An Inventory Problem

 So. On Friday our store finally received our new betta endcap.

An endcap that we were originally supposed to get back in January.

But due to manufacturing issues or whatever (probably pandemic related) the timeline for when we were supposed to get this endcap kept getting pushed back. And pushed back. And pushed back.

Until Friday. When it finally showed up on our truck.

Woot!!

It's a nice endcap. With like a hundred spots to hold bettas. It has lights to showcase each betta and supposedly also has a heating element to it to keep the bettas warm so we no longer have to pull them off the floor at night during the winter. 

-Would have been more handy when it was actually cold outside...but hey you take what you can get.

In any case.

With the new endcap came a new color coding system to indicate the prices of everything.

If a betta has a red lid then it's 'this price.'

Blue lid? a different price.

Orange lid? A different price.

Etc.

Easy. Simple. If customers are observant enough to read the sign explaining that then it keeps it all pretty easy peasy.

However.

Early this morning.

At 3:30 am.

My brain decided to wake me up after I'd gone to bed.

Because my brain decided that there was a 'major problem' with this endcap. And that I 'must' fix it now!

*shakes head*

Which is silly because there's literally nothing I can do at 330am to fix somethig AT WORK.

The problem?

The bettas are color coded right?

Well. Before the endcap came into being. Each different type of betta (Veiltail, Blue Mustard, Dumbo, Twintail, Female, Male etc) all of them had a different color lid.

Now though? They've condensed it down. There's only four colors related to the bettas now. 

Red, Orange, Blue, Purple. 

But.

We still have at least a dozen different types of bettas. 

And the skus for those bettas didn't change to fit within the four colors. 

No a Crowntail will have a different sku than a a Twin Tail even though they're both under the BLUE lid now.

Not a big deal.

EXCEPT.

Every single week.

I have to count the fish.

This includes the betta fish. All 12 skus of them.

But with the new endcap there aren't any SKUS listed anywhere for all the individual types of bettas.

Which means the only way I can actually scan them is if I scan the barcodes on the betta cups so I can get an idea on how many of each betta we still have on record in our inventory.

This becomes a problem if we have a betta die...and I don't have another betta with that same sku to scan.

So my brain was like "PROBLEM!!" Because how can I scan all the bettas if I no longer have skus with their prices listed below every different betta? 

And if there's only 4 colors, what's gonna stop the various different bettas within those colors getting mixed up together? 

So basically. My brain realized last night at 330 in the morning.

That counting the bettas is going to become more of a nuisance. More of a nightmare. Because I'll have to basically check every individual cup to see what type of betta is listed there and make a mental note of how many of each type and yah....

It's complicated.

And not something I can fix at 330 in the morning lol.

Really. The main solution will be to find a list of the bettas we're supposed to have on hand. Make sure I print out a page with all the upcs listed so I can scan them. And then scan them to check what our inventory says and the compare it with what's shown on the endcap.

So yah...it will probably take a bit longer.

But hopefully I'll get into a system soon to make it go quicker.

Until you next find these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi