Pick List Template: Orders, Lots and Bins in One Sheet

A pick list tells whoever is filling orders what to take off the shelf: each item, how many, from which bin, and, for anything dated, from which lot. A good one is built from all of the day's orders at once, so the picker walks the shelves once per item instead of once per order, then splits the cases by order at the packing table. For food, it also decides rotation: the lot with the earliest best-by date goes first. In the example below, a hot sauce maker totals three orders, picks 22 cases of its original sauce from one lot, finds only 4 of the 9 smoked habanero cases it needs, and knows before the first box is taped that 5 are short. Below is what goes on a pick list, a worked example, picking oldest first, shorts, and a free template.

The short version

• Total each item across the day's orders; pick once per item, sort by order afterward.
• Give the bin, so the picker doesn't search.
• Pick the lot with the earliest best-by date first; list a second lot if the first won't cover it.
• Flag what's short before packing, so the customer and the invoice can be told.
• Tick each line as picked, and note the lot on the packing slip.
• Count the shelf when the pick list and the shelf disagree.
• TaroStack makes one picking list from the day's orders, oldest lots first. More below.

What goes on a pick list

The order lines stay on their own sheet, so the packer can split the picked cases by customer, and every case's lot goes on the delivery note. How to keep the stock records a pick list relies on straight is in how to keep track of inventory.

A worked example

Blue Ridge Hot Sauce, a made-up hot sauce maker in Roanoke, Virginia, I use in these examples, has three orders on Wednesday: Valley Market wants 10 original, 6 smoked habanero and 4 green chile; Shenandoah Grocer 8 original and 3 smoked; Blacksburg Co-op 6 green chile and 4 original. The pick list:

Three trips to the shelves instead of seven. The smoked habanero is short before anyone starts packing, so the shop decides who gets the four cases, calls the other store, and the packing slips and invoices bill what actually ships.

Oldest first

For dated products, the pick list is where rotation happens: the lot with the earliest best-by date goes out first, so nothing ages on the shelf while newer stock leaves. If a lot doesn't cover the order, the next line picks the rest from the next-oldest lot. Some customers set their own rule, such as needing at least 9 months of shelf life left on arrival, which can mean skipping an older lot for that store. How first-expired-first-out differs from first-in-first-out is in FEFO vs FIFO.

Shorts and what they say

A short on the pick list means the shelf has less than the orders need. Sometimes it's real: a batch hasn't been made yet. Sometimes the records are wrong: cases moved, miscounted, or damaged and not written off. When the shelf and the list disagree, count that item before deciding; a few shorts a week from bad counts are a sign the counts need attention, which is where a barcode scanner helps, as in inventory software with barcode scanner.

Get the template

Download the pick list template. Three sheets: the day's orders, one line per item per order; stock by lot, with item, bin, best-by date and cases; and the pick list, where you list each item with the lot to pick from, oldest first, and it totals the item across the orders, looks up the bin, date and cases, works out what to take from each lot and what's still to pick, and flags shorts. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

Forty items, lots changing every week, a customer that wants nine months of shelf life, twenty orders a day, and stock in a warehouse and a cold room. A sheet needs the lots typed in and kept current by hand, and nobody does that on a busy morning.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack makes one picking list from the day's orders, oldest lots first.

One picking list. The day's sales orders become one picking list, by item and location, and picking takes the earliest-expiring lots first by default. A customer's days-of-shelf-life rule is kept on the customer, so their order skips lots that are too close to date.

Scanning as you pick. Picking works with a phone's camera or a scanner, and a lot label can carry a GS1-128 barcode, so the lot picked is the lot recorded.

And the delivery note. The delivery note comes from what was picked, with each line's lot, and one report walks any lot to every customer who got it.

Lots, sales orders, picking lists, delivery notes and barcode scanning are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

What is a pick list?

A list of what to take off the shelves to fill orders: each item, how many, from which bin and, for dated goods, which lot. Built from all of the day's orders, it lets the picker visit each shelf once.

What should be on a pick list template?

The item, bin, lot and best-by date, the quantity ordered across all orders, what to pick from each lot, what's short, and a column to tick when picked.

How do you pick by expiration date?

List the lot with the earliest best-by date first and pick from it until it runs out, then the next. Skip any lot too close to date for a customer with a shelf-life rule.

What's the difference between a pick list and a packing slip?

The pick list is for the picker, organized by item and bin across all orders; the packing slip goes with one customer's shipment and lists what's in it.