Papers in, shutters up

Half six on a weekday. The newspaper bundles are on the step of Corner Stop (a sample business at 2 Station Parade), and two builders in hi-vis are already at the door wanting a coffee, a sausage roll and twenty minutes of conversation about the football. Fathima, who runs the shop, needs the till open before she has her coat off.

This short tour covers the first three things that happen on the counter phone each morning, and why getting the float right at 06:30 saves a headache at closing time.

What does the counter phone show at sign-in?

It goes straight to the till. There is no dashboard to click past and no menu to open. The first screen is headed Start the day, with the question that matters: how much cash is in the drawer now?

Step by step

1. Sign in on the counter phone. Fathima signs in at 06:30. The phone opens on Start the day rather than on reports or settings. In a shop where the same person stocks the shelves, sorts the papers and serves, that saves real time.
2. Read the float already filled in. The amount shows £100.00. A line underneath explains it: left in the drawer at last close, £100.00. That is the float she left last night after cashing up.
3. Check it against the drawer. She opens the drawer and looks at the bag of pound coins, the coppers and the fivers. If someone borrowed a tenner from the drawer for milk at the cash and carry last night, this is where it shows.
4. Correct it if needed, then tap Open the till. If the drawer holds £90, she types 90 on the keypad first. Otherwise she just taps Open the till. The till opens and the builders get served.
5. Notice the till bar. Across the top of the till, a bar now reads Till open since 06:30. Anyone covering the counter later, a Saturday helper or a family member, can see at a glance that the day was opened properly and when.
6. Know where the day menu is. At the right of the bar is the day menu. It holds the three things that happen around sales: got paid, when a customer settles their tab; cash out, when the bread man wants paying from the drawer; and close the till at night.

Why the float is worth ten seconds every morning

Because the night-time count is built on it. The cash up works out what should be in the drawer as the float, plus cash sales, plus tab money collected, minus anything paid out. Get the float wrong by £10 and the drawer looks £10 out at night, with no way of knowing whether it was the morning or a mistake at the counter.

A worked example: Fathima starts at £100. During the day she takes £612.40 in cash sales and £52 from customers paying their tabs, and pays out £70.50. At night the drawer should hold:

100 + 612.40 + 52 − 70.50 = £693.90

If her real float that morning was £90 but she left it at £100, the same drawer would look £10 short at night, and she would be looking for a tenner that was never there.

Opening without counting: when it is fine

Some mornings the delivery is late, the papers need marking up and there is a queue. Fathima can open without counting. The till works normally, and tonight's summary will record that the float was never checked. That is better than typing a guess, because a guess turns into a fake over or short. Used once in a while, it is harmless. Used every day, it means she can never tell if cash has gone missing.

Does a phone really work as a shop till?

For a single-counter shop, yes. The phone is already on the counter, it fits beside the card reader and newspapers, and the screens in this tour are designed for it: big amounts, a keypad and one main button per screen. A tablet or a desktop till works the same way if the shop has one. What matters more than the device is that every cash movement goes through it, from the float at 06:30 to the count at night.

Tips for corner shop mornings

• Keep the float the same. £100 every night means £100 every morning. A different figure is a signal, not a nuisance.
• Put change in the float, not twenties. Builders pay with tens and twenties for a £3.50 breakfast. Make sure the float can cope.
• Open first, pay out second. If the milkman wants paying at 06:35, open the till, then use cash out. Paying from a closed drawer leaves no record.
• Let everyone open the same way. The screen is the same for any member of staff who signs in, so there is nothing extra to explain to a weekend helper.

Common mistakes

• Counting yesterday's takings as the float. Bank the takings, leave the float. Only the float belongs in the morning figure.
• Ignoring a difference first thing. If the drawer is £10 down at 06:30, ask about it now, not at 21:00.
• Typing a round guess when you have not counted. Use open without counting instead, so the evening summary is honest.
• Leaving the till bar unexplained to staff. Show helpers the day menu once, so cash out and got paid are used rather than skipped.

What to do next

The doors are open and the school run is coming. Milk, bread and a queue shows the quick keys that get people out of the door quickly. Later in the morning, paying the bread man from the till shows how cash out keeps the drawer honest.

For the counting itself, the end-of-day cash up guide has a checklist. And if you are still deciding on a till for the shop, how to choose a POS system covers what a single-counter shop needs.