> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tryoto.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Inventory counts in the OTO PACK app

> Count stock bin by bin in the OTO PACK app, run blind counts, record damaged and expired items, and decide what to count and how often.

> [!NOTE]
>
> **Where to find it:** OTO PACK → Inventory → Bin Inventory — [Open in OTO ↗](https://app.tryoto.com/inventory)

Every inventory system drifts. Goods get moved without a scan, a box is damaged and set aside, a keyed quantity has a digit too many. Counting is how the record is pulled back to the truth — and how you find out which of those things is happening.

## Counting in the app

**Count** is an action in the OTO PACK app, reached from **Menu → Count**; the screen itself is titled **Stock Count**. It belongs to **OTO PACK Advanced with bin tracking**, and it is available on the mobile app only — which makes sense, because a count happens standing in front of a shelf.

![The Stock Count screen in OTO PACK](https://mintcdn.com/oto/ft-bRlLvOnJkbVoC/images/inv-19-count.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=ft-bRlLvOnJkbVoC\&q=85\&s=e249304a4022a4f91cdf5d0748076a42)

Fig. 1 — Three fields and one instruction. The counter is told what to do before they are asked for anything: “Please Scan Bin Location & SKU”.

| Field | What it takes |
| - | - |
| **Bin** | The location being counted, scanned or typed as a **Bin Name**. |
| **Product** | **Scan SKU or Barcode** — either identifier, as everywhere else in the app. |
| **QTY** | What you actually counted, on a −/+ stepper. |

Then **Add** records the line, and the center button — labelled **COMPLETE** on this screen — commits the count. That is what adjusts the bin to the entered quantity and logs any excess or shortfall into the **Adjustment Bin**. **Cancel** abandons the line.

Everything clears after **COMPLETE** and the counter starts the next bin and SKU. Scanning rather than typing is worth the habit: a count entered against the wrong SKU corrects one number by breaking another.

> [!TIP]
>
> **Bin first, then product — the same order as picking**
>
> The instruction is to scan the bin before the SKU, which is the sequence the [pick screen](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/warehouse-management/picking-methods.md) uses too. Establishing the location first means a count can never be attributed to the wrong shelf, however similar two aisles look.
>
> The consistency is the useful part: a warehouse worker who has learned one screen has learned the other.

> [!WARNING]
>
> **Set up an Adjustment Bin first**
>
> An **Adjustment** bin is a prerequisite, not an option. It is where the difference goes: items found beyond the recorded quantity are moved into it, and shortfalls are deducted and logged against it.
>
> That is what keeps a count honest. Without somewhere for the discrepancy to live, correcting a bin simply erases the evidence that anything was ever wrong — and the pattern that would have told you *why* disappears with it.

## What to count, and how often

A full stocktake stops the warehouse. Cycle counting does the same work continuously, a slice at a time, and the slice can be chosen two ways.

| Approach | How it works | What it is good at |
| - | - | - |
| **Location cycle counts** | Work through the building bin by bin, aisle by aisle, on a rotation. | Complete coverage over time, and it finds stock in the wrong place — which a SKU count never will. |
| **SKU cycle counts** | Count particular products wherever they are held. | Targeting: your fastest movers, your most valuable lines, anything a report has flagged. |

> [!TIP]
>
> **Count what moves, not what is easy**
>
> Counting the whole warehouse equally spends the same effort on the pallet that has not moved in a year as on the pick face that turns over daily. Discrepancies come from movement, so a rotation weighted towards fast-moving and high-value lines finds more error per hour counted — and the slow stock still gets its turn on the location rotation.

## Blind counts

In a blind count the counter is not shown the expected quantity. They report what they see, and the system compares afterwards.

The reason is human rather than technical. A counter who can see “48” on the screen and counts 47 will very reasonably assume they miscounted and enter 48 — and the discrepancy that was trying to surface goes back under. Hiding the expectation is what makes the count evidence rather than confirmation.

> [!NOTE]
>
> **The trade**
>
> Blind counts are slower, because a genuine miscount is not caught on the spot and has to be recounted. That cost is worth paying on the lines where you actually need to trust the number, and often not worth it on a routine sweep. It is a decision per count programme, not a setting to turn on everywhere and forget.

## Damaged and expired stock

Stock that exists but cannot be sold is a different problem from stock that is missing, and it is handled by moving it rather than deleting it. Units that are damaged, expired or awaiting inspection go into bins that do not feed available inventory — **Non Sellable**, **Return** or **Storage / QC**.

The effect is immediate and commercial: the moment a unit is moved into one of those bins, your storefronts stop offering it, because [sync](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/inventory-management/inventory-sync.md) is quoting availability rather than physical stock. Nobody has to remember to adjust a second number.

It also keeps the write-off honest. The goods are still counted, still findable and still attributable to whoever set them aside, until someone decides to dispose of them through an outbound inventory order. See [Inbound and putaway](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/warehouse-management/inbound-putaway.md) for the bin types.

## After the count

Counts are only worth the walking if what they find gets read. Two places to look:

| | |
| - | - |
| **Bin Transactions** | The adjustments a count produced, bin by bin. Repeated corrections in the same bin are telling you something about that bin, not about the counter. |
| **Inventory Transactions** | The same at warehouse level, alongside every other stock change — which is where a pattern becomes visible. |

Once a count has been done thoroughly, **Equal On Hand Inventory to Bin Inventory** on the Inventory screen brings the warehouse total into line with the bins you have just verified.

## Related

* [Inventory tracking](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/inventory-management/inventory-tracking.md) — the numbers a count corrects.
* [Inbound and putaway](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/warehouse-management/inbound-putaway.md) — bins, bin types and the Adjustment bin.
* [The OTO PACK app](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/warehouse-management/ops.md) — where Count sits among the other actions.


## Related topics

- [OTO PACK mobile app for warehouse staff](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/warehouse-management/ops.md)
- [Inventory tracking](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/inventory-management/inventory-tracking.md)
- [Inbound inventory](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/inventory-management/inbound-inventory.md)


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