Inventory · Definition

Unit of Measure

The unit in which an item is counted, bought, stored or sold.

Unit of measure defines whether an item is handled as a piece, box, carton, pallet, litre or kilogram. Most items need more than one: you buy by the carton, store by the box and sell by the piece.

Conversion factors between units are a classic source of stock errors. Every count, receipt and sale must record which unit was used, or a case of twelve quietly becomes twelve cases.

The unit also decides what a quantity may look like. A count unit — a piece, a carton, a bottle — is whole; a measured unit — a kilogram, a litre, a metre — takes decimals, so 2.5 kg of nails is a real quantity while 2.5 cartons is usually a mistake.

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