Square Feature Request: Expiration Date Tracking

[JTPets]

TLDR Square Feature Request: Expiration Date Tracking

What: Add expiration date fields to Square's product catalog with filtering, alerts, and reporting.

Why: Retail stores lose 2-3% of revenue ($40-60K annually for $2M store) from expired products. Current manual tracking is inefficient and risky.

Key Features:

• Expiration date per product variation
• Filter by "expiring in 30/60/90 days"
• Automated alerts for approaching expirations
• Compliance reports for health departments
• Mobile-friendly staff interface

Business Impact:

• 50-75% reduction in expired product losses
• 80% less time on manual tracking
• Improved food safety compliance
• No need for expensive third-party systems

Technical: Extend existing Catalog API, add dashboard widgets, integrate with POS alerts.

Bottom Line: Native Square expiration tracking would save retailers tens of thousands annually while improving food safety and operational efficiency.

@isabelle @alexschiff 

[lennys26]

I have set up an expiry tracking system tool -- https://expiry.lenstewart.com/

As the interest grows, I will be adding additional features and tools to it, and currently have planned to add:
* Profit tracking by date & category
* Product Loss calculations (waste control)

[JTPets]

We did the same and built our own tool. Https://sqtools.ca with a lot of desired featires for our retail store. Ideally I don't want 3rd party tools. I want this as integrated natively as possible 

[Flopbot]

Yes!

[doc_choc]

@JTPets I think this is a great idea an fully support this.

Visibility of expirations dates on the system are great as we often get issues like the ones mentioned, as rotation of stock on the shelf is not always perfect and things do get missed resulting in wasted stock. Ideal to know what is on the shelf.

It would be great to see what is requested, any move forward on this would be a positive step

Perhaps the next level suggestions could be 

1. Tie this in to a PO section preferably allowing the user to add upon receipt of the supplier delivery note. This would give traceability back to the supplier PO.
2. Add a lot/batch number (as sometimes we can have mixed batches on the shelf), as delivered from the supplier.
3. Flexibility to use the terminology Expiration Date or BBE (Best Before End Date), which is often used across the UK/EU market for food products. If its visible in the the dashboard not visible to the customer Expirations date would work.