, supplier activity, and recordkeeping from pen and paper to iPhone.

The merchandise checklist in this article is a manual routine you can use today. Station Pilot does not scan invoices, fetch supplier wholesale prices, or automatically update the merchandise pricebook.