Receiving floor SOPs — receive, putaway, exceptions, returns.

The short answer

A receiving SOP defines four things at the dock: how an inbound purchase order is verified against what physically arrived, where stock goes once accepted (putaway), what happens when the paperwork and the pallet disagree (exceptions), and how customer returns re-enter sellable stock. Writing these down is what stops a receiving error at 9am becoming unexplained inventory variance three weeks later.

Receiving is where inventory accuracy is won or lost

Every downstream number depends on the dock being right. A reorder point computed from accurate on-hand is useful; the same formula on a count that drifted at receiving produces confident, wrong answers. Most variance traced back far enough started as a receiving shortcut nobody recorded.

The failure is rarely dishonesty or carelessness. It is that the person receiving had no written rule for the case in front of them — a partial delivery, an unlabelled pallet, a substitution — so they made a reasonable call and moved on without a record.

Exceptions are the part worth writing down

The happy path teaches itself. What needs a procedure is the short shipment, the overage, the damaged case, and the item that arrived without a purchase order. Each needs a named owner, a decision rule, and a record that survives the shift.

The single highest-value rule: never adjust stock silently to make a count match. Record the variance, then correct it. An adjustment with no reason code destroys the only evidence you had about why the number moved.

Frequently asked questions

What should a receiving SOP include?

Four procedures: verifying an inbound purchase order against the physical delivery, putaway to a recorded location, exception handling for shortages, overages and damage, and returns processing back into sellable stock. Each needs a named owner and a record that outlives the shift.

What is putaway?

Putaway is moving accepted stock from the receiving area to its storage location and recording where it went. Skipping the record is what creates stock that exists physically but cannot be found, which reads as a stockout even though the units are on site.

How should I handle a short shipment?

Receive what actually arrived, not what the purchase order said. Record the shortage as an exception against the PO so the supplier's fill rate reflects it, and leave the PO open if the balance is still coming. Receiving the full PO quantity to close the paperwork puts units into stock that do not exist.

Should returns follow the same process as inbound receiving?

They need the same rigour but a different decision: whether the unit is sellable. A return that goes straight back to the shelf without that check is how damaged stock reaches the next customer, and a return never processed at all is inventory you own but cannot sell.