How to count back change
This comes up in training on Point of Sale installations, how do you make change easily in a manual situation? The “count back” method is the best method to use, as it doesn’t require doing much math in your head and is self-checking.
Say the sale is $63.19 and the customer gives the cashier $100.00.
- The cashier should place the bills across the top the drawer or aside so that it can always be proved what amount the customer gave if a dispute arises.
- Always start at the sales price and count up to what the customer gave you.
- Beginning with the coins: say out loud what the running total is: twenty (penny), twenty-five (nickel), fifty (quarter), seventy-five (quarter), and $64 dollars (quarter).
- Continue the running count, with the bills: sixty-five ($1 bill), seventy ($5 bill), eighty ($10 bill), and one-hundred ($20 bill).
If the sale is $63.19 and the customer gives the cashier $100.04.
- The cashier should place the bills and change aside so that it can always be proved what amount the customer gave if a dispute arises.
- First, subtract what coins the customer gave from the sales price. $63.19 – $0.04 = $63.15 and start counting back from there.
- Beginning with the coins: say out loud what the running total is: twenty-five (dime), fifty (quarter), seventy-five (quarter), and $64 dollars (quarter).
- Continue the running count, with the bills: sixty-five ($1 bill), seventy ($5 bill), eighty ($10 bill), and one-hundred ($20 bill).