what is a job lot 
in finance the term job lot refers to a commodities futures contract whose denomination is smaller than the typical standard lot for that commodity for example the standard lot for a crude oil futures contract is 1 000 barrels per contract any crude oil futures contract corresponding to less than 1 000 barrels would therefore be considered a job lot the term job lot is also used in the manufacturing sector to refer to custom jobs whose parameters fall outside of the normal production process 