Tire DOT Date Code and Aging Audit

It covers the core checks needed to decide whether a tire can stay in inventory or be removed from sale: DOT date code legibility, manufacturing week and year, calculated age, store policy threshold, visible condition, and storage practices. It also includes corrective actions so failed tires are tagged, segregated, and documented. This makes it useful for both receiving checks and periodic inventory audits.

Most stores use it on a scheduled cadence, such as monthly or quarterly, plus whenever new tire inventory is received or moved from long-term storage. If your policy has a strict age limit, a more frequent review is better for slow-moving SKUs. The right cadence depends on inventory turnover, storage conditions, and how quickly tires age in your environment.

A trained inventory lead, service manager, or compliance owner can run it, as long as they know how to read DOT date codes and apply the store's aging policy consistently. If the audit is used to make sale eligibility decisions, the reviewer should be authorized to tag, segregate, and remove product from the sales path. A second reviewer can be helpful for borderline cases or unclear sidewall markings.

The template is designed around tire traceability and product condition controls rather than a single OSHA rule. It supports good inventory governance and consumer safety practices by documenting age, condition, and disposition. If your operation also handles installation or service work, you may want to align related procedures with general workplace safety expectations and manufacturer guidance.

Common misses include unreadable DOT codes, tires older than the store's policy but still on hand, and tires stored in sunlight or near heat sources. Auditors also find sidewall cracking, flat spotting, bead damage, and tires that were never segregated after failing the age review. Another frequent issue is incomplete documentation, which makes it hard to prove why a tire was marked down or removed.

Yes. The template is meant to be adapted to your store policy, manufacturer guidance, and local market requirements. You can change the age threshold, add fields for markdown reason codes, include SKU-level traceability, or require photo evidence before disposition. Many teams also add approval fields for manager review on borderline tires.

An ad hoc spreadsheet often records only age, which leaves out condition, storage, and disposition tracking. This template gives you a repeatable audit flow so every tire is reviewed the same way and failed items are handled consistently. That reduces missed aged stock, inconsistent markdowns, and gaps in accountability.

Yes. It works well at receiving, in backroom storage, and during periodic floor audits because the same fields apply: verify the DOT code, calculate age, inspect condition, and decide whether the tire is eligible for sale. If you use it at receiving, you can catch aged inventory before it is put into active stock.