Expiration Dates

Manage expiring inventory on lot-by-lot basis

Valerie avatar
Written by Valerie
Updated over a week ago

To help you manage perishable inventory, Thrive allows you to set an “Expiration Date” for each lot. This is enabled on a per-variant basis; by default, your products will not expire. To learn more about lots, start here.

To start tracking expired inventory, click on the product name from your inventory list and then “Configure expiration” for each applicable variant:

Simply enable Expiration and set the default time period for expiration.

Days are counted from the moment the inventory is received into Thrive and can be edited manually for each shipment.

You’ll notice that your product now has an Expiration column in its lot history:

Going forward, new inventory received will be assigned an expiration date automatically based on the default number of days chosen. To view and edit existing lots, click on the Inventory History.

To adjust the date, click on the variant. on your variant's cost, “Edit” and then choose a new expiration date as shown here:


Reporting

For information on what's included in the Expiring Inventory Report, please click here:


Inventory Settings and Behavior 

Lots without an expiration date will always be deducted first, followed by lots with an expiration date. In your account settings, Inventory Settings / “Inventory behavior” dictates protocol for the former set, and “Inventory with expiration dates behavior” controls the latter.

Our recommended default is pictured above: “First in, first out” and “First expiring, first out”.

 

Inventory with expiration dates behavior

  • First expiring, first out

    • Whichever lot is going to expire soonest, gets deducted first.

  • Last expiring, first out

    • Whichever lot is going to expire last, gets deducted first.

  • First in, first out

    • Whichever lot was received first, gets deducted first.

    • Expiration date is not considered.

  • Last in, first out

    • Whichever lot was received last, gets deducted first.

    • Expiration date is not considered.


Tracking waste, loss, or spoilage

If you have to dispose of a lot that has expired or spoiled, you have a few options which are outlined in this article:

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