FEFO

When the same product is on your shelf from two deliveries, send out the one that will go off first, not the one that arrived first. You throw away less, and, together with lot numbers, you know exactly which boxes to look for if there's a recall. In warehouse language that's called FEFO: first expired, first out.

FIFO, first in first out, is its cousin: it ships the oldest delivery first, by the date it arrived. For stock that never goes off, FIFO is fine. For anything with an expiry date, FEFO is the rule that protects you, because the delivery that arrived first is not always the one that expires first.

To follow FEFO you have to know the expiry date of each lot on the shelf. A spreadsheet can hold the dates, but someone still has to check it for every pick; a scanner and a system that knows the lots can point the picker to the right box.