Retiring a cost instead of deleting it
Take an item out of circulation without losing the jobs it's already on.
You stop stocking a box size. You change supplier and the price is wrong. You created a duplicate two years ago and it's still in the picker.
The instinct is to delete it. Don't — retire it.
Retire vs delete
| | Retire | Delete | | --- | --- | --- | | Stays on existing jobs, quotes and bundles | Yes | It won't let you, if any job uses it | | Selectable on new work | No | No | | Reversible | Yes, any time | No | | Appears in the picker | No | No |
Deleting is blocked while active job line items reference a cost — deliberately, because deleting one would rewrite what a customer was charged. Retiring gets you the same outcome (nobody can pick it again) while last March's invoice stays exactly as it was.
Retiring one
Settings > Costs. Use the search box or the category and type filters to find the item.
In the row's actions, the archive icon — Retire — hide from selection on future jobs.
It tells you exactly what will happen: the cost stays on existing jobs, quotes and bundles, but is no longer selectable for future work, and you can restore it at any time. Retire.
Finding and restoring retired costs
The status dropdown on the catalog defaults to Active. Switch it to Retired to see everything you've taken out of circulation, or All Statuses to see the lot.
To bring one back, click the restore icon on its row — Restore — make selectable again. It's immediately available again everywhere.
What crews see
A retired cost that is already on a job's tally stays there, tagged retired, so the crew can see what it is and nothing silently vanishes from a job in progress. It just can't be added to anything new — and if retiring an item empties a whole category of active items, that category stops appearing in the mobile picker altogether.
This makes retiring the safe way to tidy up a catalog that's grown messy. Retire aggressively — anything you're unsure about can come back with one click, and the crews immediately get a shorter, more accurate picker.
Tutorial: an annual catalog tidy-up
Settings > Costs with the status on Active. If this list is longer than what you actually sell, your crews are scrolling past dead items on every job.
Duplicates, old supplier names, sizes you no longer stock. Retire, don't delete — you are not certain enough about two-year-old jobs to be deleting anything.
If a price has changed, edit the existing cost. Creating "Tea chest (new price)" alongside the old one is how catalogs get into this state in the first place.
Retiring an item doesn't remove it from a bundle. Open Settings > Bundles and check nothing important now contains an item you've retired — see using bundles.
Switch the filter to Retired and read it. Anything in there you actually still sell, restore now — before a crew can't find it mid-job.