Pre-counts are a valuable time-saving strategy that allows you to perform a significant amount of your inventory count in advance of the final count. This process allows you to set aside some inventory you don't anticipate selling in the window of time between pre- and final counts. With these units already counted and recorded, when the time comes for your final hard count, you'll only need to count the units you left available for sale. This sets you up for a quicker count with more accurate results.
Recommended Materials:
Permanent markers
Sealable containers (Gallon storage bags, storage bins, or similar)
Masking tape or painter's tape
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Preparation
Step 1: Log in to your Treez portal and navigate to Inventory > Inventory Management > Inventory Adjustment.
Step 2: Click the vertical 3 dots in the upper right-hand corner of the page, and then select CSV Export.
Step 3: Open the export in your preferred spreadsheet program. (e.g., Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers)
Step 4: Add 3 columns to the sheet. Label the first column 'Pre-Count', the second column 'Day-of', and the third column 'Total Quantity'.
Best Practices:
We recommend performing pre-counts by Product Type in the week leading up to a final count. For example, counting all cartridges on Monday, edibles on Tuesday, etc. You can apply a product filter to the Inventory Adjustment page before the export in Step 2 if you want to narrow down the results included in the CSV.
The Inventory Adjustment export has many columns with helpful details, but for the purpose of counting, you may find it helpful to hide or delete columns that aren't directly relevant to the counting process (such as Price, Accepted Date, etc.). Keep in mind that the unit counts shown on this sheet at the time of export will likely change between the pre-count and final count — to reduce confusion, we recommend hiding or deleting those columns (Reserved Units, Packed & Ready Units, Decision Pending Units, Available Units). This is because your pre-count is simply a means to group your back stock inventory into easy-to-count batches (and anything listed in these columns is already part of your sellable inventory). This process of systematic back stock batching allows you to release the minimum quantity of inventory necessary to your sales floor at any given time.
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Count
Step 5: Identify the product you'd like to pre-count and gather the on-hand units.
Step 6: Decide how many of the units you'll keep available to sell until the final count, and separate them. These units are your 'float' and will be set aside so the remaining 'pre-count' units can be counted and saved.
When determining your float amount, you can easily reference how many units of a certain product you sell in a specified timeframe using Treez reports. Navigate to Reports > Inventory > Log and set the date filter to your desired timeframe. Click the blue filter button to filter by either Product Name or Tracking ID #, and select only POS Sale in the Activity column. The snapshot above the main table will show you the total number of units sold, giving you a starting point for determining how many units to leave in your float.
Step 7: Organize the pre-count stock into easily countable quantities (e.g. 10, 25, 50), and record the total number of pre-counted units in the 'Pre-Count' column of your count spreadsheet.
Best Practices:
It's best to be generous in the number of units you're leaving in the float so you don't run out of a product before your final count or have to edit the count spreadsheet. If you do need to sell some of your pre-counted inventory, just be sure to adjust the recorded number of units in the count spreadsheet.
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Seals
Step 8: Place the pre-counted units into a sealable container, and then close it.
Step 9: To maximize the integrity of the container, wrap masking tape around the entire box or bag (so the ends overlap) to seal it shut.
Using clear bins such as these will allow you to easily see inside without breaking the seal.
Step 10: Where the ends overlap, write the count of units in the container, the date you performed the count, and your initials on the tape — similar to how a tamper-proof seal works.
Step 11: Repeat Steps 1-10 until all your inventory has been pre-counted.
Best Practices:
Unopened boxes of inventory are ideal to save for pre-counts. e.g. If you have a new box of 25 cartridges, simply perform Steps 9-10 to reserve these as pre-counted inventory. Then, when you go to perform a routine inventory count, you only need to multiply the number of sealed boxes by the number of units inside.
Moving pre-counted inventory into a locked/inaccessible location provides additional assurance that they won’t be sold or moved in error.
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Day of Final Count
Step 12: When you're ready to perform your final count, count only the units leftover from your float and enter them in the 'Day of' column in the count spreadsheet.
Step 13: After you've performed all the 'Day of' counts and entered them in your spreadsheet, sum each product's quantities from the 'Pre-Count' and 'Day of' columns in the 'Total Quantity' column.
Step 14: In your Treez portal, navigate to Inventory > Inventory Management > Inventory Adjustment.
Step 15: Enter each product's 'Total Quantity' figure into the 'Actual Available' column. If there is a discrepancy, select the reason for the adjustment from the 'Reason' column dropdown. If there is no discrepancy, you can select 'Counts Match' from the dropdown so you can keep track of what counts you've reviewed and entered.
Step 16: Click the blue Review Changes button in the lower right-hand corner of the screen.
Step 17: Verify that the changes you entered are correct, and then click Submit Count.
Best Practices:
Remember that the unit counts shown in the exported columns (Reserved Units, Packed & Ready Units, Decision Pending Units, Available Units) are from the time of export. These will likely have changed between the pre-count and final count, but as long as you've been updating the 'Pre-Count' column you added and filled out, this column will be the correct count.
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