Field notes
Expiry windows that fit a small Bangkok branch
Why a 60-day expiry glance often beats a full annual purge for busy neighbourhood pharmacies.
Small branches rarely have a quiet week for a full expiry purge. Patients keep arriving, deliveries land mid-morning, and the pharmacist’s attention is pulled to counselling. A lighter rhythm works better: a 60-day window reviewed twice a month.
Pull only the SKUs that sit above a value threshold you choose — for many neighbourhood pharmacies that means anything costly enough to sting if it expires, plus anything with a short manufacturer dating habit such as reconstituted liquids after opening.
Walk the shelf with a simple mark: green for safe beyond 60 days, amber for use-or-move within 60, red for remove-from-sale now. Keep the marks temporary so the shelf does not look like a construction site to customers.
Amber items belong in a short operator note: can this move to a sister branch, return under supplier terms, or be prioritised in counselling when clinically appropriate? Red items leave the sales floor the same day with a witnessed log.
The 60-day glance will not replace a deeper annual review, but it stops the quiet pile-up that turns into a painful write-off at year end. Operators who keep the habit usually spend less time arguing with suppliers about late returns.