Free tool
Receiving Loss Calculator
Most inventory loss doesn't start on the sales floor — it starts at the back door, when an invoice is signed for merchandise nobody counted. Estimate what that's costing you.
Your numbers
$12,000
What you pay vendors each week
6
20%
2%
Industry experience puts this between 1% and 3%
Your estimated exposure
Estimated annual receiving loss
$9,984
About $832 per month · $32 per delivery
- Annual vendor spend
- $624,000
- Deliveries signed without a full count
- 80%
- Realistically recoverable with blind counts
- $6,989
This is an estimate based on the figures you entered, not a measurement of your business. Actual loss depends on vendor mix, product value, and how deliveries are verified.
How receiving loss actually happens
- Signed, not counted. A driver is in a hurry, the invoice gets signed, and the shortage becomes your loss the moment the truck pulls away.
- Sighted counts. When the person counting can see the invoice, the invoice tells them what to find. Blind counts remove that anchor.
- No vendor history. One short delivery is a mistake. The same vendor short on the same product every third week is a pattern — and only visible if it's recorded.
- No credit follow-through. Discrepancies get noticed but never converted into a vendor credit, so the loss is absorbed silently.