A unit of measure error happens when the number on an order line is counted in one unit and keyed in another, such as six tins entered as six cases. The order goes through and the van goes out. The cost turns up later, on a return, a credit note or a held invoice.
What does a unit of measure error look like?
A foodservice wholesaler supplies a group of care homes.
On a Thursday, one home’s cook emails the usual order. One line reads “chopped tomatoes 6”.
The cook means six tins. That’s one case.
The line is keyed in as six cases. 36 tins go out on the van.
The home has nowhere to put them, so five cases come back. That’s a return to book, a credit note to raise and a driver’s time on the next drop. The stock comes back too, and it has to be checked before it can go out again.
Two lines further down, the opposite happens. “Gravy granules 2” was meant as two cases. It goes in as two tubs. The kitchen runs short before the weekend, and someone pops to the cash and carry instead.
Then the invoice arrives. The home’s contract shows a price per tin. The wholesaler’s invoice shows a price per case. Nothing is wrong with either price, but they don’t match, so the invoice is held while someone works out why.
Nobody was careless. The cook wrote what made sense in the kitchen. The order taker keyed what made sense in the system. Both were reasonable.
That’s what makes it hard to fix.
Why don’t customers count the way you do?
Every order line has a number on it.
Six. Ten. Forty-eight.
Most of the time, nobody stops to check what that number is counting. Tins, cases, packs, kilos.
On paper, that’s all settled. Every product has a unit it’s sold in. Your system knows it, your price file knows it, and your customers know it too.
In practice, your customers don’t all count the way you do.
A chef orders in tins, because that’s what goes on the shelf. A buyer orders in cases, because that’s what’s on the invoice. A care home cook orders in whatever the last delivery came in. And when the order arrives by email, as a PDF or in a quick text, the number is often all there is to go on.
What do unit of measure errors cost?
Unit of measure errors don’t look like errors when they happen. The order goes through and the van goes out. The cost shows up later, in a different place. On a return. On a credit note. On a held invoice. Or in a customer who starts checking every delivery before they sign for it.
None of this is dramatic. It’s routine. But across hundreds of orders a week, it adds up to lost margin, extra admin and a slow loss of trust.
And the more ways orders come in, the more often it happens. Email, PDF, spreadsheet, phone and automated feeds each describe quantities in their own way.
How do businesses stop unit mix-ups?
The businesses that handle this well don’t rely on order takers spotting it.
They make the unit as clear as the number.
Every product is set up with the unit it’s sold in, and the unit each customer tends to order in. Quantities are checked against what that customer normally buys, so a line six times bigger or smaller than usual gets a second look before it’s picked. And when a pack size changes, it’s updated once and reaches orders, price files and invoices together.
Four checks to run on your own orders
If you want a quick test, try this.
- Pull last month’s returns and credit notes. Pick out the ones where the wrong quantity went out, and count how many came down to a unit mix-up rather than a picking mistake.
- Choose one regular customer. Put the way they write their orders next to how the same lines appear in your system, and check whether each one is counted in tins, cases, packs or kilos.
- Take five products whose pack size changed in the last year. Check the new size is the same in your order system, your price file and your customer catalogue.
- Ask your customer service team which customers they “just know” to convert. If the answer is a list of names, that knowledge lives in people’s heads rather than in your system.
If unit mix-ups are behind your returns, you’re paying to deliver the same goods twice. If customers write orders differently from how you hold them, every order depends on someone translating. If pack sizes don’t match across your systems, the next mistake is already waiting. And if the conversions live in people’s heads, they go on holiday when those people do.
The number on an order line is only half the information. The unit is the other half, and it deserves the same attention.
Frequently asked questions
What is a unit of measure error in food wholesale?
It’s when the number on an order line is counted in one unit and entered in another, such as a customer ordering six tins and the line being keyed as six cases. The quantity looks right, but the wrong amount is picked, delivered and invoiced.
Why do unit of measure errors happen?
Customers don’t all count the way the wholesaler does. A chef orders in tins, a buyer in cases and a care home cook in whatever the last delivery came in. When orders arrive by email, PDF or text, the number is often all there is to go on.
What do unit of measure errors cost a food wholesaler?
The cost shows up after the order goes through, as returns to book, credit notes to raise, driver time and invoices held because the contract and the invoice price in different units. Across hundreds of orders a week, it adds up to lost margin, extra admin and a slow loss of trust.
How can a food wholesaler reduce unit of measure errors?
Set up every product with the unit it’s sold in and the unit each customer tends to order in. Check quantities against what that customer normally buys, so unusual lines get a second look before they’re picked. When a pack size changes, update it once so it reaches orders, price files and invoices together.
Where Allsop fits
At Allsop, we help food and beverage businesses get orders right first time, through intelligent software for Customer Order Automation, Data Workbench and Customer Margin Management. That means orders are read as they arrive, whether by email, PDF, spreadsheet or automated feed, and checked against your product codes, agreed prices and your own rules before they go any further. Lines that don’t look right are flagged for someone to review, rather than found on the van. And product details like pack sizes are held the same way across your systems, so orders, price files and invoices all count in the same units. Sales colleagues can keep growing share of wallet, confident that what the customer ordered is what turns up.
If pack sizes have changed in your range this year, our article on why supplier spec changes cause errors beyond the allergen panel looks at what else needs checking when a supplier updates a product.
Speak to Allsop, and we’ll look at how orders turn into deliveries in your business today.
