The bread man wants paying

Eleven in the morning, and the bread supplier is back at Perera Stores (a sample grocery) for his weekly money. He does not take cheques and he does not wait. Nimal opens the drawer, counts out Rs 4,800 and hands it over. In the old days that was the end of it, and at half past nine at night the drawer was Rs 4,800 short and nobody could remember why.

This tour shows the three taps that stop that happening.

What does cash out record?

It records money leaving the till that is not a refund or a sale: paying a supplier, paying a helper, buying tea, paying a three-wheel fare to fetch stock. Each payout takes the amount off what the drawer should hold, so the evening count compares like with like.

Step by step

1. Open the day menu on the till. At the top of the till, the bar reads Till open since 06:30, with The day at the right. Nimal taps it. The menu holds got paid, cash out and close the till.
2. Choose Cash out. The screen is headed Cash out of the drawer, with a short line underneath: money paid from the till, like a supplier or tea; it comes off what the drawer should hold.
3. Type the amount. Rs 4,800 on the keypad. Nimal types exactly what he handed over, not a rounded figure.
4. Tap what it was for. Five choices sit in a row: Supplier, Wages, Tea and food, Transport and Other. He taps Supplier. One tap is quicker than typing, and it lets the day summary group payouts sensibly.
5. Add a note. In the note field he types bread for the week. If he paid two suppliers today, the notes tell them apart at night.
6. Press Take out. The cash out is saved. Nothing else changes on the till; the next customer can be served straight away.
7. Repeat for small payouts. At four in the afternoon Nimal sends a helper for tea and short eats for the counter, Rs 350 from the drawer. Same steps: amount, Tea and food, Take out.
8. See it at close. Tonight the summary lists Paid out of the drawer as one line, taken off the cash that should be there. Nimal does not add anything by hand.

How cash out changes the evening count

Here is the sample grocery's drawer for the day, with and without the payouts recorded:

The paid-out line is the bread supplier's Rs 4,800 plus Rs 350 for tea and food. With both recorded, the drawer is Rs 50 short, which is a miscounted coin or a rounding on change. Without them, it is Rs 5,200 short, and Nimal would spend the evening suspecting his helper.

Why categories matter

At the end of a week or a month, the categories show where cash goes outside the purchase book. If tea and food creeps from a few hundred rupees a day to a few thousand, Nimal can see it. If wages are paid partly from the drawer, the total for the month is there when he needs it. A single "paid out" figure with no reason cannot answer those questions.

Paying suppliers from the till also affects cash flow. Money spent from the drawer at eleven is money not banked that evening. For a shop that pays several suppliers in cash, cash flow for small business explains how to plan for it.

When should a payment not come from the drawer?

When it is large, regular and can wait for the bank. A grocery's drawer is for change and the day's takings, not a second bank account. Paying the bread man Rs 4,800 in cash is normal; paying a monthly rent or a large distributor bill from the till leaves the drawer thin for change in the evening rush, and puts a lot of cash in one pair of hands. A useful rule is to keep cash out for small and daily payments, and to pay larger bills from the bank, so the drawer only ever holds what the counter needs. Whatever you choose, the drawer should never pay for something without a cash out record behind it.

Tips

• Record before you hand over. Type it in while the supplier is counting, not after he has left.
• Ask for a bill or docket. Keep the supplier's paper with the date. The note in EasyTaskr says what, the docket proves it.
• Use Other sparingly. If you find yourself using Other every day for the same thing, it probably belongs under one of the named choices.
• Know your supplier costs. Bread bought at Rs 4,800 a week only pays if the shelf price covers it. How to price products shows how to set a margin you can live on.

Common mistakes

• Paying from your pocket and then from the drawer. If you pay a supplier from your own money and later take it back from the till, record the cash out at the time you take it from the drawer.
• Recording a refund as cash out. Refunds to customers belong on the sale, not in cash out. Cash out is for money going to suppliers, staff and expenses.
• Rounding. Rs 4,750 recorded as Rs 5,000 leaves the drawer Rs 250 over at night.
• Forgetting small amounts. The Rs 350 for tea feels too small to bother with until it appears as an unexplained short.

What to do next

Cash out is one of three things on the day menu. After lunch, a polite reminder, and the money comes in shows Got paid, the opposite move: cash coming into the drawer from a credit customer. At night, count the drawer, and home shows the whole day's sum, including this morning's bread money.

For the full method of counting a till, see the end-of-day cash up guide.