INVENTORY MANAGEMENT 101 - BROUGHT TO YOU BY COFFEE AND MY TEENAGER.

One of the essential items I always stock at home is coffee — specifically, NESCAFÉ 3-in-1 and Top Care by Nestlé. It’s almost impossible for me to run out.

I love the feeling I get from a cup, so much that I can tell exactly how long my stock will last.

(And no, I don’t use a tally card to manage my coffee inventory 😄.)

But then one day, I made the innocent mistake of letting my daughter take a sip.

I didn’t realise how much that moment would cost me — until she returned home for a short holiday.

I had just enough coffee to last a week before payday. But one morning, I woke up, reached for my regular sachet... and found I was completely stocked out.

Puzzled, I started retracing my steps:

– Did I take more than I planned?

– Did a guest use some?

– Could it be Meme? No way. She’s too young for coffee...

Of course, I restocked. But this time, I monitored the shelf daily.

Day 1: An extra sachet missing.

Day 3: Another gone.

My prime suspect had been confirmed: My teenage daughter.

I told her to keep off — she was too young. But I also knew that even the best intentions don’t always resist temptation.

So I created a buffer stock — hidden in a separate place.

As expected, she occasionally begged me, and I’d let her have half a sachet. That made it hard to track how long the open stock would last. But with my buffer stock, I was never stocked out again.

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Funny story, but a small reminder that logistics and inventory management are part of our everyday lives.

So let me ask:

- Do you know how long your stocks will last? (Photocopy paper, tea packs, gallons of water?)

- What’s your reorder strategy? Or do you just call Jewel Multiservices when it’s already too late?

- Do you keep buffer stock or rely on last-minute miracles?

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I’d love to hear your own tips or stories.

Let’s learn from each other — and manage better.

Shalom. ✌🏾

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