Comparison, correct as of August 2026
Automated stocktaking against manual stocktaking.
Counting by hand is the most flexible method there is, and on a small site it is also the cheapest. What changes at scale is the arithmetic: the same count that occupies three to ten people for two to three days becomes one person for eight to twelve hours.
The case for counting by hand
Manual stocktaking is the most flexible method there is.
Most warehouses in Northern Europe still count this way, and four things keep them there.
- It needs no vendor and no contract. The scanners are already bought, the process is already written and the people already know it. Nothing has to be procured before Monday.
- It handles anything. A person can read a smudged label, look inside a shrink wrapped pallet, judge damage, count loose cases in a bulk bay and make a sensible decision about an odd situation. No automated system matches that judgement.
- It scales down perfectly. On a few hundred pallet positions, two people and an afternoon is a complete answer and any subscription is worse value.
- It has no dependency. No batteries, no calibration, no network, no vendor availability. If the requirement is a count today with no preparation, this is the only method that delivers it.
The problem with manual stocktaking is not that people count badly. It is that counting is the slowest and most expensive way to move information out of the racking.
The cost model
The headline cost of counting by hand.
A 30,000 m² warehouse carries roughly €150,000 to €250,000 a year in manual stocktaking and lost pallet search labour: about €50,000 of audit labour and €100,000 to €200,000 of searching. Automating it takes those two lines to about €5,000 and €10,000 to €20,000.
On top of that sits the line nobody budgets for: €100,000 to €300,000 a year of labour efficiency that a faster count releases back into the operation. The full model and the per pallet position arithmetic are in the cost breakdown for a 30,000 m² warehouse.
Site pricing is €9,950 setup plus €39,550 per year, published in full on the pricing page. A three month payback implies manual stocktaking costing about €79,000 a year at that site, roughly €6,600 a month.
What changes operationally
The annual shutdown stops being an event.
- The count fits in a break. A 20 minute run covers 500 to 1,000 pallets and is driven between tasks. Sites counting daily release no shift at all for stocktaking.
- Accuracy stops sagging. Instead of one count a year that decays from the day it finishes, continuous cycle counting holds 99%+ accuracy all year round.
- Nobody goes up a lift to look. High locations are read from the aisle floor, which removed the scissor lift work at a pharmaceutical site counting down to minus 23 degrees.
A three warehouse hub in Eindhoven was running two wall to wall scans of 90,000 pallets a year, at 3,600 hours or more of manual counting. Those scans now take 80 hours or more, around two full time roles were released, and accuracy holds above 99% all year. The detail is in the Eindhoven case study, and every site's numbers are on the benchmark page.
Where counting by hand is still the right call. Below roughly a few hundred pallet positions, keep counting by hand. Keep a manual process for the exceptions as well, because someone still has to open the wrapped pallet.
Questions we get asked
Replacing a process people trust.
Will our auditors accept an automated count?
Yes, and at a pharmaceutical site the reports are generated automatically and approved by the auditor. Every discrepancy line opens the recording that produced it, so the count is evidenced image by image rather than asserted on a tally sheet.
Do we still need a wall to wall stocktake?
Most sites keep one and stop dreading it. A full wall to wall becomes one person over eight to twelve hours rather than three to ten people over two to three days, and it runs while the warehouse keeps operating.
Does this remove warehouse jobs?
It removes counting hours, not people. Across one 3PL network the released time showed up as a 6 to 8% productivity improvement, and at a three site hub as around two full time roles redeployed rather than cut.
What if our labels are old or inconsistent?
The unit is taught the labels you already use, and no additional labels or specialist equipment are required. LPN translation is validated on day two of deployment, which is when label problems surface and get resolved.
Next step
Put your own count against these figures.
A 30 minute demo where we take your pallet count, your headcount and your current stocktake duration and work out what the same count looks like at up to 3,000 units per hour.