Backdate + Specify Date of Inventory Cycle Counts and Purchase Order Receiving Date

[yunhaishop]

We need a way to backdate or specify the date of an inventory count.

Right now, there's no way to specify the date of an inventory count or the date of when an inventory is received for a particular purchase order. 

In most inventory software, you can say "this recount is for 10/31" but in Square, date of the count just shows up as the date it was entered.

This is extremely unrealistic for small business owners, because usually inventory counting takes a long time and entering it into the system can't usually be done on the same day. Similarly, it's difficult to receive inventory and enter it into the system all in the same day.

For example, I count inventory after my shop closes at 10 PM on 10/31 so I can get my end-of-month inventory value. After I finish counting and organizing my info, it might be 11/3 by the time I enter it into the computer. 

However, by that time, I've already had 3 more days of sales, so my recount is no longer accurate. I'd like to still be able to enter in my count, indicate it is 10/31, and the subsequent sales will deduct accordingly. This is standard for all inventory management software, and I think that since we are paying a premium for Square for Retail Plus's inventory function, this really needs to be part of it. 

[MayaP]

Hello @yunhaishop ,

I appreciate you submitting this to the Ideate Board! This is certainly a pain to have to track inventory like this.  I just wanted to gather some more information just to get a better idea of your operation. When you are inventory counting do you take down these numbers on a notepad or something similar?  Or do you enter these numbers into a spreadsheet with dates? Is there any particular reason not to enter the numbers into the dashboard or mobile app at the time the stock was counted? Thank you! 

[yunhaishop]

Hi @MayaP sorry for the late reply! Answers here:

When we do inventory counts, we do the former - write down numbers on a paper version of the inventory sheet, transcribe it into an Excel sheet, then import it into Square.

The reason why this is not done directly onto the dashboard and mobile is simply practicality, speed, and ease of use. Couple of examples. 

- Imagine taking a full inventory of all the items in your apartment. If you did it on the dashboard and mobile, you'd have to search for the item, type it in, click save, then search for the next item, type it in, then click save. It's significantly faster to inventory with a sheet of paper with a clipboard. Since products also move all the time and aren't always stored in the same place, a clipboard is much easier to flip through and look for items

- In addition, sometimes inventory is done by multiple people, which is much easier done on paper. You can hand a stack of paper for "the fridge" for person A, then hand another person "front of house" stack to count. If this is only possible to do on a device, that requires the business buying multiple devices for everyone to use. 

- It's also much more reliable to have a paper trail. Sometimes when physically counting items, you literally need to do math on the pages (e.g. write 12, then another 5, then another 2) which is difficult to do digitally

If you can try to do a small experiment by inventorying your office/room/apartment via a printed clipboard vs. on an app, hopefully you'll get the experience! 

[wooyoung]

I really don't get why this basic functionality is missing in square api. It's not even hard (since api provides history) to keep track inventory count at certain date.