I would have expected the unbroken case to have its own inventory number, with its own scan code printed on the outside of the case. Possibly Likewise for larger units, such as a pallet-load of cases, although the larger the unit the fewer the occasions for customer-facing people to be dealing with it. It would be more for counting the stuff coming off the trucks and through the back door into local inventory.

Do some stores do it that way, or is there some good reason for them not to?