SalevaA medical store's stock: batches, expiry dates and returns to distributors
A practical routine for a small medical store or pharmacy counter: recording batch numbers and expiry dates when stock arrives, a monthly near-expiry list, keeping expired stock apart, and sending returns back to distributors with paperwork that gets them accepted.
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The distributor's man comes on his usual day and you hand him a carton of short-dated stock. He looks through it, puts four boxes aside and says, "These are not ours. And this one expired in March. The claim window was three months." You know you bought those four boxes from somewhere. You do not know where. The expired one has been sitting behind a newer box since spring.
That carton is money. Not a fortune on any one visit, but every month, in every medical store that keeps stock by product name only. The fix is not a new shelf or a bigger staff. It is writing down two small things, the batch and the expiry, at the moment stock comes in, and then looking at them on a fixed day each month.
This article is about the stock records of a medical store: batches, expiry dates and returns to distributors. It does not cover what may be sold, to whom, or with what prescription. Those rules depend on where you trade and on the qualified person in charge of your counter, so follow them as they apply to you.
Why a medical store needs more than a stock count
In a grocery shop, a box of tea is a box of tea. In a medical store, two boxes of the same tablet on the same shelf can be different stock. They may come from different batches, expire eight months apart and have been bought from two different distributors at two different rates.
A stock count by product name tells you that you have six boxes. It does not tell you:
- Which of the six expires first, and so which one should go out next.
- Which distributor supplied each box, and so who will accept a return.
- Which batch it was, if a distributor or the company asks for one batch to be taken off sale.
The general rule of first expiry, first out is covered in the stock loss article. This article is about the records that make that rule possible for a whole medical store, not just one shelf.
Record the batch and expiry when stock arrives
Everything else in this routine depends on one habit: the batch number and expiry date are written down when the delivery is checked, not later.
When a delivery arrives, check it against the distributor's bill line by line, as you would any purchase. The supplier purchases article covers checking quantities and rates. For a medical store, add three more checks on every line:
- Batch number. Read it from the box itself, not just the bill. Bills sometimes carry the wrong batch, and the box is what you will be returning.
- Expiry date. Again from the box. Note it as month and year.
- Shelf life left. Compare the expiry with today's date. Agree with each distributor what the shortest acceptable shelf life is for slow sellers, and refuse lines that come in under it.
Then record each line with its batch and expiry, against the distributor and the bill number. If the same product arrives in two batches in one delivery, it is two lines, not one.
Keep the distributor's bill as well, filed by distributor and date. When you claim a return months later, the bill is what proves you bought that batch from them.
Choose one unit and stick to it
Medicine is bought in one unit and often sold in another. A carton holds boxes, a box holds strips, and some counters sell a single strip. If your records mix these, your expiry list and your stock count will both be wrong.
Pick one stock unit per product and use it everywhere:
| Product is bought as | Sold as | Keep stock in |
|---|---|---|
| Cartons of 10 boxes | Whole boxes | Boxes |
| Boxes of 10 strips | Strips or boxes | Strips |
| Single bottles | Single bottles | Bottles |
| Packs of 100 sachets | Single sachets | Sachets |
These are examples. The rule is simply that the stock unit is the smallest unit you sell. A delivery of 2 boxes of 10 strips goes into stock as 20 strips. A customer who buys a whole box takes 10 strips off stock. Then your records match what is on the shelf, and your near-expiry list tells you exactly how many strips are at risk.
Arrange the shelves by expiry, not by arrival
The records only help if the shelf follows them. Two habits keep the two in step.
- Earliest expiry at the front, always. When restocking, check dates and put the earliest in front, even if it arrived last. A later delivery can carry an earlier date.
- One batch, one place. Keep boxes of the same batch together. When a distributor asks about a batch, you want to find every box of it in one move.
A small sticker on the shelf edge with the earliest expiry month on that shelf helps whoever restocks. It also turns a glance along the shelves into a quick date check.
Store everything as the box says. Some items carry storage instructions on the pack, and those apply in your shop as much as anywhere. If you are unsure what applies to a product, ask the distributor or the company.
The monthly near-expiry list
Once a month, on a fixed day, make a list of everything that expires within the next three months. The first of the month is easy to remember. This list is the most valuable ten minutes in a medical store's month.
For each line, write:
- Product name and stock unit
- Batch number
- Expiry month
- Quantity on hand
- Distributor who supplied it
- That distributor's return rule for near-expiry stock
Then sort the list into three groups.
- Returnable now. The distributor takes near-expiry stock back within a window you are still inside. These go into the return carton this week.
- Sellable in time. You sell enough of it that the quantity on hand will go before the date. Move it to the front and leave it.
- At risk. It will not sell in time and the distributor will not take it back. Decide now: ask the distributor for an exchange, offer it to another shop that sells more of it, or plan to write it off.
Count the quantities on hand for the at-risk group while you make the list. The free stock count sheet prints a clean form for it if you work on paper.
The near-expiry list is only useful three months before the date. A list of what expired last month is a list of losses.
Returns to distributors that get accepted
Most distributors accept some near-expiry or expired stock back, under rules that differ from one to another. A return gets refused for the same few reasons again and again: it was not bought from them, it is outside their window, it is damaged, or there is no paperwork. You can prevent all four.
Know each distributor's rules. Ask every regular distributor, once, and write the answers in your supplier notebook or app:
- Do they take near-expiry stock, expired stock, or both?
- How many months before or after expiry?
- Do they give a credit note, cash, or replacement stock?
- Do they need the original bill number?
Prepare the return before the visit. Put the boxes in a carton with a return note inside. The note lists each line: product, batch, expiry, quantity and the bill number it was bought on. Keep a copy.
Get a signed receipt for the carton. When the distributor's representative takes it, ask them to sign and date your copy of the return note. A return carton that leaves your shop without a signature is easy to lose track of, on both sides.
Follow up the credit. Write the expected credit against that distributor's account. When the credit note arrives, tick it off. When it has not come after a month, ask. Unclaimed credit notes are money you have already given up once.
Keep expired and damaged stock apart
Expired stock and damaged boxes must never sit on the selling shelf, not even for a day while you decide what to do with them.
- One marked carton, out of the customer area. Label it clearly "Not for sale". Everything expired, damaged or waiting for return goes in it the moment it is found.
- Take it off sellable stock in your records too. Record the quantity as an adjustment with the reason, expired or damaged, so your stock count stops including it.
- Separate returnable from non-returnable. Inside the carton, keep what is waiting for a distributor apart from what will be disposed of.
- Dispose of the rest properly. How expired medicine must be disposed of depends on where you trade. Ask your distributor or the local authority what applies to you, and keep a note of what was disposed of and when.
When a distributor or company tells you a particular batch is being withdrawn, find every box of it the same day using your batch records, take it off the shelf into this carton, and follow their instructions for returning it.
Questions shopkeepers ask
My distributor's bill does not show batch numbers. What do I do?
Write the batch from the box yourself when you check the delivery, on the bill or in your records. Then ask the distributor to include batches on future bills. Many will, once they know a shop checks. Either way, the batch on the box is the one that matters for a return.
How far ahead should my near-expiry list look?
Three months suits most small medical stores, because it leaves time to sell slow stock or return it inside most distributors' windows. If a distributor's window is longer, look further ahead for their products. For fast sellers, a shorter window is fine, since they will go long before the date.
A customer wants to buy the whole strip with the latest expiry date. Is that fair?
Customers often check dates, and there is nothing wrong with that. If your front stock has a reasonable date left, offer it first and explain that it is well within date. If the customer still prefers a later date and you have it, it is usually better to keep the customer than win the argument. Just make sure the earlier box stays at the front for the next sale.
How do I start if my current stock has no batch records at all?
Do not try to fix everything in one night. Start recording batches and expiry for every new delivery from tomorrow. Then, over two or three weeks, record the batch and expiry of existing stock one shelf at a time, starting with the slowest sellers, because they are the most likely to expire. The one-evening stock take shows how to organise a full count if you would rather do it all at once.
Should I keep paper records as well as an app?
Keep the distributor bills and signed return notes on paper, filed by distributor, because those are what a distributor will ask to see. Day-to-day stock, batches and expiry lists are easier to keep in an app, where they can be searched and sorted.
Saleva has a pharmacy setting that adds batch numbers and expiry dates to the product form, sells the oldest batch first and warns on expired stock. Deliveries can be entered from a photo of the distributor's bill, which keeps your stock, cost prices and supplier ledger right at once. The products and stock guide shows where to switch the pharmacy fields on.
Try this in Saleva
Saleva is a free Android point-of-sale app for small shops: selling, stock, customer dues, staff and an online shop page. Selling works with no internet at all.