NextDemand
Free tool

Dead stock cost calculator

Inventory that is not moving still costs money every month — capital, space, insurance, and slow decay in value. Put a dollar figure on it. All math runs in your browser.

Quantity of the item (or group of items) that is not moving.
What you paid per unit (cost, not selling price).
How long this stock has sat with no sales or usage.
Capital + storage + insurance + obsolescence. Most estimates land in the 20–30% range; 25% is a common default.

Results

Fill in the inputs above to see what this stock is costing you.

Why carrying cost matters

The purchase price is only the visible part. Holding inventory ties up working capital and keeps generating cost: warehouse space, handling, insurance, shrinkage, and obsolescence as the item ages. That is why the annual carrying-cost rate is usually estimated at 20–30% of the inventory’s value — a $10,000 pile of non-movers quietly burns roughly $2,000–$3,000 a year just by existing.

Read more in our guide to dead stock & excess inventory.

Dead stock is usually an ordering problem before it is a warehouse problem — NextDemand flags items drifting toward it before the next reorder makes it worse.