Stock expiry report
For shops that sell anything with a best-before or expiry date, the stock expiry report lists stock lot by lot with its manufacture and expiry dates, so you can mark down what's close and clear out what's past.
Stock expiry report in SeroPOS
Stock left per lot
Each lot is listed with the quantity still on hand, so you know how much of a batch is at risk.
MFG and EXP dates
Manufacture and expiry dates recorded on purchases and opening stock appear beside each lot.
Expired and expiring windows
View Stocks filters the list to Expired, or to stock expiring within a week, a month or longer.
Write off with an adjustment
Expired units come off your count through a stock adjustment, so the loss is on record.
Dashboard alert
The back office dashboard has a stock expiry alert, with the warning window set in Business Settings.
Stop selling early
Choose to keep selling expired items or stop selling them a set number of days before expiry.
What the expiry report lists
Open Reports, then Stock Expiry Report, and filter by location. Each row is a lot of a product, with the stock left in it and its MFG and EXP dates. Sorting by expiry puts the items that need attention first, which turns the morning walk through the shelves into a short list.
Because stock is tracked per lot, two deliveries of the same yogurt or the same cough syrup show separately. You can see that the older lot has six left and expires on Friday, while the newer one is good for another month. That makes it simple to sell the older lot first or mark it down.
Turning on expiry tracking
Expiry tracking is switched on in Business Settings, on the Product tab, with Enable Product Expiry. You can enter an expiry date directly, or enter a manufacture date and let SeroPOS work it out from the product's expiry period. On the same tab, choose what happens on expiry: keep selling, or stop selling a set number of days before.
Dates are then entered when stock comes in, on each purchase line and on opening stock. Barcode labels printed from Print Labels can carry the lot number, expiry and packing dates, so staff on the floor see the same dates the report does. Labels for a whole delivery can be printed as soon as it's received.
- Business Settings, Product: Enable Product Expiry
- Set expiry by date, or by MFG date plus expiry period
- On product expiry: keep selling, or stop selling n days before
- Business Settings, Dashboard: stock expiry alert window in days
Removing expired stock
When a lot is past its date, write it off rather than leaving it on the books. Note the product and lot from the report, then add a stock adjustment under Stock Adjustment › Add with Expired as the reason. Stock levels drop and the write-off shows on the stock adjustment report and in profit and loss.
Dates come from the purchase or opening stock, so it's worth checking the dates on each delivery as it's entered. A lot with the wrong date won't be flagged in time, and the report shows the date as it was recorded.
Who it's for
Grocery stores, pharmacies, delis and specialty food shops get the most from it, as do bakeries that buy in dated ingredients for resale. Anywhere a product can be refused by an inspector or a customer once it's out of date, a daily look at this report saves stock and awkward conversations.
Pair it with the dashboard's stock expiry alert, which lists items expiring within the window you choose. The alert is the nudge, and the report is where you act on it. Set the alert window in Business Settings, on the Dashboard tab, to the number of days that suits your stock. Short-dated dairy may need a few days' notice, while packaged goods can be flagged weeks ahead.
Frequently asked questions
How do I track expiry dates in SeroPOS?
Turn on Enable Product Expiry in Business Settings on the Product tab. Then enter an expiry date, or a manufacture date with an expiry period, on each purchase line and on opening stock. The stock expiry report and the dashboard's stock expiry alert use those dates.
Can SeroPOS stop expired products from being sold?
Yes. In Business Settings on the Product tab, the On product expiry setting can be set to stop selling a chosen number of days before the expiry date. The other option is to keep selling, which some shops prefer when they mark items down instead.
How do I see products that are about to expire?
The back office dashboard has a Stock Expiry Alert table. Set how many days ahead it looks in Business Settings on the Dashboard tab. For the full list with quantities and dates per lot, open the stock expiry report. Both read the same dates.
How do I remove expired stock?
Expired units are written off with a stock adjustment, which takes the quantity out of stock. That means it appears on the stock adjustment report and is counted in the profit and loss report, so the cost of expired goods isn't lost from your figures.
Is this suitable for a pharmacy?
It covers the stock side: lots, expiry dates, alerts ahead of expiry and write-offs by stock adjustment. Combined with the lot report, you can see where each batch went. It doesn't handle prescriptions or dispensing records, so it suits the front-of-store and over-the-counter side of a pharmacy.