Glossary
Dozen
A dozen is 12 pieces. It is a selling unit: customers order by the dozen, and the line prices and converts in dozens while the ledger counts in pieces.
What it is
A dozen is 12 pieces. It is a selling unit more than a storage unit: wholesale customers order by the dozen, and the order line carries the dozen as its unit. The ledger counts the line in pieces, through the factor of 12.
A dozen is also a pack in the pricing sense. A pack price can be stored per dozen, and a line in dozens resolves its price against the dozen rows before it falls back to the catalog.
Why it matters
Units are promises. A customer who orders 40 dozen expects 480 pieces, not 40. A system that drops the unit and keeps the number ships 40 pieces and creates the oldest argument in wholesale. The dozen on the line is what keeps the 40 and the 480 apart.
The dozen also shows why the entered unit matters on a movement. A receipt of 2 dozen is 24 pieces, and the record that says 2 DZ is worth more than the record that says 24, because it says what the operator actually handled.
A worked example
SKU WDG-1040 sells by the dozen, 12 pieces to a dozen. A buyer orders 40 dozen. The line is 40 DZ, the ledger counts 480 pieces, and the label names the price source while the line is being priced. A pack price of 0.75 per dozen from 50 dozen does not apply, because 40 is below the minimum, so the line resolves further down the sequence.
How DockingWare does it
A dozen is a conversion with a factor of 12. Lines open in the unit of the price that won, and a line in dozens converts by the factor ratio when the unit changes. Movements store the entered dozen quantity and the factor used.
See also: When the case size changes, the pieces stay the same.
Questions
- What is a dozen?
- Twelve pieces. It is a selling unit: customers order by the dozen, and the line prices and converts in dozens while the ledger counts in pieces.
- Why sell by the dozen instead of by the piece?
- Because the customer buys in dozens. Pricing, packing, and picking all follow the unit the customer ordered in, and the factor of 12 turns it into pieces for the ledger.
- Can a dozen have its own price?
- Yes. A pack price can be stored per dozen, with its own minimum quantity, and a line in dozens resolves against the dozen rows.