Stock count sheet template
Print a proper sheet, count on paper with your hands free, and type it up afterwards. Free, no sign-up, and it hides the expected quantity by default.
Nothing you paste here leaves your browser. There is no upload and no account.
Why the sheet should not tell you what to expect
Almost every stock count template you can download prints the expected quantity in a column beside the empty box. It looks helpful. It quietly ruins the count.
Somebody counting a shelf at the end of a long day, holding a clipboard, looking at a box that says 24, who counts twenty-two, will very often write twenty-four. Not dishonestly: they assume they lost their place, or that two are out the back, and the printed number sounds more certain than they feel. The count then agrees with the system perfectly, and the difference you were counting in order to find stays hidden for another year.
A blind count is the entire point of counting. Write down what is on the shelf, compare afterwards, and argue with the difference then. This sheet leaves the column out unless you ask for it.
How to run a count that is worth doing
- Count a few shelves often, rather than everything once a year. A full annual stocktake finds a hundred differences you can no longer explain. A weekly section count finds three you can.
- Stop moving stock in the area you are counting. Sales and deliveries during a count are where most unexplainable variances come from.
- Count a section twice when the difference is large. Miscounting is far more common than theft, and ruling it out costs five minutes.
- Write down why, while you still know. "Two damaged, binned" written on the day is worth more than a tidy number nobody can account for.
- Type it up the same day. The sheet is for your hands, not for your records.
Skip the typing up
The free stock count tool does the same job on a phone: list what you should have, count what you actually have, and see the difference and what the missing stock is worth, without printing anything.
Try the free stock countNo sign-up, no email. It prints a blank sheet too, if you would rather have paper.
Questions people actually ask
What should a stock count sheet include?
A description anybody can match to the thing on the shelf, a code if you use one, a box for the count, and room to write why. That is all. Extra columns make the sheet slower to fill in and no more accurate.
Should I count by location or by product?
By location, every time. Counting by product sends you round the shop once per line. Counting by location means you walk each shelf once and count everything on it.
How often should a small shop do a stocktake?
A rolling count of one section a week beats a full count once a year for the same total effort, because you find differences while you can still explain them.
Is this template really free?
Yes, with nothing held back. It runs in your browser, nothing you paste is uploaded, and there is no sign-up. It exists because people who count stock properly tend to want software for it eventually, and we would rather be useful first.
Other free tools
Free, with nothing held back. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.