Method, medium, and system for overage tolerance for variable quantity items

A computing system, comprising:

• a memory;
• at least one processor connected to the memory;
• a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising stored instructions that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
• receive, by the processor via a network communication from a remote device, a customer order for an item, wherein the customer order indicates at least an ordered amount of the item;
• access, by the processor, a database to identify a record corresponding to the item, and retrieving attributes for the item from the record including a unit type of the item;
• determine, by the processor, the unit type of the item, wherein the unit type defines whether the item is measured in a discrete unitary quantity or is measured in a variable quantity;
• in response to determining the unit type defines the variable quantity, define an overage tolerance that sets a limit for picking an amount of the item from an inventory that exceeds the ordered amount;
• generate, by the processor, a request to pick the item from the inventory, the request indicating the overage tolerance along with the ordered amount of the item;
• transmit, by the processor, the request to a second computer, to cause the ordered amount to be selected from the inventory, wherein an amount of the item actually selected is represented as a picked amount;
• wherein the request further controls the second computer to cause the second computer to:
• (i) verify, by the processor, that the picked amount of the item for the customer order is within the overage tolerance of the ordered amount when the unit type indicates variable quantities, wherein the overage tolerance is an upper bound over the ordered amount that is permissible to satisfy the customer order;
• and
• (ii) in response to the picked amount of the item exceeding the overage tolerance, generate an indicator causing the picked amount of the item to be re-picked from inventory in an attempt to cause the picked amount of the item to fall within the overage tolerance.

A non-transitory computer storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computing device including a processor cause the processor to:

• in response to receiving a customer order for an ordered amount of an item and a discrete unitary quantity of a different item, request the ordered amount of the item and the discrete unitary quantity of the different item to be picked from an inventory;
• verify that a picked amount of the item for the customer order is within an overage tolerance of the ordered amount when a unit type of the item indicates a variable quantity, wherein the overage tolerance is an upper bound over the ordered amount that is allowable to fulfill the customer order;
• in response to the picked amount exceeding the overage tolerance, the processor generating an indicator causing the picked amount of the item to the re-picked from the inventory in an attempt to cause the picked amount to fall within the overage tolerance;
• and
• in response to a failure of the picked amount of the item to fall within the overage tolerance after a defined number of attempts to re-pick the picked amount of the item, modifying the ordered amount in the customer order to:
• (i) prevent a further attempt to re-pick the picked amount of the item, and (ii) without the ordered amount of the item being picked, cause the customer order to be fulfilled by picking the discrete unitary quantity of the different item included in the request.