A NOTE FROM THE FUTURE: This is easily my single most popular post ever.
Originally published on November 11, 2009.
You may think owning a wine store is about, well, wine. But if you’re a Frankly My Dear reader, you know there’s more to it than that. So in the spirit of giving valuable real-life tips to would-be wine store owners, I’m staring a new recurring feature: Things You Need to Know. In each segment you’ll get step by step instruction on how to do very useful wine store things that have nothing to do with wine.
To start: How to Count Out a Cash Drawer
Imagine. It’s the end of a long day. Lots of wine tasted. Lots of bottles stocked and sold. Lots of time on your feet. And the only thing that stands between you and going home is counting the cash left in the register.
You would think this would be easy. After all, it involves counting and not much more. But you would be wrong. For some reason, this seemingly simple task has the ability to reduce very intelligent people to the brink of tears.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. In my vast experience counting out cash drawers, I’ve developed the most effective, efficient method of doing this. Yes, you’re laughing. But trust me – I’ve probably counted out a lot more registers than you have. So seriously. Just trust me.
Here’s how you do it:
1. Gather writing utensil, paper (maybe something less expensive than a Post-it Note?) and calculator.
2. Down the left side of your paper, write 50/100-, 20-, 10-, 5-, 1-, Q-, D-, N-, P-, Rolls-. Don’t argue. Just do it.
3. Count out the 20-dollar bills (20, 40, 60, 80, 100. 20, 40, 60, 80, 200. 20, 40, 60, 80, 300….etc) and write it down next to the 20- on the paper.
4. Count the 10-dollar bills (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 200….etc) and write it down next to the 10- on the paper.
5. Count the five-dollar bills (I don’t really need to explain this, do I?) and write it down (next to the 5-… I’m going to spot explaining that as well.)
6. Count the one-dollar bills (Just count them, from 1 to whatever. Don’t make piles. Just count!) And, yes, write it down.
7. Count the quarters – hold them all in one hand. Pick out four with your free hand and put them in the quarter bin. That’s “one.” Pick out four more quarters and put them in the quarter bin. That’s “two.” Repeat, repeat, repeat…etc. And then right it down (next the Q… for… “quarters.”)
8. Count the dimes – hold them all in one hand. Slip them into the dime bin as you count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. Let’s say you wind up with 23 dimes….then you have $2.30. 45 dimes? $4.5. Get it? Write it down.
9. Count the nickels using your nearly perfected hold-in-one-hand technique. As you slip them into the bin, count 5, 10, 15, 20….you know the drill. And…write it down
10. Count the pennies. Just count from 1 to whatever. No hanky panky. No piles. Just count. And….write….it….down!
11. Count the rolls. These are a separate line item. Don’t try to add dime rolls to your dime count. Or penny rolls to the penny count. Just count up all the rolls and write the total down. Don’t trust me on this one? Go ahead. Add your quarter rolls to your quarter count. Then…when you realize that your total is all off because you thought a roll of quarters = $5 and a roll of dimes = $2 and nickels, you totally forgot to add in the nickels…..well, you’ll have to go back out the rolls from your totals. But you won’t remember what to back out because you won’t remember what you thought the rolls were and you’ll just have to recount everything and…..just trust me on this one and TREAT THE ROLLS AS A SEPARATE LINE ITEM!!
12. Add everything up. Write down the total. Add everything up again to double check your total.
13. Run the register report. Notice your cash is $250 short!!!! Panic! Panic! Panic!
14. Realize you forgot to count the big bills….because you didn’t follow Step #2. Count them and add them to the total.
15. Next time, do it my way.