How to reduce expiry losses in your pharmacy: 7 habits that actually work

Ask any chemist where the money goes and you will hear the same answer: the shelf. Strips that expired behind newer stock, a syrup ordered for one customer who never came back, a scheme deal that looked great until half the boxes went out of date. None of this is carelessness. It is what happens when a busy counter runs on memory and a paper register.

1. Sell first-expiry, first-out (FEFO)

Put the batch that expires first at the front, every time new stock arrives. If your software tracks batches, bill by batch so the system always picks the oldest one.

2. See near-expiry stock early

A list of everything expiring in the next 90 days, every week, gives you time to push it, return it or move it. Waiting until the month of expiry is too late.

3. Reorder from sales, not habit

“We always take two boxes” is how dead stock starts. Reorder based on what actually sold in the last 30 to 60 days, and keep a minimum level for fast movers.

4. Be careful with scheme deals

A free box is only free if you sell it before it expires. Check the expiry dates and your real monthly sales before saying yes.

5. Know each distributor’s return policy

Most distributors accept near-expiry or expired returns within a window and under conditions. Keep those rules on a single sheet and diary the return dates.

6. Track dead stock monthly

Anything that has not sold in 90 days deserves a decision: return, discount within the rules, or move it to a sister shop.

7. Let software do the remembering

The MedMate Partner console tracks stock batch-wise with FEFO billing, flags near-expiry and low-stock items in advance, and groups reorders by distributor, so these habits happen without anyone keeping a notebook.