Expiry dates without tears: what FEFO actually costs you

Everyone says they pick what expires first. Almost nobody does — and not out of carelessness: the box nearest the aisle wins. This is about why that happens, and what it takes to stop it.

What FEFO is, and why it is not the same as FIFO

FEFO stands for first-expired-first-out. FIFO stands for first-in-first-out. They sound alike, and in a warehouse full of screws it barely matters which one you apply, because a screw does not expire. In food and drink it matters, and the two rules almost never agree.

A batch that came in yesterday can expire before one that has been in the chilled room for a month: it depends on when it was made, on the shelf life of the product and on what the supplier happened to send. Sorting by the date a batch arrived is sorting by the wrong date. What decides which case goes out today is the expiry date on that case, not the date on its delivery note.

Why the picker overrides FEFO, and why they are right

The right batch is on level three of the second chilled room. The other one is on the floor of the aisle, right there, and the van is waiting with the engine running. The one on the floor goes. Anybody with a scanner in hand and fifteen minutes to make up would do the same, and they would be right.

The problem is not the person: nobody has told them which one goes out. Asking someone to remember to check two dates while they load forty cases is not a working rule, it is a hope. And hopes do not survive a Monday in August.

The three things you need before you talk about FEFO

Three things before any rule at all. Not one more.

Expiry dates are not fought in the skip

When a batch is two days out, there is no decision left to take: you throw it away or you give it away. At nine days there is still a commercial decision on the table, and it is a decision, not a saving: an offer aimed at the customers who buy that product every week, a change in the order of the round, a call from the rep who was driving past anyway.

What you can measure today, before changing anything, is what the business throws away in a month and how much of it gave you days of warning. That sum is uncomfortable and it is the only honest one: it is what working this way costs you now, not what you would save later.

Waste written down with a reason — expired, damaged, returned by the customer — is worth something three months from now. Waste written down as waste and nothing else is worth nothing.

What to ask before you believe your system does FEFO

Four questions, by email, so that the answers are in writing.

And a fifth one that is not about software: how often do you count? Rolling counts, a handful of locations every day, keep stock believable without stopping the warehouse. A full inventory one Saturday a year does not fix what went out of step in March.