A dry white line remains on the stone shelf after Yara Deth decants a barrel. It is evidence of salt left behind, but not yet evidence of who should pay for it. The warehouse issue slip is written when the barrel is released; the cooperative’s brine-loss tally is completed at the stall.
Deth says the posted price reflects the usable weight that reaches buyers after storage. A buyer at the arcade, Rell Sava, says the warehouse count may already account for the damp loss before the barrel is priced again. Their disagreement is about the path of the number, not whether the salt has been lost.
The daily tally lists barrels opened for sale and the estimated amount left on the shelf or caught in the lining. The issue slips list the weight when the warehouse releases a barrel. No shared mark currently ties a specific slip to the stall tally that followed it.
Deth keeps the old slips in a paper sleeve beside the scale, where a buyer can ask to see the day’s figures. Few do; the price board shows the total, while the explanation takes a second conversation and a patient clerk.
The cooperative has agreed to list delivered weight before storage beside weight after storage on its next board. That comparison should show whether the same loss appears twice in the accounts. It cannot, by itself, decide whether damp storage is the cooperative’s cost or the buyer’s.
