How Much Have You Been Robbed: Stocktaking, Data Hygiene, and Warehouse Security

In this episode of Rozmowy Logistyków, Piotr Skobało and Adam Sobolewski discuss stocktaking and warehouse security. They cover what counts as a good stocktaking result and where inventory discrepancies actually come from.

PERCENTAGE OR CASH: TWO DIFFERENT WAYS TO LOOK AT THE RESULT

A good stocktaking result, measured as a percentage, is a matter of tenths of a percent, not whole percentage points, of deviation. But the percentage alone can be misleading: minus 100,000 PLN against 100 million PLN of inventory looks great as a percentage, but the owner has to be told plainly that 100,000 złoty worth of goods is missing — that's a completely different conversation. A critical methodological trap: pluses and minuses that cancel each other out to a result close to zero don't mean the warehouse is in order — they can mask real chaos. You need to look at errors in absolute values (not net) and analyze the result broken down by sub-warehouse and product category, because the devil is in the details.

MASTER DATA HYGIENE AS THE FOUNDATION

The most commonly overlooked, unglamorous issue: if two product variants (e.g. different colors) share the same EAN code, the entire responsibility for correct picking falls on a single warehouse worker — the structure itself invites errors. The fix is to require suppliers (or do it yourself) to precisely tag each variant with a separate code in the system — even if physically marking the product is impractical (small, cheap items) or impossible (rental products that come back damaged, like stage-building panels, where even branded markings wear off).

CONTINUOUS STOCKTAKING INSTEAD OF ONE ANNUAL "BIG BANG"

Instead of waiting for a single annual stocktake, large warehouses (50,000-80,000 SKUs) use dedicated stock-controller teams working year-round, plus WMS-triggered random checks woven into the picking process (e.g. every 10-20th pick prompts the worker to confirm the quantity at that location). The investment in this ongoing hygiene pays for itself many times over during picking — because hunting for missing stock after receiving an order with a two-hour shipping window generates unnecessary stress and errors.

SECURITY REQUIRES COMPETENCE, NOT INTUITION

At large logistics scale, it's worth having a dedicated "loss prevention" function (not just physical security) with skills close to police or investigative work — because organized criminal groups inside the supply chain (a manager, warehouse worker, driver, and security guard working together) are real, documented cases. A key structural best practice: the security function should report independently of operations management (ideally directly to the board), not to the operations manager — otherwise it loses the ability to provide impartial oversight.

CHECKS WITHOUT EXCEPTIONS, INCLUDING MANAGEMENT

Metal-detector gates, lockers for metal items and phones, and random checks at the exit (e.g. a "randomizer" picking who has their bag opened that day) must apply to everyone — including the director and the warehouse manager. If management skips the check, it loses the moral authority to enforce it on the team.

RECEIVING AND OUTBOUND CHECKS: WHERE TO DRAW THE LINE

Checking goods on receipt (did the supplier actually send what they declared) has its economic limits: counting every single unit of cheap products (e.g. pens at 50 groszy each) can add as much as 20% to the purchase cost through the labor time needed to verify — it's better to weigh than to count piece by piece for small, light items. On the outbound side, a proven method is random recheck (e.g. one loaded truck in a hundred, with no advance notice of day or time) — the sheer unpredictability of the process creates a layer of psychological deterrence, even though the physical check only covers a fraction of shipments (0.5-2.5% depending on the level — a full truck or a single returnable container). Sealed collective packaging with unique, hard-to-forge codes, and tightly wrapped pallets (so nothing can be pulled out from underneath without visible tampering) are additional, cheap safeguards.

SET GOALS AND METHODOLOGY UP FRONT, NOT AFTER THE FACT

The team needs to know in advance what a "good" stocktaking result means — a lack of clarity breeds stress, and stress breeds the temptation to fudge the numbers in either direction (both theft and dressing up the result to meet unclear expectations). Control is the foundation of trust in this area, not its opposite.