Ink Inventory Issue

[splashdesignz]

Good Morning, I consider myself to be fairly new in the business and have some questions regarding inventory. When we purchased our business 5 years ago I will be the first admit we were a bit stupid. If only I knew then what I know now. We were truly newbies to the industry at that point. Anyway...in our original purchase there was a vast array of inks. Lots and lots of it. After the purchase was complete and the previous owner had left we began investigating what all ink we had. Among the ink was some that was dated 1989, 1991 etc. We are preparing to change locations and are now deciding that we need to get rid of most of the old ink to safe space and the fact that in 5 years we still haven't had a need for some of the strange colors - some full cans, never opened that are 18 years old and more than one of some of those. No clue as to the previous owners logic in this.

My question is how do I account for this as far as inventory reduction. Should I add a new account in my quickbooks. My accountant has not been helpful. I'm hoping that some of you who've been in the business can help me out here. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much
Angela

[cjwworld]

I am not an accountant but the ink would be no good so the business needs to write it off the books. I guess that is what you are wondering, huh?

[Morning Flight]

No clue as to the previous owners logic in this.

Probably because it was cheaper to store the old inks than to dispose of them, Angela.

[splashdesignz]

Good point, morning flight. We now have a site in our community that will take hazardous materials with no charge. I hadn't thought about that issue. But then again the previous owner never threw anything out. I've found parts for presses that haven't been around for 15 years + and some of those parts aren't even usable even if we did have the press. We will be doing major cleaning this summer ... relocation is a good thing in more ways than one.

[craiglpress]

1) The older inks (approx over 3 years) are probally dried up and not good. The press down time and paper waste costs will out weigh trying to save the ink. Dispose of this ink.

2) Ink that is not so old in cans of larger volume can be salvaged or mixed with other colors to make the color you need. There's a software program from MixMasters, Inc. for $99 that will show you what colors can be mixed to make other colors. MixMasters, Inc. - The MixMaster Ink Recycling Software

3) You can also mix leftover inks together to make black ink.

4) If the inventory inks were orginally purchased/costed for jobs and leftover, they will have a zero value (because the customer already paid for them).

5) You may also be able to donate ink to a print school or non-profit organization and write it off.

Hope this helps.

Regards,


Craig L Press
President, Profectus, Inc.
Phone: 941-379-8700
Printing and Packaging Industry Best Business Practices and Information Technology Consulting
Printing Industry Business Consultants

[powerquote]

To prevent the accumulation of bad ink, your ink supplier may be able to provide round wax sheets to lay on top of the ink in the can. If you spray a little "no skin" spray on the ink and cover it with the wax paper, it will store longer with less chance of hard ink chips on press.

Bruce Moore
PowerQuote Print Estimating Software