Core concepts
Catch weight
How iotoms posts stock from the scale: containers in, measured kilograms on the books.
Catch weight is the inventory model for goods bought by the container and sold by weight — produce, meat, anything where no two crates weigh the same.
The flow
- Purchase order in containers. The PO says 50 crates. That matches how your vendor thinks and keeps the paperwork readable.
- Goods receipt by the scale. At the dock, each crate crosses the scale. The tare (the crate's own weight) is netted out, and the measured net weight is what posts to stock. Per-crate readings are kept.
- Cost from real kilograms. The invoice amount divided by measured weight is your landed cost per kg — not the theoretical
crates × nominal weight. - Variance flagged. Expected vs measured weight is computed on every receipt and kept per vendor. A vendor whose crates run consistently light shows up in the history, with evidence.
Selling catch-weight items
The field app and the point of sale sell the same stock in any configured unit: a whole crate to a supermarket, 2.5 kg loose to a corner shop. Prices are per selling unit, and the rounding contract is identical in the app, the console and the ledger.
What to configure
| Setting | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Catch-weight flag | Catalogs → Items | Marks the item as weight-stocked |
| Container tare | Catalogs → Items | Netted out at goods receipt |
| Buying unit | Item units | e.g. crate |
| Stocking unit | Item units | e.g. kg |
| Selling units | Item units | any number, each with its price |
Reports that use it
Goods receipt variance, true cost per kg, and margin reports all read the measured weights — so a light delivery can never inflate a margin on paper.