Tracking WDF

[Ron]

My problem is implementing a flawless system for tracking WDF orders and income. In my present system, the attendant will record all information on a numbered receipt as well as a master log. I review the log weekly. I am not always present at the stores when a WDF order comes in. I believe that there have been instances where income from such orders has been unaccounted for.

I would appreciate information on any system that others find to be most foolproof. Thank you.

[Tonymatz]

We just had to let go of a silent partner for pocketing ticket reciepts..sure I have a daily log that they use to reconcile the days cash..but if you don't monitor the sheets and reconcile the incomming and outgoing tickets you will get burned...I know there is a much better way..that why I am looking into a Point of Sale touch screen coumputer based cash register system.. I can get all the hardware...(cash drawer..touch screen monitor..scanner..printer..and CPU) for around $1500. I am having trouple finding sortware to run it...any suggestions out there? We are a coin store......
Tony

[Tonymatz]

This is the hardware vendor I'm looking at...The problem is finding software for laundries and not Dry Cleaners..any sugestions?
http://www.businessoftware.com/poshardware.asp
Tell them you saw their link on Coinwash.com
Tony

[Gatorlenny]

We have pre-printed tickets in triplicate. They are numbered at the top. Example a customer comes in we weigh the clothes and the attendant fills out a ticket with the customers name, phone and pounds of clothes. The customer gets the bottom copy and leaves. The attendent has a new sheet everyday that is filled out. The tickets are then logged in numerical order. Some customers pre-pay, and that is logged also, along wit ht etime the clothes came in, the pounds and day/time the customer wants them back. So at the beginning of the day we see ticket number 20 for example, and at the end of the day ticket number 40. Tomorrow's sheet will start with ticket number 41. As each customer picks up thier clothes, the attendant keeps the top copy of the ticket and it goes into the cash bag, which we reconcile every day. Each attendant also has thier own cash sheet which they reconcile at the beginning and the end of thier shift, and it goes inside each daily cash bag. We makeup cash bags for each day of the week, so when the attendent opens up in the morning they cash in and fill the cash drawer and we are in business.

Hope that all makes sense. It so far has worked very well. No computer program that we use at the mat, everything there is done manually. I am looking into a potential POS system, but have not found anything that I like as of yet.

[Outlaw]

If you have the wrong attendant, there is nothing you can do to stop them from trying (sometimes succesfully) to steal a few bucks from WDF. They watch customers habits, if a customer drops off AND picks up on said attendants shift, the possibility of them not recording the transaction is always possible. I have an secret employee that acts as a customer and monitors what is going on, it has caught me at least 5 bad employees in the last 4 years. I run 6 stores as well as a large drycleaning business, so monitoring it all myself is impossible.
The only foolproof system is to have your attendant act as their own business, they collect whatever they do from WDF as their own income but have to pay out of that income to run the machines. In my state you can pay them less than min. wage this way. I don't do WDF this way but it is a possibility.