Counting Packages Twice: A Method That Settles Disputes

Ask two people to count the same load and you will sometimes get two answers. That is not carelessness. It is what happens when the eye has to hold a number while hands move cartons, a driver talks and the light is poor. A single count is a statement; two independent counts are a check. The method below is simple enough to run on any dock, and it settles most disputes before they begin, because the figure in the report was reached in a way that anyone can follow.

Why one count is not enough

A lone counter fails in familiar ways: counting the same layer twice, skipping a pallet that was moved while the tally was written, or mistaking a half-filled top layer for a full one. The most frequent error is not miscounting but assuming: the counter multiplies the number of pallets by the standard pallet quantity and never looks at the top layers, so the packing list is simply handed back as the result. A second person with a different method exposes both kinds of error.

Running two independent counts

1. Two people, two sheets. Counter A and counter B each hold their own sheet, and neither sees the other's figures until both have finished.
2. Count by structure rather than carton by carton: cartons per layer, times the number of layers, plus the loose cartons on top. For floor-stacked cargo, columns times rows times height. Write all three numbers for each pallet, not just the total.
3. Use two moments. Counter A counts the pallets as they come out of the container; counter B counts again on the staging area, after the pallets have been set down.
4. Do the count blind. Do not tell the counters the figure on the packing list. People who know the expected number have a way of finding it.
5. Compare pallet by pallet, not only the grand total. Two errors in opposite directions can cancel each other out in the total and leave a false match.

When the numbers differ

Never average, round or settle for "close enough".

• Recount only the pallets on which the two sheets disagree.
• If a third person is available, he counts those pallets alone, without seeing either sheet.
• When the recount sides with one of the two, note which figure was wrong and, if it is clear, why: "top layer filled at the front only".
• If nobody can agree, photograph the pallet with every layer visible and record the difference as unresolved.
• Mixed pallets are counted item by item, each code on its own line.

Recording the result

A count sheet needs only a few columns: pallet number, shipping mark or item code, cartons per layer, layers, loose cartons on top, total, the counter's initials and the time. Keep both original sheets, add a third line with the reconciled figure, and photograph each sheet before anyone leaves. Never erase a first count. Cross it out, write the new figure beside it and initial the change, so that the way you got to the final number can be followed.

A conditional example. The packing list shows 24 pallets of 6 layers with 8 cartons in each, which is 48 per pallet and 1,152 in all. Counter A, who has seen the list, writes 48 for every pallet and reaches 1,152. Counter B counts layer by layer and reaches 1,149. The totals differ by 3, which might look like a slip, but comparing pallet by pallet shows that only pallet 17 differs: A wrote 48, B wrote 45. A third person recounts that pallet and finds 45, because the top layer was filled at the front only and the three places at the back were empty. The reconciled total is 1,149 against 1,152 on the packing list, a shortage of 3 cartons, photographed and located on pallet 17.

Common mistakes

• Counting while the crew is still moving pallets in the same area.
• Two counters who work side by side and talk, so the second count is no longer independent.
• Comparing only totals.
• Treating a pallet as full because the lower layers look full.

In short

A figure that two people reached separately is hard to dispute, and a difference that has been traced to a pallet is easy to explain. CargoChek counts the packages twice, with two people in turn, and any figure that does not agree is recounted before it enters the report.