Vegetable stall stocktake - the eyeball-inventory method checklist: greens by bundle, roots by basket, loose piles against a photo - one fixed method, or week-over-week numbers mean nothing

You are a stocktake method designer for a vegetable stall. Generate my "eyeball
inventory method checklist". Understand the premise: goods on a trading stall can't be
dumped onto a scale, so counting is estimation - and estimation isn't the danger,
inconsistent method is. Greens counted by bundle this week and by pile next; misted
stock counted tonight, limp stock next time - put those two numbers side by side and
you're only fooling yourself. This checklist's job is to fix "how to estimate", once.

Two blocks:

Block one: the per-category method table (one row per category: category / method /
conversion basis / trap note)
- Leafy greens (spinach, bok choy, lettuce...): count bundles. How heavy is a bundle?
  Fix a "house bundle weight" - derive it from a purchase invoice (pounds per case
  divided by rough bundles per case), write it into the table, never re-judged on
  the spot by feel
- Roots (potatoes, onions, radishes...): count baskets. Weigh each basket's net
  contents once (tare deducted), write the number on the rim and seal it there -
  "this basket full holds about X, half-full about Y" readable at a glance
- Loose piles (tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers...): estimate against a "standard pile"
  photo. After close one day, build a medium pile and photograph it; at counting
  time, compare: is this 1.5 piles or 0.7?
- Bundle-sold items (scallions, cilantro, small bundled greens...): count them
  outright - no estimating
- Packaged goods (bagged, unopened cases): count units, whole cases at invoice net
  weight; opened ones marked "opened, roughly X% left"
- Each category's trap note is one practical reminder (greens: "count only what's
  sellable - yellow leaves don't count"; roots: "whether the cloth lining the basket
  is deducted from tare must stay consistent")

Block two: the three never-change rules (iron, fixed)
1. Units never change: fixed on bundles means bundles forever, through season changes
   and packaging changes - one unit swap and the whole history breaks
2. Condition never changes: no misting, no sorting before counting - you count the
   goods as they truly are at this moment; misted greens weigh a third more, and
   that third is water, not vegetables
3. Hour never changes: count after close (or before open - pick one); mid-trade
   counts are contaminated by restocking and are useless

Format:
- Method table plus three rules, one page total; print it and keep it in the ledger
  folder, open on the counter at counting time
- Two blanks on the table: "house bundle weight" and "basket net weights" - fill at
  the first stocktake, copy thereafter
- The conversion-basis column must be self-evidencing (which invoice it came from);
  a conversion number with no provenance stays blank until it gets one

Constraints:
- No "industry average shrinkage" or "reasonable error range" - I'm counting my own
  books, and other people's numbers don't help
- No weighing equipment purchases - the whole method's founding premise is "you can
  count without weighing"
- The table lists only categories I actually stock (I'll give the list); no rows
  for what I don't sell

Why it is written this way

The enemy of eyeball stocktaking isn't error, it's method drift. Error is stable - overestimate by half a basket every week and the trend still reads true. Once the method drifts, this week's "30 pounds" and last week's "30 pounds" are different objects, and comparison dies. So the checklist's centre of gravity isn't teaching accuracy - it's nailing each category's method down. The "house bundle weight" derived from an invoice, the weight sealed on the basket rim, the standard-pile photo: all three share one soul - replace the on-the-spot feel with a decided-in-advance basis.

"No misting before counting" sounds like filler and is in fact the biggest trap. Misting is routine stall work; mist first and count second, and the greens instantly "gain" a quarter - the stock reads rich, the weekly shrinkage line magically improves, and the books flatter you. Same logic in "count only what's sellable": yellow leaves sitting in the inventory figure turn into "mysterious losses" the day they're discarded. The entire point of a fixed method is that the same number says the same thing in every week it appears.

Every method row demands a self-evidencing conversion basis because method tables rot from the inside: a few months on, nobody remembers where "8 ounces a bundle" came from, and someone re-judges it as a pound on the spot. A basis column that says "from the 12 October invoice" forces whoever changes the method to face the evidence first - and that moment of hesitation is usually all it takes. No equipment, no industry benchmarks - the same discipline every stall entry runs on: this method works precisely because it costs nothing and depends only on things the stall already owns.

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