Knowing When to Reorder Every organisation that consumes supplies eventually invents a version of stock control, usually after running out of something important. The simple version covers most of what a business or a household needs. The Reorder Point The core idea. Rather than ordering when stock reaches zero, order when it reaches a level that covers the time until the new stock arrives. That level is consumption per week multiplied by delivery time in weeks, plus a small buffer. For a household ordering online, two weeks of consumption is a reasonable trigger. How to Find Your Consumption Rate Note the date when a pack is opened Note the date when it is finished Divide the count by the number of weeks Repeat once to confirm, since one cycle can be unrepresentative Recalculate when circumstances change Two cycles gives a genuinely accurate figure, which is worth more than any published estimate because it reflects your use rather than an average. Match the Pack to the Interval The practical target is a pack that lasts roughly as long as you want to go between orders. For a household that is often a year. For a small seller posting weekly it is a month. Counts published on every card, of the kind at juvale.net, make it possible to pick a size against that interval rather than by eye. The Last-Pack Trigger The simplest system that works, and it needs no calculation. When the last unopened pack is opened, that is the moment to reorder. Writing it on a list at that moment rather than intending to remember is the entire method. Nobody remembers. Where Systems Break In shared spaces, the person who used the last of something is rarely the person who orders it. The fix is a list attached to the cupboard rather than held by one person, and permission for anyone to add to it. Systems that require reporting to a specific individual fail because that individual is not there when the pack empties. Delivery Time Is Variable Reorder points assume a delivery window, and windows lengthen around holidays and busy periods. For anything that matters, increasing the trigger level before a known busy period is worth doing, particularly in December when everything takes longer. Do Not Over-Engineer It A household does not need inventory software. A list on a cupboard door and a habit of writing on it covers ninety per cent of the benefit. The elaborate systems fail for the same reason elaborate storage does: they require more effort to maintain than to ignore. Separate the Critical Items Most shortages are an inconvenience. A few, particularly first aid supplies and anything a business depends on, are not. Those deserve a larger buffer and a scheduled check rather than a reorder trigger, since they are used rarely and needed urgently.
