A count that changes between the invoice, the yard, and the dock is a common reason a lane chart stalls. We stop matching cartons until someone tells us which count is allowed to win.
A household-goods importer along Vibhavadi sent a March file in which the supplier invoice said twelve pallets, the Lat Krabang handoff said ten, and the Lak Si dock signed for twelve again. The two “missing” pallets had been stacked as one in the yard photo and split again at the door. Nothing was lost. The dwell study, if we had trusted the yard count alone, would have shown a shortage and a ghost arrival a day later.
Our rule is dull and firm. We pick a unit with you before drawing: pallet, carton, or piece. If the records switch units mid-file, we mark the switch instead of converting by guess. A photograph of the stack helps when the numbers fight, but the photograph is evidence for the sitting, not a silent correction.
Write the unit in the first note you send. If your yard counts pallets and your buyer counts pieces, say both, and say which one the paper should follow. The other can sit in a side column once we have seen that the arithmetic is real.