How to open and close a pharmacy counter shift

The shift is the day's boundary

A retail pharmacy counter in Pakistan is rarely one person and rarely one uninterrupted sale. Staff change, a customer steps out to get cash, and a second patient is waiting with a prescription. If those moments are not closed cleanly, the evening cash will not match the sales, and nobody will know which batch left the shelf.

Use a shift as the boundary: one opening float, one set of sales, one close.

Opening

Count the notes and coins in the drawer before the first sale. Write that opening amount down. Do not start from "about the same as yesterday."

Agree who is allowed to sell during this shift. If two people share one drawer and one login, a difference at night cannot be traced.

During the rush

Sell the batch that expires first when more than one batch is in stock. The person at the counter should see the expiry, not pick whichever strip is nearest the till.

When a bill cannot be finished, hold it. Typical cases:

• The customer has gone to withdraw cash
• You are waiting for a pack from the back store
• A prescription line is unclear and you will not guess the strength

A held bill is not a sale. Stock should stay unchanged until the bill is completed or discarded. Do not leave a half-written notebook bill that someone else might sell again.

If the customer does not return, discard the hold the same day. A list of abandoned holds is not a sales record.

What every completed sale should show

For a normal cash sale, the record should show the product, the quantity, the price, and the batch. For a credit sale, it should also name the customer. For a medicine that your province requires to be sold on prescription, keep the prescription with the sale. The compliance guide covers what a Punjab register expects. Do not complete a sale by picking a different strength because the prescribed one is out.

Refunds belong on the same day when you can. A pack that comes back should return to the batch it left, if the pack is intact and still saleable. An opened or damaged pack is not silent stock.

Closing

Count the drawer again.

Then compare:

• Opening float
• Cash sales
• Cash taken out for expenses or supplier payments, each with a note
• Customer collections received in cash
• The notes and coins now in the drawer

A small coin difference can be written honestly. A large gap means you stop and look at held bills, refunds, and expenses before anyone leaves. Do not force the drawer to match by editing a sale.

Write the closing amount and who counted it. The next shift opens from that figure, not from a fresh guess.

Key takeaways

• Count the float at open and at close.
• Hold an unfinished bill. Do not leave it as a mental note.
• Sell the earlier expiry first.
• A drawer that only matches after edits is not reconciled.