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Unit-Based Items

How to count unit-based items when taking inventory

Nick Neale avatar
Written by Nick Neale
Updated over a week ago

Article Contents

Introduction

Items with the "units" measurement type are best suited for things that don’t require a weight or volume, and are typically counted and sold whole. This will vary depending on how your venue decides to track certain items.

Some examples include:

  • Eggs

  • Pre-prepared dessert items

  • Cutlery / Dishware

  • Souvenirs (Apparel, etc.)

This measurement type is typically used if there is no other option. If an item can have a weight or volume associated with it, it's better to add one.

If you set an item's measurement to "1 unit" you will be asked to confirm this change.

Counting Unit-Based Items

Unit-based items can be counted in full units and cases, but there is also a special type of count called "sub-units" if the item's measurement is a value greater than 1.

Full Units & Cases

To count full units and cases for items with a unit-based measurement type:

  1. With the item called up, tap the “+” button beside either the units or cases field or tap the number itself to enter an amount

    The "Cases" and "Unit" section of the screen is highlighted.

    Note: If you haven't set a case size for the item already, tap the pencil icon on the top right to edit the item

  2. The total item count displays on the "Confirm" button. Tap “Confirm” to add the items to your inventory

Sub-Units

For items that have a measurement quantity greater than 1, there's an option to count sub-units.

These are normally items that are purchased in a package, and contain multiple units. Examples of this include:

  • Eggs in cartons

  • Tea bags in boxes

  • Prepared desserts that come in packages (cupcakes, croissants, etc.)

This allows you to count open packages easily without having to manually convert it to a portion of the full amount.

In this example we'll count cartons of large eggs. The item measurement size is set to 12 units, with a case size of 15 (in other words, a case contains 15 cartons of 12 for a total of 180 eggs).

To count sub-units:

  1. With the item called up, tap the “+” button in the sub-units field or tap the number itself to enter an amount. In this example, since a carton contains 12 eggs, this value has to be between 1 and 11.

    The item is measured as "12 units" so there option for sub-units appears and is highlighted
  2. The number of sub-units counted displays on the "Confirm" button

    The confirm button shows 5 sub units and is underlined for emphasis

  3. After adding any other full units (cartons) or cases, tap "Confirm"

    The confirm button shows the total number of units, along with sub-units

  4. On the "Current scans" page you'll see the submission for each counting type (units, sub-units, and cases)

    The different counting types all display as separate line items in the inventory

Note: After submitting the inventory, the amount counted gets converted into the item measurement of the item. Since we counted 1 unit (1 carton), 1 case (15 cartons), and then 5 individual eggs ( 5/12 = ~0.42 carton), our stock displays as 16.42 units.

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