Blog
Reading for the work that begins after the PO arrives.
Operating guides, references, and essays on CPG wholesale: deductions, evidence, distributor rules, and the systems that hold it all together.
The Wholesale PO Report · 2026 Edition
Where CPG brands lose margin.
What the published record says about the distributors, deductions, deadlines and finance teams behind every wholesale order.
Read the report →
20%
of CPG revenue goes to trade promotions
44 days
a typical deduction stays unresolved
26
cited sources
Guides and references
KeHE deduction management: the complete operating guide
Connect remittance, POs, evidence, dispute decisions, prevention, and closeout in one operating loop.
Read the guide →
Cornerstone guideThe CPG purchase-order-to-cash workflow
Follow a retailer-issued purchase order from receipt through fulfillment, payment, deductions, and closeout.
Read the guide →
Field guideHow to dispute a KeHE deduction
The dispute path, the evidence packet each cause requires, and the deadlines that govern the process.
Read the guide →
Field guideHow to audit a KeHE K-Solve export
Move from a deduction line to cause, evidence, dispute path, and operational follow-up.
Read the guide →
ReferenceCPG wholesale operations glossary
Stable, plain-language definitions for the terms that run wholesale operations and deduction work.
Read the guide →
Reference hubAll 111 KeHE deduction prefix codes, explained
The most complete public reference for KeHE deduction codes, with confidence levels and source documentation.
Read the guide →
BlogHow CPG brands forecast revenue from open KeHE purchase orders
Track the PO lifecycle from open through settled, and forecast with the deduction gap built in.
Read the guide →
BlogHow KeHE deduction data flows into QuickBooks Online
The manual workflow, the pain at scale, and the ideal remittance-to-ledger flow.
Read the guide →
BlogWhat happens when a KeHE PO ships late
The compliance cascade from a late delivery: fees, fill-rate impact, and the path to discontinuation.
Read the guide →
BlogKeHE vs. UNFI: how deduction management differs
Portals, codes, fee structures, and the operational burden of managing both distributors simultaneously.
Read the guide →
Cornerstone guideWhat Is an Intelligent PO?
The operating concept behind EasyOps: a living workspace for every retailer-issued purchase order, connecting systems without replacing them.
Read the guide →
Field guideThe KeHE deduction evidence checklist
A cause-by-cause checklist of what evidence KeHE expects, organized by deduction type: shortages, pricing, compliance, damage, and promotions.
Read the guide →
Field guideHow to prevent KeHE compliance deductions
An upstream prevention guide: OTIF targets, EDI deadlines, routing compliance, packing requirements, and the checks to run before the truck moves.
Read the guide →
Field guideHow to read a KeHE remittance
What each field means, how to match lines to POs, and what the prefix codes look like in context on the settlement record.
Read the guide →
Field guideKeHE new supplier onboarding: your first 90 days
Item setup fees, EDI timeline, first appointments, and the deductions to expect in your first quarter with KeHE.
Read the guide →
BlogHow to calculate your KeHE deduction rate
The formula, the breakdown by type, trailing vs. spot rate, and how to forecast net cash from shipped POs.
Read the guide →
Essays
Long-form thinking on retail operations. Updated occasionally, on purpose.
The last unoptimized purchase
Consumer commerce engineered the purchase down to one click. The wholesale purchase order never got the same treatment, and the friction is priced in fees and slower cash. On what one-click wholesale would actually mean.
Read the essay →
EssayThe deduction industry needs your deductions
Recovery vendors charge a quarter to a third of what they claw back, so their revenue depends on your deductions continuing. Why the standard model can never fix the problem it manages.
Read the essay →
EssayOperations isn’t a department anymore
Ops stopped being a team and became a lens every role carries, but the data never followed. Why deductions are operational telemetry, and where the operational record has to live.
Read the essay →
EssayThe Retail Ops Engineer
A new job title for the person every CPG brand already employs: the one who should be engineering the PO-to-shelf flow instead of firefighting it.
Read the essay →
ManifestoThe Retail Ops Engineer manifesto
The person who engineers the PO-to-shelf flow instead of reacting to it.
Read the manifesto →