Warehousing and Distribution Editing and Proofreading Services

The delivery note says two hundred and forty cases. The team counts two hundred and sixteen. Somebody writes "short 24" on the note, signs it, and the pallets go to a location. Four months later the supplier declines the claim because there is no evidence the shortage existed on arrival rather than after, and they are right: nothing recorded who counted, whether the load was sealed, or whether the shortfall was one whole layer or twenty-four cases missing from all over.

We edit what warehouses and distribution centres produce — goods-in and discrepancy procedures, receiving and put-away work instructions, stock count and adjustment documentation, health and safety and racking inspection records, agency and induction training material, customer reporting and stock accuracy statements, and the paperwork that supports a supplier claim. Our editors work on notes written on a loading bay with a queue behind.

The goods-in discrepancy record is what decides whether a shortage is recovered or absorbed, and its failure is a number written on a delivery note. Short 24 is not a record; it is an assertion. We work through these so the count method is stated — full count, pallet count, layer times height — since a shortage found by multiplication and one found by counting every case are different pieces of evidence; so the physical state on arrival is recorded before the count, including whether the load was sealed, whether the wrapping was intact and whether the pallets were built as expected, because these determine where the goods went; so the pattern of the shortfall is described rather than only its size, given that a missing layer implicates the loader and cases missing throughout implicate a count; so photographs are specified as required at particular moments rather than encouraged, as nobody photographs a routine delivery that later turns into a claim; so the driver is asked to sign the discrepancy at the bay and told what it means, since a supplier's first response is that their driver never agreed it; so the note names the person who counted rather than the shift, as claims are settled by people who can be asked; and so the escalation path says who tells the supplier and within how long, because most claims fail on a contractual notice period nobody at the bay has heard of. Records written this way get paid.

Everything you send is treated in confidence, including stock records, supplier correspondence and claims documentation. We are editors rather than warehouse, safety or claims specialists, and we offer no view on stock, liability or any claim. What we can do is make the shortage provable.