# Pick list

> A pick list is the sheet or screen that tells someone which products to collect for an order, and where each one is.

- Source: https://storestandards.com/glossary/pick-list/
- Updated: 2026-08-14
- Author: Marcus Ilori, Support lead, Store Standards

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The list is the job. How it is sorted decides how far the person walks.

## Sort by shelf, not by order

A list in order-line sequence sends a picker up and down the same aisle four
times. The same list sorted by [bin location](https://storestandards.com/glossary/bin-location/) walks
the room once, in one direction.

For a store shipping thirty orders a day that is the difference between two
hours and one.

## Batch picking

Pick several orders in one walk, then split them at the packing bench. It is
much faster and it introduces the one risk worth naming: two similar items
landing in the wrong tote.

Scan at the bench, not just at the shelf, and the risk goes away.

## What belongs on it

- The [SKU](https://storestandards.com/glossary/sku/) and the location
- The quantity, in large type
- The product name, so a wrong scan is obvious to a person
- Nothing else

## Where it goes wrong

Size. A picker takes a medium instead of a large because the two boxes are
identical apart from one character, and nobody scans at the shelf. The
customer gets the wrong size, returns it, and the return is restocked late.

The other one is picking against a list printed an hour ago. Something sold in
the meantime, the shelf is empty, and what looked like a
[stockout](https://storestandards.com/glossary/stockout/) is just a stale sheet of paper.

## Related terms

- [Bin location](https://storestandards.com/glossary/bin-location/): A bin location is the address of a place in your stockroom, so anyone can be told where to find a product without being shown.
- [Putaway](https://storestandards.com/glossary/putaway/): Putaway is moving stock from the receiving area onto the shelf it will be picked from, and recording where it went.
- [Stockout](https://storestandards.com/glossary/stockout/): A stockout is running out of something a customer wanted to buy. The lost sale is usually the smallest part of the cost.