The Trail's End® system tracks inventory based on what's entered into it: orders, transfers, sales, and adjustments. It can only reflect what's been recorded, so when your physical count doesn't match what the system shows, tracking down the cause starts with reviewing what was entered along the way.
This article covers:
Tips to keep your inventory tracking accurate
Tools to fix a known discrepancy
Steps to investigate when you're not sure what caused the mismatch
Tips to Keep Your Inventory Tracking Accurate
Count and verify every Council pickup. When you pick up an order from Council, count it and check that it matches what the system shows you ordered. If something doesn't match, chat with support: we'll help direct next steps. Depending on the situation, that may mean referring you back to your Council or helping get the order corrected in the system.
Transfer inventory when you hand it out. Use the inventory tracking tools as they're intended: transfer inventory to a storefront or to a Scout at the time you give it to them. Have the Scout, or the first shift at the storefront, verify the count when it arrives.
Count and verify when inventory comes back, too. When a storefront or Scout returns inventory, count it and check it against what the system expects. If there's a discrepancy, use an Inventory Adjustment, the adjustments built into the Storefront Closeout process, or Swap a Bag to bring the system back in line (see the next section for details on each).
Count inventory every time it moves. In general, count product going out to or coming back from a storefront or Scout. Catching a mismatch right away is far easier than tracking it down weeks later.
Do a weekly physical count. Once a week, count your physical On Hand inventory and compare it to the With Unit number on the Inventory page. Investigate and resolve any differences you find.
You Found a Discrepancy: Tools to Fix It
If you already know what's off and just need to correct it, here's what's available:
Inventory Adjustment: Manually corrects your unit, Scout, or storefront quantities. Go to Inventory, select the relevant tab, click Make Adjustment, enter the amount, and choose a reason. Adjustments should be reserved for genuine on-hand differences (lost, found, or damaged product), and they don't change your invoice with Council.
Swap a Bag: Moves quantity from one product to another on the same sale, without refunding and re-recording it. Only works on cash sales (Individual or Storefront), and can't be used on Heroes and Helpers® items. If you know a credit card sale is the source of the error, you can't Swap a Bag on it directly, but you can swap a cash sale with the same product if one exists. See Swap a Bag: Edit a Sale.
Storefront Closeout: If the discrepancy is from a specific storefront shift, use the Close Out Storefront guide. It shows your expected return quantity, and if your physical count is different, it walks you through entering the actual count and selecting a reason. See Storefront Closeout: Managing Inventory and Cash After a Storefront.
My Inventory Doesn't Match and I'm Not Sure Why
The system only knows what's been entered into it. Trail's End doesn't have visibility into your unit's physical inventory, so we can't tell you where a specific mismatch came from. Working through the steps below is something only you can do, since it depends on what physically happened at your storefronts, with your Scouts, and at pickup.
Work through these in order:
Does your total order match what you picked up? Compare your Total Ordered to what you physically picked up from Council. If you picked up additional inventory at some point that was never entered as a separate order, that's a common source of a gap.
Review your inventory transactions. Every inventory movement is logged. Use the Inventory Transaction Report, or click All Transactions on the Inventory page to see the same information on screen. This part is on you to work through: only you know what actually happened to your physical inventory, so support can't review it for you. Filter by date, product, or party to narrow things down.
Are your sales recorded correctly? If you're holding more cash than your recorded sales account for, it can mean a sale happened but was never entered into the system.
Do you have a pending unit-to-unit transfer? Inventory only changes once a transfer is accepted by the receiving unit. If you're waiting on one, it won't show up in your counts yet. Check View Transfers on the Orders page.
Do you have an approved Unit Order you haven't picked up yet? As soon as Council approves a unit order, it's added to your inventory in the system, even if you haven't physically picked it up. That can make your system count run ahead of what's on your shelves until pickup happens.
If you've worked through all of the above and still have a gap you can't explain, use an Inventory Adjustment to bring your system count in line with what's physically on hand.
AI agent description: Helps leaders understand that inventory tracking accuracy depends on what they enter into the system, and walks through prevention habits, correction tools (Inventory Adjustment, Swap a Bag, Storefront Closeout), and self-service investigation steps for an unexplained mismatch.