The float
Keep a fixed amount of cash in the drawer that never changes, in the same bills and coins every day. Count it at open and at close against the same number. During the day, when the drawer holds more than the float plus a set amount, pull the extra into a drop envelope, write the amount, the time and your initials on it, and put it in the safe.
The variance
At close, count all the cash in the drawer. Subtract the float and add the day's drops: that is the cash the drawer took. Pull the POS cash report for the same drawer and shift. The difference between the two is the variance. Write it on the cash log every night. A blank is not a zero.
Five weeks at the sample shop
The sample shop in our kit takes about $295 in cash a day. Over 35 days its drawer came out even on 21, short on 8 and over on 6. Over the five weeks it was $17.25 short.
| Variance | Days |
|---|---|
| Even | 21 |
| Short $2.50 | 6 |
| Over $1.25 | 3 |
| Over $3.00 | 3 |
| Short $5.00 | 1 |
| Short $10.00 | 1 |
No single day there is worth worrying about. The pattern is. The drawer came up $2.50 short six times, on five different days of the week. The same amount, again and again, is worth chasing: a $2.50 item or add-on handed over without being rung in, a discount nobody records, or change made the same wrong way.
Rules that keep it honest
Over $10 in either direction gets a note on the log saying what you think happened. Three variances in a row in the same direction, of any size, get a conversation the next day. Not an accusation: a conversation about process. Who was on the drawer, were voids initialed, did a drop go unlogged.
Over is as much of a problem as short. A drawer that keeps coming out over usually means sales are not being rung in.
One person per drawer per shift wherever you can. If two people share a drawer, neither of them can own a variance. And the owner reads the cash log every week, and the staff know it.
The kit's Daily Sales and Labor sheet works out cash over or short for every day, with a weekly total, next to sales and labor. The Open and Close guide has the full cash routine: the float, drops, the close, the deposit, who signs what, and a cash log to print. Both are in the Tillwhistle kit, $97 once.