Locations

A location is any place stock can sit. Zones say what the location is for, the primary flag says which bin is a SKU's home, active says whether it is in service, and Min and Max drive replenishment.

Location codes

A location code is letters and digits only, upper-case. Dashes, spaces and anything else you type are dropped, so 01-A-01, 01a01 and 01A01 are the same location. The first two characters are the zone, a two-digit number.

• A code made only of digits is displayed with dashes after the second and fourth characters: stored 01020304, shown 01-02-0304.
• A code with any letter is shown exactly as stored: 01A01, 90REC.

The Create Locations form has five boxes (zone, aisle, rack, shelf, bin, up to two characters each) and joins them into the code: zone 01, aisle A1, rack 01, shelf A, bin 01 becomes 01A101A01. You can also type a code straight into the locations import file. Keep codes short and readable: they are what pickers read on the pick list and what the receive screen asks for. Codes cannot be changed after creation; delete and recreate instead (only an empty location can be deleted).

Three locations exist on every install and cannot be deleted (the Locations page shows System in place of Delete): 01KIT, a structural location that holds kit parents' computed quantity; 01STAG, a staging location the system reserves; and 90REC, the receiving dock (see below).

Zones

The zone is the first two characters of the code, any two-digit number, and only one value has a fixed meaning: zone 01 is picking. A zone 01 location carries a SKU, may be that SKU's primary, is where waves allocate first, and is what replenishment and auto-moves fill. Every other zone is storage as far as Lodsted is concerned: waves draw from it only when pick bins are short (and then create an auto-move to bring the stock forward), and the Replenishment page treats it as the bulk pool.

What the other zone numbers mean is up to you. A common layout uses 02 for bulk shelving and higher numbers for areas like a dock or a returns area, but the numbers are just a way of grouping and sorting your codes.

The receiving bin, 90REC

Every install carries a location coded 90REC in zone 90, the receiving dock, created active. At install Lodsted receives every tracked product's Shopify quantity into it (the opening count), and the stock import then moves that stock out to the shelves. Day to day, the receive screen's S button fills every line with it.

Stock in any active location is available to waves the moment it is received. If you want deliveries to wait in 90REC while they are checked, counted or put away, edit the location and uncheck Act, but only after the opening count has been put away (inactive stock is not counted in what Shopify is sent): then nothing in it is promised to an order until it is moved to a usable shelf, and the Inventory page shows it under Unavail. One warehouse runs exactly that way, receiving everything into an inactive 90REC and moving it out from there.

Primary locations

A zone 01 location can be marked Primary for its SKU. The primary is the SKU's home:

• Waves take stock from the primary before any other bin.
• The Replenishment page lists primaries only; its whole purpose is keeping them filled to Max.
• Auto-moves generated with a wave move stock into the primary.
• The receiving screen's P button fills every line's location with the SKU's primary.
• The pick list and packing slips show the bin stock was allocated from, which is normally the primary.

One primary per SKU. When creating locations the SKU search hides SKUs that already have one. A SKU can have other, non-primary zone 01 bins (a second pick face, a display bin); they are picked after the primary.

Active and inactive locations

The Act checkbox says whether the location's stock is usable. Active means usable: stock there can be promised to orders. Inactive means not usable, without deleting anything. Inactive means:

• Its stock is not available. Waves do not allocate from it; the backorder check ignores it; the count sent to Shopify excludes it.
• On the Inventory page the units appear in the Unavail column rather than Available, with an amber marker on the row.
• It is not a replenishment source or target.
• Its inventory records and transaction history stay. Moves out of it still work, so you can empty it.
• Receiving into it is still allowed (the receiving screens do not check the flag), so avoid choosing it there.

Typical uses: a receiving or staging bin for deliveries not yet put away, a damaged or blocked shelf, a quarantine bin for returns awaiting inspection, a bin being cycle counted, a seasonal area you have packed away. The Locations page has an Inactive filter chip to list them.

The Inventory and Locations pages keep inactive stock visible precisely so it is not forgotten: the Unavail column is your list of stock that exists but cannot be sold.

Min and Max

Min may not exceed Max. A pick location with Max 0 is listed on the Replenishment page flagged No Max and cannot be selected for a move until Max is set. The Replenishment page's edit button and the Inventory details modal both let you set Min and Max without visiting the Locations page.

The Locations page

Header statistics show totals by zone and how many locations hold stock. The table columns:

Filter by zone chips, by the Inactive chip, or search by code or SKU (dashes and case do not matter). Click a row or use the arrow keys and Enter to open the bin's inventory, which is the same modal as on the Inventory page: you can move stock out of the bin, adjust it, and set Min and Max there.

Creating locations

Two ways: the Import button (Admin) takes a spreadsheet of codes with SKU, min, max and active, described on Importing locations and stock; Create Locations opens a grid for typing them, one location per row:

The + on a row adds the next row with the last filled part incremented (bin 03 → 04, or shelf B → C when bin is blank), copying zone, flags, Min and Max. Rows that fail (a duplicate code, a SKU already primary elsewhere) are listed after submit and the rest are created.

Example: one bay of pick bins

Editing a location

Edit on a row opens the same single-row form with the code parts locked. You can change the SKU, primary flag, active flag, Min and Max. Moving a SKU's primary to a different bin: uncheck Primary on the old bin, then check it on the new one. Stock does not move by itself; move it from the Inventory page.

How locations affect everything else

• Allocation order for a wave: primary → other zone 01 bins → every other active location, oldest received first within each group.
• Pick list order follows the location code, so number aisles and racks in walking order.
• Available stock everywhere (backorders, Shopify counts, replenishment) counts active locations only.
• Receiving can target any existing location, active or not. The P button on the receive screen fills every line with the SKU's primary; S fills every line with 90REC.
• Moves preserve the cost and received date of the stock being moved, so FIFO costing survives put-away.