What stock is counted, and what is left out, when a convenience store sells?

A convenience store count is less about how to count and more about what goes on the sheet. Shelves hold goods the seller owns, goods a supplier owns, goods that cannot be sold and goods that are really somebody else’s money. If the offer does not say which is which, count day becomes an argument. Decide the categories first, then count.

Count the locked stock on its own

Count tobacco separately, whether it is behind the counter or in a locked unit, with both sides present, and keep the sheet apart from the shelf count. Ask your lawyer whether the sale needs anything special for those products, and agree how opened or damaged packages are treated.

Short-dated and expired goods

Dairy, bread, sandwiches and packaged snacks go off. Agree a cut-off for how close to the date a product can be and still count, and walk the coolers together. Expired items are normally left out of the count and removed. Seller and buyer both gain from a rule written down before count day.

Goods that belong to someone else

Some route drivers own their product until it sells, or take back what does not. Ask your accountant whether deposits and empties are a liability rather than stock. Prepaid cards, lottery tickets and other service-counter items may belong to the provider, so check the provider agreement for how they are handled rather than counted as the store’s goods. The wholesaler accounts page explains how supplier relationships carry over.

Put the rules in the offer

• List what is counted, what is excluded and who decides a disputed item.
• Name who attends the count and who signs the sheets.
• Say how the count result reaches the closing statement.