Receiving shipments in Google Sheets

• Setup time ~1 min to set up
• Difficulty Beginner
• Sheet mode Append · one line per item

How receiving a delivery usually works

Receiving — goods-in — is the moment stock becomes yours, and the best moment to catch problems, while the driver and the paperwork are still in front of you. The job is to confirm that what arrived matches what was ordered, and to log it before it disappears onto a shelf.

1. Check it against the order Match the delivery note or packing slip to your purchase order (PO). Note the supplier and PO number first, so everything you scan can be reconciled back to what you actually ordered.
2. Inspect as you unload Open the pallet and look for damage, short-shipments and wrong items before you sign for anything. Signing accepts the delivery as-is.
3. Scan each item in Scan every product as it comes off the truck and enter the quantity received. The sheet runs in Append mode, so each scan adds a new timestamped line — the log mirrors the physical unload, item by item.
4. Flag discrepancies on the spot Short a few units, or a box arrived crushed? Photograph it into the sheet and note it now. A discrepancy caught at the door is a supplier credit; the same one caught at month-end is a write-off.
5. Hand off a clean record The finished sheet is your goods-in log — what came, from whom, against which PO, and when — ready to reconcile against the invoice and update stock.