The Trail's End® system offers the capability to monitor your in-person inventory from the moment it arrives at your unit to when it is distributed to a Scout or Storefront. Precise tracking enables you to identify and rectify any discrepancies during your sale.
This article covers:
How inventory is tracked in the system
How to fix transaction errors
What to do when system inventory doesn’t match what you have on hand
Note: Online sales do NOT appear on or affect your Inventory page. That's because Trail's End ships Online orders directly to customers, so there's no physical product moving through your unit to track. Inventory tracking in this article only applies to in-person product (for storefronts and individual sales) that physically arrives at your unit.
How Is Inventory Tracked in the System?
There are three types of inventory in the Trail’s End® system: Unit, Storefront and Scout
Unit Inventory
The Unit section of the Inventory page is divided into three sections and provides an overview of all your inventory:
Sales Summary - What was ordered, sold, and manually adjusted
Total Ordered – The quantity ordered for each product.
Total Sold – The quantity sold for each product.
Adjustments – Manual corrections made by a unit leader when inventory is off, lost, or found. A positive number adds inventory; a negative number removes it
Real Inventory Breakdown - Where your remaining inventory actually sits
Total On Hand – Total Ordered minus Total Sold, plus or minus any Adjustments.
With Unit – Total On Hand minus what's currently assigned to Scouts and storefronts.
With Scouts – Inventory currently assigned to Scouts.
With Storefronts – Inventory currently assigned to storefronts.
Available Inventory - What's still pending delivery and whether an additional order is needed.
Undelivered – Sales a Scout has recorded but not yet marked as delivered. Inventory isn't subtracted from a Scout's count until it's marked delivered, so this column shows what still needs to be transferred to them.
Total Needed – How much more needs to be ordered to cover undelivered sales, if current inventory doesn't fully cover them.
Because Undelivered inventory hasn't been subtracted yet, check this column regularly. It tells you whether you need to transfer stock to a Scout and/or if you are short on inventory and need to place an additional order.
Scout Inventory
Transfer inventory from the unit to a Scout when giving them product to sell.
Scout inventory allows you to track:
What products a Scout has checked out
What still needs to be delivered to customers
If Scouts do not check out inventory:
They should mark sales as undelivered/delivering later
Leaders can later transfer the needed quantities to fulfill those orders
When a Scout marks an item as delivered, their inventory decreases.
Undelivered items do not affect inventory until marked delivered.
For additional guidance, see: Managing Scout Inventory
Storefront Inventory
Transfer inventory from your unit to a storefront to track what was sent to that location.
As storefront sales are recorded, inventory is automatically deducted.
At the end of the day:
Reconcile the storefront inventory
Transfer remaining inventory back to the unit
For detailed steps:
How Do I Fix a Transaction Error as a Unit Leader?
Storefront Sales®
If the error is caught immediately:
Refund the order (see How to Refund a Storefront Sale)
Record the sale again with the correct item(s)
Important notes:
Partial refunds are not possible - full order refunds only
Do not refund a credit card sale if you no longer have the card to re-record it
Use an inventory adjustment instead (see below)
If the dollar amount is the same, refunding is optional. An inventory adjustment may be sufficient
If the error is found later:
Follow the storefront closeout process
Use the closeout guide to make inventory adjustments
Refunding and re-recording sales at this point is not recommended
Individual Sales
Cash sales can be refunded and re-recorded
Do not refund a credit card sale if you no longer have the card to re-record it
If refunding is not possible, the unit leader can correct the issue using an inventory adjustment. See below.
My System Inventory Does Not Match What I Have on Hand. What Can I Do?
Note: If the discrepancy occurs at the end of a storefront, see Storefront Closeout: How Leaders Manage Inventory and Cash After a Shift
If inventory is off, you can adjust your Qty With Unit to match your physical inventory.
Go to Inventory from the main navigation menu
Click the Make Adjustments button in the top right
Enter the adjustment amount in the Adjustment column:
Positive number → add inventory
Negative number → subtract inventory
Review the After Adjustment column to see the impact of the adjustment
Select a reason from the dropdown
Click the Submit Adjustments button
Important:
This adjustment only changes your unit inventory
It does not change your invoice with Council
Helpful Tip
Inventory issues are easiest to fix when addressed as soon as they are noticed—especially during storefront closeout. Waiting until the end of the season often makes reconciliation more difficult.