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An extra carton is on the dock. You are not putting it into stock. The skid it arrived on matches the manifest you’re holding, but the count on the preprinted line is one lower than what you see stacked at your feet. The carton has no visible damage, no handwritten address correction, no stray shipping label that suggests it was misrouted from a different stop. You can already tell this isn’t a mistake you can resolve by sliding it into an empty bin in the back storage aisle.
Incoming freight manifest you are holding
This is the same pre-printed document the carrier driver handed you 12 minutes ago, before you started scanning pallets and counting individual cartons off the liftgate. It lists every scheduled delivery for your location today, broken down by purchase order number, item description, expected carton count, weight per unit, and special handling notes for fragile or temperature-controlled items. You don’t need to cross-reference it with your internal purchase order system right now; you already confirmed that the line item for the 12-pack of MERV 13 commercial air filters you expected only lists 8 cartons, not 9, and the extra carton at your feet has the exact same item label, SKU, and lot number as the 8 you already scanned and set aside for stocking. No other line item on the manifest matches the SKU printed on the extra carton’s side, so you know it’s not a mis-sorted item from a different order on the same run, and there is no other customer or location listed on the carton that would suggest it was dropped off at the wrong address. You can set aside the barcode scanner for this step; digital logs will get updated later, but the physical document you’re holding is the first official record of this overage, and it needs to be marked correctly before the driver leaves the property to avoid any confusion later. You can jot a quick note to cross-reference this entry later in Dock Tally if needed, but your priority right now is annotating the physical manifest before the driver returns to their cab and pulls out of the loading zone.
Single line that changes your count entry
The line that matters is the handwritten count line directly to the right of the pre-printed expected carton count for the air filter SKU. This is the line you would normally leave blank if the count matched perfectly, or mark a shortage on with a negative number if fewer cartons arrived than expected. You don’t need to write a full paragraph explaining the overage here, but you do need to be specific enough that anyone reviewing the document 3 days or 3 months from now can see exactly where the discrepancy occurred, no follow-up questions required. Illustrative example: If the pre-printed expected count is 8, you write 9 on this line first, before adding any other notes, so there is no ambiguity about what you counted in the moment, even if your other notes smudge or fade over time. This line takes priority over any pre-printed data because it reflects what is physically present on your dock right now, not what the carrier’s shipping system said should be delivered, not what your internal purchase order says you ordered, and not what the vendor’s packing slip listed inside the first carton you opened. You don’t have to justify the count here; you were the one who unloaded the skid, counted each carton individually as you set it on the dock, and confirmed the extra unit has no other routing information, so your handwritten number on this line is the official record of the delivery as it arrived, full stop.
Spot you note the overage on this physical document
Marking the overage correctly takes 4 quick steps, all done directly on the manifest you’re holding, no extra forms required right now:
- Write the full physical count (9, in the example above) on the handwritten count line to the right of the expected 8, in dark blue or black ink that won’t smudge if the document gets damp from rain, melting snow, or routine dock cleaning spray.
- Write “OVER 1 CTN” directly next to that count, in all caps, so the discrepancy is immediately visible to anyone scanning the page later, even if they are only glancing at count lines to cross-reference with digital records or process carrier invoices.
- Initial and date the small blank line directly below the count entry, to tie the record to you as the person who counted the delivery, in case there are follow-up questions about the overage in the coming days or weeks.
- Have the carrier driver sign directly next to your initials, to confirm they were present when you counted the extra carton and that they acknowledge the overage before leaving your dock, so there is no dispute later about whether the overage was present when the delivery was dropped off.
You don’t need to fill out any additional paperwork at this stage, or separate the extra carton from the rest of the skid yet, as long as you mark it with a bright orange “OVER” sticker so it doesn’t get accidentally put away with the rest of the stock while you finish counting the rest of the delivery items. You can take a quick photo of the marked line and the extra carton for your own personal records if you want, but the signed, marked physical manifest is the primary record that will be used to reconcile the overage later, so keeping that document safe and properly filed is your most important task after the driver signs off.
Next time you open this same page: over carton not keeping
You will next open this same manifest page 3 business days from now, when the carrier’s reconciliation team reaches out via phone or email to ask about the overage you noted on the air filter delivery. You won’t have to search for it for 20 minutes through piles of old delivery receipts; you filed it in the front of the “Delivery Discrepancies” folder by the dock office door immediately after the driver left, so it’s easy to pull up as soon as you get the request. When you open it, you’ll first point to the signed count line to confirm that the driver was present for the count and acknowledged the extra carton before departing, so the reconciliation team doesn’t have to follow up with the driver separately to verify the discrepancy. You won’t need to explain why you didn’t put the carton into stock; the note you jotted next to the count line already makes it clear that the overage was unplanned and not part of your active purchase order, so you had no authority to add it to your inventory system. You’ll be able to answer all their questions in less than 5 minutes, using only the information you marked on the page when the delivery arrived, no extra research, no digging through old emails, no cross-referencing 3 different software systems required. If the carrier asks you to hold the extra carton for pickup at a later date, you can add a handwritten note directly below the driver’s signature with the date of the request and the name of the representative you spoke to, updating the same document to keep all records of the discrepancy in one place, so you don’t have to track down separate notes later when the pickup driver arrives. If they tell you to dispose of the carton or donate it to a local non-profit, you can add that note to the same spot as well, along with the date you completed that request, so anyone reviewing the file later can see exactly what happened to the extra unit without having to cross-reference multiple systems or email threads. You won’t need to keep track of any extra paperwork for this overage after you update the manifest and file it back in the discrepancy folder; the single document holds every piece of information required to resolve the issue fully, with no extra work on your part.