The bolt count reset checklist for an independent quilt shop

Two weeks before the count

• Agree one measuring convention and write it on a cardDecide whether you record to the eighth or the quarter yard and whether you round down on every bolt. Tape the card to the cutting table so every person measuring uses the same rule.
• Clear the back stock and the class cupboardAny bolt not on the sales floor still counts. Pull what is in the classroom, the office and the window display so nothing is discovered halfway through the count.
• Retire the shelf ends you are never going to sellAnything under about a third of a yard should go to the remnant bin or the sample pile now, at a price, rather than being measured twice a year forever.
• Print or open the current yardage list by sectionYou want the recorded number next to a blank for the measured number, section by section, so the gap is visible while you are standing at the shelf.
• Pick your slow trading hours and block themTwo hours on three consecutive mornings beats one long closed day. Put the sections in order and tell staff which section belongs to which morning.

At the shelf

• Measure, do not estimate by eyeUse a marked table edge or a yardstick fixed to the shelf. Eyeballing a partial bolt is where most of the annual gap comes from, and it always errs generous.
• Record the measured number before you look at the recorded oneWrite what you measured first, then compare. Reading the expected number first makes almost everyone measure toward it without meaning to.
• Flag every bolt whose gap is over half a yardDo not fix it at the shelf. Mark it, keep moving, and investigate the flagged list afterward when you can look at the cut history.
• Note the print name and the shelf position for anything unreadableBolts with worn ends and missing labels are the ones that get counted twice or not at all. Give each one a note so it can be identified later.
• Keep a short end pile as you goAnything that measures under the threshold you set comes off the shelf into the pile immediately, gets priced that afternoon and never enters the count again.

At the cutting counter afterward

• Post the corrected yardage the same day you count a sectionA section counted Tuesday and entered Friday will be wrong again by Friday. Enter each section before the next trading day starts.
• Record class samples as cuts, not as vanishing yardageWhen fabric leaves for the classroom wall it should come off the bolt balance with a note saying sample, so next year's gap has a name.
• Record returns and exchanges against the original boltReturned cut yardage that goes back on a bolt has to be added to that bolt. If it goes to the remnant bin instead, it leaves the bolt record for good.
• Cut generously if you want, but record what you cutAdding a courtesy inch is fine and good service. The problem is only ever the unrecorded inch, so decide the courtesy amount and build it into the recorded cut.
• Reconcile the register tape against yardage moved once a weekTotal yards rung on the day should match total yards removed from bolts. A weekly check catches a bad habit within days instead of at year end.

The week after the count

• Sort the whole wall by yards remaining and by months since receiptThe bolts that are both old and nearly full are the money you have tied up. Make that list before you do anything else with the count.
• Stage markdowns by season rather than all at onceMove the aging holiday and seasonal prints first while there is still a use case for them, and hold the everyday basics at full price.
• Reset your reorder minimums using the measured numbersIf a basic ran out twice this year, raise its reorder point in yards. If a collection has not moved in nine months, take it off the reorder list entirely.
• Write down the total gap in yards and in dollarsOne number, kept year over year, is what tells you whether your counter routine is improving. Multiply the gap by your true cost per saleable yard.
• Schedule the next quarterly section count before you close the filePut three mornings on the calendar now for your fastest moving section. The wall only stays accurate if the count is a habit rather than an event.