Subscription Box Allocation: Scarce Stock Goes to the Right Subscribers, in Order

Who gets the scarce variant this month

Every month the box should go to the people who are due one, in the variant they chose, as long as stock lasts. A subscriber who asked to skip is skipped. One whose payment failed is held until the retry clears. When a variant runs short, the policy walks subscribers in a fixed order, earliest start date first, and gives the scarce stock to each in turn until it runs out. Everyone after that point moves to a second choice or is held with an out-of-stock reason.

The subscriber base is in Airtable, payment status and retries are in Stripe, skip requests arrive by email in Gmail, and the warehouse posts stock counts and recall notices in Slack. The allocation policy and the packing manifest sit in Google Drive. When a recall lands or extra stock arrives, the walk is usually redone by hand, and that is where the scarce units end up with the wrong people.

Who works in the room

Each box cycle gets its own room. Ada owns the allocation and is the default there, so stock and disposition questions go to it. Myco reviews the manifest whenever the allocation changes, and Nova handles subscriber email. After a reassessment, Ada mentions Myco in the same thread with the list of changed subscribers, so the manifest check starts from the right list. When a skip request arrives, Nova hands the subscriber ID to Ada before drafting any reply.

A month of packing, in order

The walk order is written into the room guidelines, so every reassessment uses the same sequence as the first pass.

When stock and payments move after the walk

The warehouse posts that sixty more units of the amber variant have arrived. The tempting fix is to hand them to whoever is listed first. Ada does something narrower: it reassesses only subscribers held with an out-of-stock reason, in the original walk order, and stops when the new units run out. Subscribers held for payment are not part of that run, and nobody who is already packing moves.

A recall works the other way. The supplier withdraws a batch of one item, so every subscriber allocated it needs a substitute from the policy's list or a hold. Ada proposes the changes, Myco checks the manifest again, and the fulfillment lead approves before the warehouse sees the new list. For a skip request, Nova drafts one reply on the subscriber's own thread with the subscriber ID and the skip confirmed, and customer care sends it.

What the checks catch

• Top-up stock given out of walk order, so a newer subscriber gets a unit ahead of someone who started earlier
• Subscribers held for a failed payment pulled into a top-up that only applies to out-of-stock holds
• A second reply on a skip thread that was already answered
• Blank tiers for subscribers who are packing normally, where the report expects NONE
• Skipped subscribers still on the packing manifest, or held ones listed with a variant

What stays with people

• Approving the allocation and every reassessment before Airtable changes
• Confirming stock counts and the scope of a recall with the warehouse
• Sending every reply to a subscriber, which Nova prepares as a Gmail draft
• Signing off the four packing summaries

Integrations in this workflow

Kylon is not an order management or subscription billing system, and it does not try to be one. It works alongside the base, the payment records and the warehouse channel, and keeps the month's allocation decisions in one place.

• Airtable
• Gmail
• Google Drive
• Slack
• Stripe

• Airtable holds the subscriber base, dispositions, tiers and the packing summaries
• Stripe shows payment status and retry results, which Ada reads and never changes
• Gmail carries skip requests and the replies customer care sends
• Google Drive keeps the allocation policy, the walk order and the packing manifest
• Slack is where the warehouse posts stock counts, top-ups and recall notices

Where to start

Run one box cycle in the room. Connect the Airtable base and Stripe, put the policy in a shared Drive folder, and write the walk order and one rule into the room guidelines: Ada proposes every allocation and reassessment, and the fulfillment lead approves before the base is updated or the warehouse gets a manifest. If stock counts live in a sheet the warehouse edits, a Kylon App can hold them instead, so the warehouse lead and Ada read the same number.

“The top-up went to the next subscribers in line, which is what the policy said all along.”

Set it up with your agent

Open a new Room, add your agent and paste this prompt. It connects the tools, builds the App with you and asks for your rules one step at a time, and nothing goes out until a person approves it.