Using Put Away Locations to Keep Your Warehouse Organized and Efficient

Every warehouse needs a system for handling products that can’t be immediately shelved or shipped. Whether it’s returns, damaged items, or orders that need to be reset, having a dedicated space for products waiting to be put away keeps your operation organized and efficient.

At Warehance, we call this a put away location.

What Is a Put Away Location?

A put away location is a temporary holding area for products that will be stored later. It can be any physical space in your warehouse — bins, shelves, tables, or dedicated zones — where products are staged until someone is ready to return them to their correct inventory locations.

Within Warehance, the put away process works like a reverse picking flow. You scan the location, and the system walks you through putting each product back where it belongs. This saves time, minimizes confusion, and keeps your main storage areas accurate and clean.

When to Use Put Away Locations

There are many scenarios where put away locations come in handy. Two of the most common are returns processing and shipping corrections.

1. Processing Returns

When a return arrives, the person receiving it might not know where each product belongs in the warehouse. Instead of interrupting the workflow to find every storage bin, they can receive the items directly into a put away location.

Here’s how that might look:

• Returns are opened and inspected.
• Each item is scanned into the WMS, noting its condition.
• Good inventory goes into a put away bin (for example, “Put Away 7”).
• Damaged items are placed into a separate bin.

Later, another team member can use the Warehance put away flow to relocate all items efficiently. This often includes combining inventory from multiple returns so that each product is only touched once during final put away.

This system prevents double handling and reduces time spent walking between locations. It also ensures damaged and good inventory never get mixed, since Warehance enforces that separation automatically.

2. Handling Shipping Errors or Cancellations

Another common use case is at the packing station. Sometimes an order gets to shipping and something is off — a missing item, an incorrect SKU, or a canceled order.

Instead of sending those products back to their original pick bins, the packer can place them in a put away location.

Later, a team member can put away all items from multiple incomplete or canceled orders in a single, efficient session. This keeps the packing area clean and prevents errors from snowballing during busy fulfillment periods.

Best Practices for Using Put Away Locations

To get the most from your put away system, keep a few key principles in mind:

• Separate good and damaged inventory. Never mix them in the same bin.
• Use multiple put away bins per station. This helps manage lot tracking or damaged items without overlap.
• Choose accessible locations. Keep put away bins near workstations like returns or packing tables to minimize walking.
• Batch the process. Assign a team member to handle put away at regular intervals, using the Warehance flow to complete it efficiently.

This setup allows for a clean, consistent workflow where every product always has a temporary home — even when something doesn’t go as planned.

The Bottom Line

Put away locations give your team a structured way to handle exceptions without disrupting daily operations. Whether you’re managing returns, damaged goods, or order resets, they keep your workflow moving and your inventory accurate.

You can implement put away locations anywhere in your warehouse, and once you do, you’ll notice fewer slowdowns and less confusion around where items belong.