Retiring a bin location

Applies to: All tiers  ·  Last reviewed: 2026-09-03

What this is

How to take a bin out of service when you re-rack, consolidate, or create one by mistake. Locations are managed at Settings > Locations. For creating them and what the two toggles do, see Setting up locations and bins.

Turning off Sellable and Pickable stops a bin being used for allocation and picking, but it leaves the bin on the list and available as a destination when someone receives or moves stock. Retiring is what takes it out of service properly.

Retire a location

1. Go to Settings > Locations.
2. Find the bin and click the retire icon on its row.
3. Choose Archive or Delete.

Archive or Delete

Archive is the right choice for almost every bin. It takes the location out of use, so it stops accepting stock and no longer appears in pickers or receiving, while the bin keeps naming itself on every past receipt, movement and audit record.

Delete is offered only for a location nothing has ever been stored in, such as one created by mistake during setup. If the bin has ever held stock, Delete is not offered and Archive is what you want.

Neither option erases the record, and both can be undone.

Find and restore a retired location

Retired bins are hidden from the Locations list by default. Turn on Include retired in the filter bar to see them, and restore one from there.

What retiring will not let you do

CanShip refuses to retire a bin, and tells you which condition is in the way, when the location:

• still has stock on hand, and it names the quantity
• has open allocations against it
• has a hold on it, see placing stock on hold
• has products homed to it

Clear whichever condition it names, then retire the bin. These checks are enforced by the server, not just hidden in the screen, so the same rules apply if you reach CanShip through the API.

Stock can still leave a retired bin

Retiring removes a location as a destination, never as a source. If stock somehow ends up in a retired bin, from a void or a reversal for example, you can still move it out at Inventory > Move Inventory, covered in Moving stock between locations. You will not be able to move anything back in.

Why archive rather than delete

Past receipts, movements and picks all point at the location they happened in. Removing the record would leave gaps in your own history. Archiving keeps that trail whole while getting the bin out of your way, which matters if you are ever asked to evidence where a lot was stored and when.