What the sheet does
One sheet covers one van for one day. Each product gets a row, and the row follows the stock: what was loaded, what came on and off during the round, and what should be left. The money side is checked separately, on the driver cash-up sheet.
The arithmetic for every row is the same:
Should be on the van = opening load + top-ups + customer returns − sold or delivered − taken off
“Taken off” covers anything that left the van without being sold: stock unloaded at the depot during the day, moved to another van, or written off.
How to use it
- Load in the morning, and count it on together. The warehouse fills in the opening load. The driver counts it onto the van with them, and both sign. That signature is the moment the stock becomes the driver’s responsibility, so it should not be skipped when the yard is busy.
- Write movements as they happen. A top-up, a return collected, a case moved to another van: each goes on the sheet when it happens, not from memory at 6pm.
- Take sales from the invoices. The sold column comes from the invoice book or the handheld’s day summary, not from a guess at what is missing.
- Count before unloading. At the end of the day, count everything still on the van, returns included, before anything comes off. Count without looking at the should-be column if you can.
- Work the difference row by row, then explain it. A difference is a question. Write the answer beside it.
- Put returns where they belong. The returns section says which condition each return is in, so the warehouse puts good stock back on the shelf and keeps damaged or out-of-date stock out of it.
Van load sheet and stock check
One van, one day. Count everything on the van at the end of the day, returns included.
Stock
Should be on van = opening load + top-ups + returns in − sold or delivered − taken off. Difference = counted − should be. More products: print a second copy.
| Code | Product | Unit | Opening load | Top-ups | Returns in | Sold or delivered | Taken off | Should be on van | Counted | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Returns on the van
| Code | Product | Quantity | Customer | Condition: good, damaged or out of date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sign-off
Differences explained
Where the differences usually come from
Before treating a difference as a loss, check the movements nobody wrote down:
- A top-up loaded mid-round and never added to the sheet.
- Cases sold as singles, or singles counted as cases.
- A substitution at the door, recorded as the ordered product.
- A return taken back on the van without a note of it.
- Free stock from a promotion or a sample, given out but not written up.
If the difference survives those, our guide to tracing day-end variance works through the rest. When the same product keeps coming up short from the morning load, the problem is usually upstream, in picking and loading.
