Direct and indirect costs of holding inventory include the following:
1. Acquisition costs
2. Holding costs (carrying costs) are the costs associated with the storage and handling of physical stock.
There are two different types of holding costs:
a. Costs related to the value of the goods: financial costs (i.e. the interest on the working capital tied up in inventory, which may be the bank borrowing rate or the company's target for return on capital); cost of insurance; losses due to product deterioration; losses due to obsolescence and redundancy of inventory; losses due to theft, accidental damage etc.
b. Costs related to the physical characteristics of the inventory include the following: storage space; power, heat and lighting of the store; movement equipment; labour costs; administration costs.
3. Costs of stockouts
Reference: CIPS study guide page 100-101
LO 2, AC 2.2

Materials that will not easily deteriorate, are generally stored in open or fairly covered areas (stockyard). The materials are usually in bulk, like steel plates or coils casting, timber coal, steel barrels, cable drums, piping, lampposts, lorries, etc.
Stockyards are open or semi-covered areas that are used for the following:
- Bulk loose or packaged materials
- Bulky or oversized items that may be difficult to move inside
- Materials that may require specialised handling, loading or unloading Below image shows the example of a stockyard that stores loose coal and its handling system.
LO 1, AC 1.1