Missing stock turns up on auction site

An apparel and sportswear distributor says it has lost $160,000 of stock out of an Auckland warehouse - some of which has turned up on Trade Me.

The claims come in the wake of a High Court decision this month in which two insurance companies were ordered to pay sporting goods firm Pegasus Group $1.5 million, after they refused its claim for stock stolen from a warehouse.

The insurers argued the losses were the result of stocktaking errors, but the judge ruled there was "relatively unrestrained and widespread theft" from the warehouse.

Sean Kennedy, owner of Kaitaia-based Coastlines International, claims that from 2005 to 2009 his company suffered a $160,000 shortfall in stock stored by logistics firm Supply Chain Solutions.

Coastlines had $400,000 to $500,000 of stock stored at any one time, he said. Supply Chain Solutions argued the discrepancies were due to stocktaking errors.

At one point a consignment of men's and women's apparel did not arrive at a customer. Kennedy was subsequently browsing Trade Me and saw the items there.

The company's inventory controller said it was "clear" the clothing was its product, especially as the full size range was there.

Kennedy said the company went to Trade Me and its insurer over the incident, and he understood a private investigator was looking into it.

Meanwhile, he is in dispute with Supply Chain Solutions over his losses. Coastlines had an agreement with the logistics firm to look after its goods, he said. "You're responsible for them, the fact that you've written them off in your system is your problem, but we should be paid for them."

Supply Chain Solutions co-owner Brad Lindsay said he had made many attempts to resolve the situation but matters had deteriorated: "Where there is a clear case of unexplained loss, of course we accept responsibility. This is not the case with Coastlines."

Lindsay disputed the $160,000 figure, and said that unlike the Pegasus situation there was no problem with theft.

Some of the issues were due to poor labelling of stock from China, and Supply Chain Solutions had not been paid to do item-level checking, which was more expensive but designed to pick up such imbalances.

Lindsay said the Trade Me incident related to an order Supply Chain Solutions dispatched 18 months ago. The order was picked up by a courier company which took responsibility for the stock not being delivered.

Supply Chain Solutions submitted a successful claim on behalf of Coastlines and the matter had been lodged with police.

In the Pegasus case, the court heard evidence of a "free for all" at warehousing firm NZ Express. A former supervisor told of staff walking out with cartons of stock, including one who backed his car up to the warehouse and spent 20 minutes filling it.

The executive director of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Brian Stocking, said who was responsible in the case of missing stock depended on the terms of the agreement between the parties. He did not believe theft from warehouses was a widespread industry issue.

"I would be very surprised if it was, to be honest," he said.