Mistakes You Might Be Making in Your Warehouse That Are Costing You Money

Last Updated: 

June 5, 2023

Different businesses will come up against a variety of problems and mistakes to overcome, or avoid. When it comes to running a warehouse there is no exception. So, regardless of whether you have just chosen a warehouse for your business, or if you have a well-established one, here are several mistakes that you might be making in your warehouse that are costing you money.

Key takeaways on common warehouse mistakes

  1. Ignoring hygiene and cleanliness: Neglecting to maintain cleanliness in your warehouse can lead to employee health risks and damage to machinery. Implement regular cleaning routines and invest in specialised cleaning systems.
  2. Disregarding employee job satisfaction and feedback: Failing to engage your employees and address their concerns can result in high turnover rates, leading to time and cost spent on hiring and training new staff. Create an engaging work environment and consider task sharing to provide variety.
  3. Overstocking your inventory: Stocking excess inventory can lead to wastage, difficulties in organisation, and increased time consumption during stock counts. Optimise your stock levels to avoid unnecessary costs.
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Ignoring hygiene and cleanliness 

Warehouses are not generally known for being the most hygienic, or clean places to work in. This is mostly because the work that takes place in them often creates a lot of dust, dirt, grime, noise, and at times fumes depending on what work is carried out inside the warehouse. A mistake would be to ignore the buildup of dust, dirt, and other debris, as they could eventually potentially harm your employees or even damage and break machinery that operates in your warehouse.

So, whether you implement a daily checklist and cleaning rota for your employees to follow, or invest in specialised systems that provide conveyor belt cleaning for your warehouse, think about how you can keep on top of cleanliness and hygiene in your business premises. Because although they are not designed to be a place where you would eat your meals, or perform procedures that require a sterile environment, you are less likely to create problems by simply keeping your warehouse as clean and hygienic as possible. 

Disregarding your employee's job satisfaction and feedback

Listening to your employee's feedback, and taking into consideration the job satisfaction that they have are both very important factors to consider when running a warehouse. Often the tasks that require daily attention in a warehouse can be menial, and repetitive, leading to a higher turnover of staff if you make the mistake of not creating an engaging strategy of running your warehouse.

If you have a high turnover of staff you will be losing time, money, and effort on replacing and training new employees. Not to mention having to find cover with staff shortages. To avoid this, listen to what your employees tell you, research, and implement task sharing/responsibilities so as to help give your employees a little diversity in their work day.

Overstocking your inventory

For some, it might seem like there is no such thing as storing too much of a product. However, it is a mistake to overstock your inventory for a variety of reasons.

The most common being that you may not be able to sell the entire of your stock, and depending on what it is that you are storing, a majority of your inventory may have to be scrapped, or thrown out eventually. If you are overstocked it can also become harder to find, and organise your warehouse, as well as added time consumption during stock counts.

All of these problems will cost you time and money. So, rather than overstocking, figure out a way in which you can store the optimal amount of stock so that you don’t cost yourself time and money.

To ensure you are not needlessly wasting money, make sure to check and see if your warehouse business is making any of these mistakes.

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