Ran into this phrase in an email from a British customer. My take is that it means items received or some such. Is this close? Am I all wet? Does it mean something totally else?

Goods inward, surely? 'Inward' in the sense of 'coming in', and you'd also see this labelling an area like a loading bay. But 'good inwards' looks like a typing mistake. Or a curious re-segmentation by the writer.

NicholasW: Goods inward, surely?... 'good inwards' looks like a typing mistake

He later used the phrase send all good & correspondence to that address.

Just how British was your correspondent? That kind of error is generally associated with English as a second language ...

How British was he?

Without compromising anyone's privacy, his last name sounded almost as though he could have a cat that wangled him a lord high mayorship.

Off topic, but intersting. I recently purchased an item off of ebay from a firm in the UK. In our email correspondence he thanked me for my custom. Loved that!

In reply to:

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NicholasW: Goods inward, surely?... 'good inwards' looks like a typing mistake

He later used the phrase send all good & correspondence to that address.

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Speaking as one gifted in the black art of making typos, I know how easy it is to repeatedly make the same error. I have to agree with Nicholas that "good" is almost certainly meant to be "goods", in both instances. Was the correspondence handwritten? If not, I would assume that the author simply failed to notice the missing "s" - perhaps relying on a spell-checker, which would let "good" pass unchallenged.

[Max lowed moronically Was the correspondence handwritten?

A handwritten email - will wonders never cease?! Sorry!

Max Q apologizes: A handwritten email - will wonders never cease?!

With the adances in palm products it is here or close at hand (NPI)

Even goods inward sounds odd to me. How would you use this?

I'm sure "send all good" isn't an old-fashioned commercial locution: that's got to be a typo for goods.

These phrases (another is "accounts receivable") have an air of law-French about them, with the postposed adjective. In "goods inward" the second word is probably an adverb contracted from a longer phrase, but nowadays we'd transform it to an adjective and say "inward goods" when we contracted it.

The complete sentence was: Although I have moved, our good inwards is still at my old address.

The complete sentence was: Although I have moved, our good inwards is still at my old address.

Ok, I understand. This person is referring to a group of paintings akin to the controversial piece on display in New York City featuring a fetidly decorated Virgin Mary. The writer obviously meant to say "innards" but made a typo. He is saying that he has one of these paintings that he likes, and it's still at his old residence.

Do you think he meant the receiving desk or dock?

Seeing as nobody has added the 3rd option, thought I just might... "Goods Inwards" - ie implying pluralty and direction. Seen signs (signage?) with this on numerous businesses. "Goods Inward" would be the most common form though.

"Receipts", "Receivals", "Receiving Dock", "Deliveries" etc - all valid substitutes.

stales

Isn't this amazing? People all over the world are puzzling over an unknown someone's message! Way cool!
I'm inclined to think your customer made a typo, F., because of the repetition of it. It sounds to me like he is meaning, "This is where deliveries should be sent".

Now--Nick (say so if you don't like that shortening), you used two terms I've never heard before: law-French, and
postposed. Postposed I can tell from the context, but that brings up the question that came to mind in the post that suggested 'good inwards' ought to be 'goods inward': is there a word for this? It isn't a spoonerism, is it, when the last letters of words are transposed?

Now--Nick (say so if you don't like that shortening)
Well I don't complain, but it's not my name. I never use it.

Law-French: the continuance of Norman French in legal and administrative terms, with characteristics such as N A combinations with plural Ns A, as court(s) martial, governor(s) general, durance vile, even malice aforethought; and infinitives in -er as nouns, such as rejoinder, misnomer, demurrer, and many others I can't think of too numerous to mention; and actual French phrases such as mort d'ancestor and lese-majesty, which should not be given their modern French prounciation.

Tail-end spoonerism: I don't think it's just a phonetic thing, but it has undergone several stages of unconscious grammatical reanalysis, along these lines:

-- "goods inward" is a single lexical item
-- it's plural
-- so it must end in -s
-- it only has one s
-- so it must be "good inwards"
-- and that sounds okay, as if analogical with "good news", "good intentions"

Although I have moved, our good inwards is still at my old address
Maybe this correspondent's road to hell is paved with goods intentions?

But I think Jazz's explanation (as usual) is probably nearest to the mark