How to run customer credit at a medical store

Credit is a sale that has not been paid

Many Pakistani pharmacies sell on trust. A regular patient takes the medicine now and pays on salary day. That can be the right service. It is also how a shop discovers, at month end, that the drawer is short and nobody can list who owes what.

Treat every credit sale as a completed sale with a named balance. If you cannot name the person, take cash.

Open the customer properly

Before the first udhaar, write:

• Name and a phone number that works
• Area or address, enough to recognise them
• A credit limit you would be willing to lose
• Who in the shop is allowed to cross that limit

"Doctor sahib's driver" is not a customer record. If two staff know the person by different names, you will collect twice or not at all.

At the counter

A credit sale should show the same product, quantity, price, and batch as a cash sale, plus the customer. The stock still leaves. Only the money stays outstanding.

Say the new balance out loud and let the customer hear the total they now owe. Surprise balances cause arguments later.

Do not mix a partial payment into a new notebook line that replaces the old one. Record the sale, then record the payment against the balance. If someone pays Rs 1,000 of a Rs 2,500 balance, the remainder is Rs 1,500, dated from the original sales, not a fresh debt from today.

A weekly collection habit

Once a week, list balances that are older than your usual cycle. For many shops that is anything unpaid after the next salary date, often 30 days. Call those customers while the purchase is still easy to remember.

When cash comes in, write the date, the amount, and which customer. Cash collected on old credit is not a new sale. If you count it as today's sales, the day looks better and the balance stays wrong.

Stop further credit when someone is over the limit or silent past the agreed date. You can still serve them for cash. Refusing more credit is not the same as refusing care. If a medicine is urgent and you are unsure, involve the owner. Do not let every dispenser extend the limit.

What credit is not

Credit is not a discount, and it is not a way to move near-expiry stock without a record. The pack still has a price and a batch.

It is also not a private loan book kept only by one senior staff member. If that person is off, the shop should still know the balance.

Key takeaways

• No name, no credit.
• Record the sale and the payment as separate events.
• Review old balances every week.
• Collected udhaar is not a new sale.