Purge vs Discontinue

[Bellisio]

Looking to define the difference between Purging an item in IM or discontinuing an item.  Just recently started using IM but have been working with 1WS for years for PI customers.  Recently ran a fuse report and there are hundreds of items that need to be purged or discontinued.  I would like to know if there is a way to re-use a UPC/GTIN if the item has been off shelf for 6 -7 years, discontinue and will never be sold or manufacturer again.  Which process; purge or discontinue, will allow me to reuse a UPC - after several years of none use.  It would not be set up for the same item that we originally sold.  It would be a totally new item.  We are going to run out of numbers and I want to be able to get rid of the old old old numbers that have not been used for over 6 years.   

[CommunityJedi22]

Good morning and thank you for your question in our community.  Discontinuing and Purging GTINs are two very different processes.  When you discontinue an item, you populate the Discontinued Date while it is still published to your trading partners and Save it to send to them.  You can then delete the publications which also tells your trading partners you will no longer be synchronizing those GTINs with them.  

Purging GTINs requires you to delete any publications associated with the GTINs you want to be purged.  You can then submit the GTIN Delete spreadsheet to us at technicalsupport@1worldsync.com and we will delete the GTINs from IM and then delete the GTINs with the Global Registry.  Please note, this is for IM.  We typically do not purge GTINs from the PI application.  Please see the steps below for the GTIN purge.

Lastly, I believe GS1 changed the standards around the re-use of old GTINs and advises that is no longer done.  I recommend you discuss your options here with GS1 and let us know what they say.