Catch-weight items are stocked by the case but sold by weight, and no two cases weigh the same: cheese wheels, primal cuts, whole fish, some deli items. A system that treats every case as identical will get either the inventory or the invoice wrong. There are three sound ways to handle them. Which one fits depends on the item and on what your customers expect to see on the bill.
Two numbers on every case
Every catch-weight case has a nominal weight, what the case is supposed to weigh (say, about 40 lb), and an actual weight, what it really weighs. The actual weight comes from one of three places:
- The supplier's case label, often a barcode that carries the net weight.
- Your own scale at receiving.
- Your own scale at picking.
Whichever approach you choose, decide which of these is the official weight for each item, and make sure it is captured before the invoice is created.
Approach 1: price by the case at nominal weight
How it works. The customer pays a fixed case price whatever the case weighs. In the system the item behaves like any fixed-weight item.
Where it fits. Items whose weight varies little, and customers who want a predictable price per case.
What it needs. Nothing extra at the pick. A scale is still worth having at receiving for spot checks.
What to watch. If your supplier bills you by actual weight and you sell by the case, light cases quietly cost you margin. Spot-weigh incoming cases, compare them with nominal, and raise it with the supplier when a pattern shows.
Approach 2: price by the pound on actual weight
How it works. The price is per pound. The order shows an estimate at nominal weight, and the invoice uses the actual weight that shipped.
Where it fits. Cheese, meat, seafood and other items where weight varies enough that a fixed case price would be unfair to one side.
What it needs. A weight for every case at the pick, whether scanned from the label or weighed, and an invoice created after picking rather than at order entry.
What to watch.
- The order total is an estimate. Credit checks and customer expectations should allow for the final amount being a little higher or lower.
- A mistyped weight goes straight onto an invoice. Flag weights far from nominal at the pick, using a range you set per item.
- Decide how weights and amounts round. Record weights to a fixed number of decimals, and round the line total once rather than rounding each case and adding them up.
Approach 3: track cases and pounds side by side
How it works. Inventory carries two quantities on every lot: for example, 20 cases and 812.4 lb. Every receipt, pick and adjustment moves both. Some customers buy the item per pound and others per case, from the same stock.
Where it fits. Operations with mixed customer types, or that buy by the pound and sell by the case (or the other way round), or that want inventory value to follow pounds rather than cases.
What it needs. Software that carries two units on every lot, counts that record both, and reports that show both.
What to watch. Cases and pounds drift apart when one gets adjusted without the other. Count both, and reconcile them regularly.
Which to choose
| Approach | Customer pays on | Weight captured | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case price, nominal weight | Cases | Spot checks only | Margin loss on light cases |
| Per pound, actual weight | Pounds shipped | Every case at the pick | Bad weights on invoices |
| Cases and pounds together | Either | Every case, every move | The two quantities drifting apart |
Many distributors combine them: per pound for high-value items with a wide weight spread, per case for the rest. Choose per item, write the choice down, and make sure the software and the sales team agree on it. The worst setup is the half-way one, where reps quote per pound but the system invoices per case. Invoices and inventory then disagree, and nobody can say which one is right.
Catching weight errors on the buying side
A three-way match compares the purchase order, what you received and the supplier's bill. For catch-weight items, compare billed pounds with received pounds, not just cases. Suppose a supplier bills 20 cases at 40 lb each, 800 lb in total, and your receiving weights add up to 785 lb. That is 15 lb to question before the bill is paid.
Two habits make this work:
- Record the actual weight at receiving for every catch-weight case, not just the case count.
- Keep the supplier's billed weight next to your received weight on the bill review screen, so the difference is visible without a calculator.
Catching errors on the selling side
- Spot-check picked weights against the case label.
- Review invoice lines where the weight is well outside the item's normal spread before they go out.
- When a customer disputes a weight, the record should show where it came from: label, receiving scale or pick scale.
For the invoice arithmetic itself, see catch-weight invoicing: getting the math right, or try the catch-weight calculator.
How APFoodz handles it
APFoodz prices and invoices variable-weight items on the weight that shipped. On the buying side, purchasing covers receiving and three-way match against the supplier's bill.