Dead Stock & Returns: The Best Way Out for Every Slow or Dead Item
Find the stock that stopped selling and the best way to clear each item.
Dead Stock & Returns is the dead stock management agent in the Ai1 platform by MyZone AI for distributors and parts businesses: it sorts each part from healthy to dead and ranks the best way out for every stuck item, such as a supplier return, a relabel or another sales channel, for your team to choose.
Each location's slow, at-risk and dead parts are listed with their value at cost, not lost in a long report.
The way out, ranked
Each item gets its exit options side by side, so your team picks with the trade-offs in front of them.
Return windows kept in view
Supplier return rules and limits sit next to the parts they apply to.
Key customers protected
Parts that important customers rely on are kept rather than cleared, and are marked for a person to decide.
Meet your agent
Get to know Rashid
Rashid hates waste, from a forgotten box on a high shelf to a half-eaten date. He finds your slow and dead stock and ranks the best way out for each item: return it, relabel it or sell it through another channel.
AI agent. Fictional persona; not a real person.
Rashid, the persona of Dead Stock & Returns
Name
Rashid H.
Role
Stock Recovery Specialist
Experience
35 years
Work history
Returns manager at a regional agricultural equipment dealer Purchasing officer at an industrial supplies wholesaler
Personality
Recommends, people decide, patient with old stock
Based in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Why Rashid has a personality
AI does better work as a specific expert, so Dead Stock & Returns works as Rashid (Stock Recovery Specialist, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia). You can rename Rashid or change the personality, experience and profile settings at any time.
Healthy, slowing, at risk or dead, at each location, by thresholds you set
Seasonal parts
Checked against the same months in past years before any flag
Exits ranked
Stop reordering, return, relabel, move to another location or sell through another channel
Supplier returns
Return limits, age rules and shipping cost weighed; parts of unknown age held for a check
Money lines
Cash back, credit, avoided reorders and exit loss on separate lines, as estimates
Protected parts
Parts key customers rely on stay in stock and go to a person to decide
Capabilities
What Dead Stock & Returns does for you
Sorts each stocked part
It labels each part at each location as healthy, slowing, at risk or dead, using thresholds you set.
Checks the season first
A seasonal part is compared with the same months in past years before it is flagged during its quiet period.
Ranks the exits
Stop reordering, return it to the supplier, relabel it as a matching item, move it to another location or sell it through another channel.
Applies supplier return rules
Return limits, age rules and shipping cost are weighed, and parts of unknown age are held for a check.
Keeps money lines apart
Cash back, supplier credit, avoided reorders and any loss on the exit are reported on separate lines.
Drafts the yearly return list
When your team shares a supplier's history, it drafts the annual return list within that supplier's allowance.
How Dead Stock & Returns differs from a yearly clear-out
A yearly clear-out finds dead stock late, after it has tied up value on the shelves for months, and can clear parts a customer still needs. Dead Stock & Returns sorts every part each week, checks the season first, keeps parts your key customers rely on and ranks each exit with its trade-offs. Recovery figures are estimates for your review. It recommends only; your team approves each exit and handles every supplier and customer contact.
How this differs from the Inventory Lead: To manage ongoing min/max levels, use the Inventory Lead; Dead Stock & Returns finds the stock that is already stuck and ranks the best way to clear it.
How it works
From your request to a finished result
It runs inside your Ai1 system and works in the tools you already use. You ask, it works, it reports, and it stops for your OK where it matters.
Tap the diagram to enlarge it
Step 1: Set your thresholds
Agree what counts as slow and dead, which customers are protected and the return terms of your main suppliers.
Step 2: It reviews the week's stock
Each location's parts are sorted and the stuck ones get ranked exit options.
Step 3: Proposals join the review
Its list goes into the weekly review run by the Inventory Lead.
You approve
Step 4: Your team chooses
People pick the exit for each item, or keep it. Talking to suppliers and customers stays with your team.
When to use it
Hand these situations to Dead Stock & Returns
Illustrative photo. Which slow parts on these shelves are worth sending back to the supplier?
If this is you…
…here's what it does
Shelves of parts nobody has ordered in ages
They are listed by location and value with the strongest exit for each.
A supplier allows a yearly return
The draft list fits the allowance and leaves out parts that do not qualify.
A slow part sells well at your other location
It points this out so the stock can be moved instead of cleared.
A seasonal part looks dead in its off-season
The year-over-year check stops it being flagged too early.
Nobody is sure how old some stock is
Those parts are marked for a check before any return or sell-off.
What you get
A weekly list of slow, at-risk and dead stock by location
Ranked exit options for each stuck item
A yearly supplier return draft within the allowance
A summary with cash back, credit and exit loss on separate lines
Questions for your team where data is missing
What it won't do
✕Arrange returns or sell-offsHandled by: Your team
✕Decide which location stocks each part going forwardHandled by: The Branch Balancer
Example: slow and dead stock review with ranked exits
Example with a fictional company. Names, people and figures are invented to show the agent's output. Any resemblance to a real company or person is unintended.
What it was asked: Which parts are stuck on our shelves, and what is the best way to move each one out?
Example report
Stock health by locationRanked exits for the top stuck linesSupplier A return list: this year's allowanceGuards, decisions and what happens next
What it found: 3 findings, with the numbers
$214,600 of Ostmarrow's $1.62M stock at cost sits in slowing, at-risk or dead parts, and $92,800 of that has not sold in 18 months or more.
Seven brake lines worth $12,145 at cost fill 98% of this year's Supplier A return allowance; three more were kept off for age or a good chance of selling.
Seasonal, key-customer, other-location and age checks kept 82 lines off the exit list, and four decisions wait for the purchasing manager, general manager and warehouse lead.
This is an illustrative example of the monthly stock review Dead Stock & Returns is being built to produce. It was written by hand from the agent's design for an invented company with invented parts, suppliers and figures; no real systems or people were involved, and nothing was sent, posted, paid or changed. Run date: .
Want a dead stock review like this for your own slow stock? Book a Dead Stock walkthrough.
The Branch Balancer decides where a part should live if moving it beats clearing it.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions about Dead Stock & Returns
When does inventory count as dead stock?
There is no single rule. Many businesses call stock slow when it has not moved for several months and dead when it has gone a year or more without a sale, with allowances for seasonal parts. Dead Stock & Returns sorts each part from healthy to dead using your own thresholds and checks the same season in past years first.
What are the ways to clear slow-moving parts inventory?
The usual options are to stop reordering, return the part to the supplier, relabel it as a matching item, move it to a location where it sells or sell it through another channel. Each has a different cost. Dead Stock & Returns ranks these exits for each stuck item and puts the trade-offs side by side for your team to choose.
How do you plan a return of excess stock to a supplier?
Start with the supplier's return rules: how much you may send back, how old the stock may be and who pays shipping. Then pick the parts that qualify and fit the allowance. Dead Stock & Returns drafts that list from the supplier history your team shares and holds parts of unknown age for a check.
What does dead stock management involve?
Finding stock that has stopped selling, working out what it is worth and choosing the least costly way to clear it. Dead Stock & Returns does the finding and ranking each week, and your team picks the exit.
Will Dead Stock & Returns return or sell stock for us?
No. It ranks the options. Your team decides and handles any contact with suppliers or customers.
How does it treat seasonal parts?
It compares the same months in past years before flagging a seasonal part, so a quiet season is not mistaken for dead stock.
Can it tell us how much money we will recover?
It estimates cash back, credit and any loss for each option, labelled as estimates. The real result depends on your suppliers and customers.
Is Dead Stock & Returns available now?
Not yet. Your Ai1 team will tell you when Dead Stock & Returns is ready for your account. You can talk to us today about clearing slow and dead stock.
About Ai1
How much does Ai1 cost?
Run it yourself on a developer plan, or let our team deploy your agents and oversee them for you. Every plan runs on its own private server, and every price is shown in full. See Ai1 pricing →
Do I get just Dead Stock & Returns, or the whole platform?
The whole platform. Dead Stock & Returns is not sold on its own: every Ai1 agent, including this one, is included on Developer Pro and every Fully Managed option, with no per-agent charge. Developer Core includes the development agents. Compare plans →
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