Warehouse losses are counted at pallet and case level rather than item level, then reconciled against the warehouse management system. US Claims Solutions records stock by SKU, lot and case count with representative photography, and documents racking, conveyors and material handling equipment separately, since those price against an entirely different market.
The WMS is a check, not the inventory
A warehouse management system records what should be on the floor. Cycle-count variances, goods received but not booked, returns awaiting processing and staged outbound orders all mean the system and the building disagree to some degree on any given day. Consultants count physically and reconcile against the system, treating differences as questions to resolve rather than as errors in either record. Where the system was itself lost with the building, the physical count becomes the only record, which raises the standard the count has to meet.
Damage in a warehouse is rarely uniform
Water damage follows the floor and the sprinkler pattern, so lower racking levels take damage while upper levels do not. Smoke rises, inverting that distribution. Pallets at the perimeter of a fire may be undamaged inside their wrap while the outer cases are destroyed. Consultants record damage by rack location and level rather than applying a building-wide percentage, and open representative pallets to establish whether damage penetrated beyond the outer layer. Recording by rack location also supports a later argument about which stock was affected, which a building-wide percentage cannot.
Ownership is frequently not the insured
Third-party logistics operators, distributors and consignment arrangements mean stock in a building is often owned by someone else. That determines whose policy responds, who the recovery belongs to, and whether brand protection obligations attach through a customer agreement. Establishing ownership early prevents a salvage lot being marketed on behalf of a party with no right to sell it. It also identifies goods held on consignment, which may be excluded from the insured own contents coverage entirely.
Racking and handling equipment are a separate claim component
Pallet racking, mezzanines, conveyors, sortation equipment, forklifts and dock equipment are business personal property but price against industrial markets rather than stock markets. Racking in particular requires identification by manufacturer, upright and beam specification and capacity, because damaged racking generally must be replaced rather than repaired for load-rating reasons. Consultants document these as their own schedule. Damaged uprights and beams generally cannot be repaired to their original load rating, so the documentation needs enough specification detail for a replacement to be quoted against the same capacity.
Salvage on bulk stock
Undamaged and lightly affected stock frequently has a strong secondary market, subject to brand protection. Bulk lots sell better than fragmented ones, and buyers price against SKU detail and honest condition reporting. USCS evaluates and markets recoverable stock at the direction of the carrier, adjuster or insured, and routes restricted product to certified destruction. Buyers price bulk lots against SKU detail and condition reporting, so the same inventory that measures the claim is what allows the lot to be marketed without a separate exercise.