Inc. Over the past 20 years of presenting to distributors, I always ask the audience to show me the hands of those having dead stock on hand. I am amazed that almost everyone raises his or her hands. I have heard endless stories of distributors dealing with dead stock. Some are happy stories in that they found it hidden in their warehouse and actually got rid of it. Some are sad stories of misfortune and lost money because the dead stock continued to grow and soon overtook the good stock in terms of warehouse space.
Dead stock is a product of purchasing, sales, accounts receivable and company philosophy.
There is no one person or group of people to blame for dead stock. Dead stock is too often actually purchased because of lack of knowledge and communication between sales and purchasing. It is sad how many times distributors have actually bought dead stock, received dead stock and put away dead stock, without ever realizing that it was dead on arrival. Oh I know it sounds crazy, but it happens all the time. There are many reasons why dead stock still lives and breathes in our businesses.