Storage and inventory of extra shirts?

[Frog]

I can check my stock on my phone because it is in a google spreadsheet, but I don't think I would even care to print out a label from it since it changes so frequently.

Just for the odds and ends.
I was thinking that an individual label with bar or QR code would track inventory in and out. As it is, most of us don't rust the 8 pieces listed as residing on a supplier's shelf on the websites.

[mimosatexas]

I stopped ordering extras.

I keep a dozen black G2000's in size S-3XL on hand. When they run out I replace them.

Any extras we accumulate (I ordered incorrectly, customer changed the order after and we never returned, etc) get piled on a shelf like Tance posted. Mainly so we can have a reminder that if we order more ice grey tees there is a dozen sitting on the shelf. When I print up shop tees for giving out I will usually print whatever is on there, with the exception of random large quantities.

In the past when I would order a few extras with every order, I would offer them to a customer of mine at a discounted rate with his order. He loved it. This was a "there's 100 tees here, you get them all. No cherry picking".

The other option, which I never did was an excel sheet. After every order add to it what you are putting on the shelf. Check it before placing an order to see what you already have. But this falls under the category of don't spend too much time chasing a couple of tees to save $5 off your next order.

I'm sure this works for folks mainly doing larger orders who have a policy of expected loss during production and are printing round estimates for sizes etc.  My jobs are frequently small and specific sizes for specific people, often there will be only a single shirt for a particular size/color and it is for a specific person.  I will order an extra of that shirt just in case something goes wrong even though it is rare.  I would rather spend those extra $3 and not have to resetup the screens later for one shirt or tell a client that person doesnt get a shirt because there was an error.  For me it is more efficient in the long run, and I usually end up using those shirts within 6 months, even for weird colors.  I definitely have some weird brands/styles that have been stored for a few years, and usually at some point I either use them for personal stuff or for test prints if I am confident I will just never use them again.

[papinc]

My question would be...what are most folks using for their accounting software? There should be inventory functionality within that system...even if it's Quickbooks (I hate Quickbooks...but that's not the issue).

[tonypep]

This is the beginning of it..........eight rows deep

[alan802]

Most of us can see the issues with opening the catalog but most of us don't do sales exclusively.  Most of us here are at least a little more production minded than the SRI Salesperson and I've tried really hard to break it down so they can understand how something so meaningless in their mind can affect the entire process.  The G42000 fiasco is still happening on a regular basis after I sat them all down and showed them the issues we have in printing them and how it essentially adds twice the time to printing them or an additional screen yet 2 weeks later it's like we never had the discussion.  We print on so many different types of shirts it's ridiculous.

[bimmridder]

It's interesting to see the way this dilemma is handles depending on your market. We're probably closer to Tony. We decide what garments our customers can order, for the most part. We carry inventory of a good number of styles and colors. Racked similar to Tony. Boxed and labeled. Few hands are allowed to touch this stock. Then there are the little swings where , like right now we have a good amount of red and royal garments we normally wouldn't have (Go Cards and Royals) Blank inventory is almost a living,breathing part of the business. But having a few pieces here and there to keep track of? Not really worth the time or effort. 

[tonypep]

Try telling that to my anal Accounting dept! End of year= everything in the bldg. must be counted; requiring an entire shut down.

[Frog]

Try telling that to my anal Accounting dept! End of year= everything in the bldg. must be counted; requiring an entire shut down.

Every year on my tax forms for the business, I have to list an amount for inventory at the end of the year (which also becomes the inventory I begin with for the next. So yeah, I can see your accountant taking that seriously.

[tonypep]

Necessary evil, yes.

[ebscreen]

We try to keep minimal stock and use it by years end some how, even if just for test prints and shop shirts.


My question is, have you seen shirts go bad? Our backstock is upstairs in the hottest part of the building, so I'm wondering if that's it.
But white shirts turn a dingy beige, develop oil spots, etc. It's weird.

On a similar note, AA has been putting out some of the worst garbage I've ever seen lately.

[alan802]

When we first opened we had a customer that bought 5K blank white shirts and was going to be printing different designs on them throughout the next year or so.  They ended up printing about 1K of those shirts and then we stopped hearing from the guy, sent emails and phone messages about all the shirts we had stocked for him and after 2 years of no return communication from him I just started using them for test prints and if we needed any large or XL white shirts for anything (which was only half a dozen times a year at best).  The last 2500 or so were not near as white as they were and they definitely started turning dingy like EB said.  They were beefy t's and they also started to get more "canvas-ee" and stiffer. 

[Gilligan]

I really expected one of you smart ass young technophiles to tell us about your inventory label printing program and companion smart phone app so even when on the beach at Cancun, you can check and see if you have two XL Jade G2000's!

I have a semi-working pantry inventory system that uses a barcode scanner.  You scan your groceries when you get them home and put them up and then you scan them as you use them.  Need to go shopping?  Print out a grocery list and go.  You tell it what "levels" of inventory you want to keep up with.

It is supposed to give you good and great prices so you know when you find a "sale" if it's REALLY a sale... but never got that far.  Hell, I never actually used it other then as a proof of concept.