Quick guide
How to use this calculator
- Gather Units of unmet demand, Contribution per lost unit, and Expediting and recovery costs for the same business scenario before calculating.
- Keep units and time bases aligned: daily demand needs lead time in days, and item costs must match the quantity represented by one inventory unit.
- Apply the displayed stockout cost result to the stated decision only after checking every entered assumption.
Calculation method
Calculation method
Stockout cost = lost units × contribution per unit + expediting and recovery costs.
The calculation uses these named inputs: Units of unmet demand, Contribution per lost unit, and Expediting and recovery costs. No market rate, benchmark, tax rule, or accounting classification is inserted automatically.
Fixed-decimal arithmetic remains exact through display unless a result is explicitly labelled approximate, such as a square-root inventory quantity.
Inventory planning and replenishment
Where the Stockout Cost Calculator helps
Estimate direct contribution and expediting costs from stockout events.
Use the result to translate entered demand, lead time, order cost, holding cost, and service assumptions into a planning quantity or interval.
- Prepare a purchase-order scenario
- Stress-test a supplier lead-time change
- Compare ordering and holding-cost assumptions
Interpretation check
How to audit the result
Recalculate the scenario when any of these inputs changes: Units of unmet demand, Contribution per lost unit, and Expediting and recovery costs.
Keep this formula beside the result: Stockout cost = lost units × contribution per unit + expediting and recovery costs. Then compare the output with the source records and the calculator-specific assumption below.
- Confirm that all amounts use one currency and reporting period.
- Check that rates, counts, and quantities describe the same population or transaction set.
- Save the entered assumptions with the decision; the result alone is not reproducible evidence.
Worked example
Worked example
100 lost units at 25 contribution plus 500 recovery cost gives 3,000.00.
Stockout cost = lost units × contribution per unit + expediting and recovery costs.
Supported inputs
Precision and limits
Visible input limits
Fixed decimals accept up to 30 digits and 12 decimal places and are capped at an absolute value of 1e12 per input. Rates are capped at 1000%; percentage shares and method-specific domains may be narrower.
International scope
No currency, tax jurisdiction, accounting framework, payroll rule, marketplace fee schedule, financing term, or industry benchmark is selected automatically.
Decision boundary
Use the result to translate entered demand, lead time, order cost, holding cost, and service assumptions into a planning quantity or interval. Results remain arithmetic scenarios, not accounting records, forecasts, valuations, legal interpretations, professional advice, or recommendations.
Calculator-specific assumptions
Customer loss, reputational effects, substitutions, backorders, and future demand are excluded unless entered in recovery costs.