drop off dollars

[pinzer1]

Just wondering how others keep track of their drop off service to make sure employees aren't skimming. Do you put a mark on specific quarters for the employees to use only in drop off? Do you look at your receipts each night and compare to cash received? I'm guessing some combination of the two, or both. Thanks for any help in advance...

[Kitty]

Accounting

[Jim]

Kitty is right on....

As far as the slips...number them..

As far as the money....Accounting 101

[srhaz]

Now wait a minute.
The attendant takes out $5.00 to wash and then $2.00 to dry.
Your accounting shows this to be correct.
However, the attendant only put $1.75 in the dryer and put a quarter in their pocket. How does your accounting see this?

Card guys need not reply.

[Anonymous]

I use carbonless triplicate forms.

White (top) copy to customer.
Yellow (middle) copy is the employee voucher.
Pink (bottom) copy stays with customer order.

I have a WD&F bank with a fixed balance ($300). Employee cashes bills from the bank for quarters. Employees list all machines used and the amount spent on each yellow copy. When the order is done, the employee puts the yellow copy into the bank to account for quarters used.

No painted quarters......no separating quarters after collecting.

At the end of each shift, the outgoing employee and I (or the incoming employee) add up the cash and the yellow vouchers in the bank. Together, they should add up to $300. I challenge any voucher that seems too much (i.e. used a 40 lb washer for a 20 lb load). Any shortage is made up by the employee AT THE POINT THAT IT IS DETECTED. If the employees get lazy, and don't count the bank when they change shifts, and I catch it the next morning, the night attendant makes it up. I don't accept the excuse that it was the afternoon attendant......if it was, it should have been caught and documented at the shift change.

At the start of each day, I replace the yellow vouchers in the bank with cash.

Where I'm most concerned about skimming is not in quarters used, but in orders paid for. How do I know that the $25 paid for an order finds its way into the till?

Once I "cash" the yellow vouchers, I keep them numerically in my office.

When an order is picked up and paid for, I match the yellow to the pink and throw them into a big bag and forget about them. I focus on the remaining yellows. In theory, the yellow slips that I still have (which haven't been paid for) should still be out front.

I make a big deal about random inventories.....matching the yellow slips that I still have to the orders that are out front. If I have a yellow, but the order is not out front, somehow it was paid for, but the pink copy (and its cash) never came back to me. In that case, I raise hell.

Very rarely does this happen, and many times, I dig through the old slips and find the pink actually did come back to me, but I didn't (for some reason) pull the yellow.

I think my explanation seems more complicated than the system really is. Bottom line, this is what works for me. I don't lose alot of sleep over this issue, since I think it's (fairly well) under control.

[Jim]

Like I said...Accounting 101

[Rondo]

I know this is the simplest answer the the problem. Hire honest employees. If you have doubt, then you don't have the right people. It take time to weed through the bad ones, after you get the good ones pay them a decent wage. It took me years to get the best ones and I trust them totally. Simple but effective!

[BKB]

The card system keeps everyone accountable and only a VERY creative attendant could get around it and pocket the money!

[Anonymous]

Get a card system and don't sweat it ;)

All kidding aside, accounting is the way you do it, and use triplicate forms like mentioned - then do some analysis. With a little experience and time you will learn what the typical ratio of "cost" to gross is for your WDF. You can then look at it on a daily basis, weekly or whatever and determine if things are not as they should be. You can even track it by attendant. They may get away with a little, but not much. Let them know that you track this and ask questions every now and then to keep them honest.

[pinzer1]

good advise from everyone, thanks.

[Kitty]

You can also determine the correct percentage of costs per pound of laundry according to your vend prices. We found the cost of laundry inserted into the machines should have been approx 35-37% of the total bill based on 85cents per pound.

In addition to that calculation, being in the mat observing drop offs was beneficial as well.

[BKB]

Kitty--

In your 35-37% figure, are you

(1) excluding attendant's labor?

(2) supplies?

(3) basing machine usage (washers/dryers)
at cost or retail?

[Kitty]

35-37% of the total wdf gross receipts would represent the approx amount that went into the machines