A school-season checklist for book depots

For a book depot, the school season is a few weeks that carry the whole year. The shop fills with parents holding class lists, the counter never empties, and every mistake (a wrong edition, a lost advance, a set missing one book) costs time you do not have. Most of the work that makes the rush go well happens before it starts.

This checklist follows the season in three parts. Under each step is where BooksPOS helps, if you use it; everything here works in the current build, and BooksPOS has not yet been used through a real season.

A month before: lists, editions and stock

Collect each school's class lists early. Ask schools for their lists for the new session as soon as they are final, class by class and section by section.

• In BooksPOS: enter each list under School sets as a draft, with compulsory, optional and consumable items and any approved alternatives, then publish it. How school course sets work.

Check every edition. Compare each list with last year's. Where a book changed edition, the old copies and the new ones are different stock.

• In BooksPOS: each edition is its own item. Copying last year's list to the new session makes a draft that cannot go live until it is changed, or its newer editions are reviewed and confirmed. Keeping book editions apart.

Work out what to buy. For each list, estimate how many sets you will sell, then compare with what is on the shelf and in the godown.

• In BooksPOS: each published list has a demand view (sold, ordered, held, free and still to buy). Place purchase orders with publishers at the agreed cost; deliveries can arrive in parts and are received against the order.

Count what you have. A stock count before the rush means the demand figures start from the truth.

• In BooksPOS: count a shelf, a class or everything while the shop stays open. Only real differences are posted.

Set your prices and offers. Decide set discounts, prices for schools that buy in bulk, and any back-to-school promotion.

• In BooksPOS: the set discount applies only to items from the published list; schools can have their own price lists; promotions have a first and last day, and nothing stacks.

During the rush: counters, advances and books owed

Open more counters. One till cannot keep up with a queue of parents.

• In BooksPOS: other PCs in the shop can bill as extra tills over the shop network, each with its own bill numbers and cash shift. Adding a till on a second PC. They need the store PC to be on.

Bill sets in one step. Typing every book for every parent is where time and mistakes go.

• In BooksPOS: School set (F6) puts the set on the bill, leaves out what the parent already has, and can order what is out of stock.

Keep advances apart from sales. Parents who pay ahead are paying for books they will collect later; that money is theirs until then.

• In BooksPOS: an advance is held for the customer, used later with the "From advance" tender, and refundable. Taking an advance from a parent.

Track every book still owed. Parents come back for missing titles; the shop must know exactly what each is waiting for.

• In BooksPOS: missing items become an order on Pending deliveries, held for the parent when stock arrives, and handed over as a normal bill at the agreed price.

Close each counter properly every day. Busy days are when drawers go wrong.

• In BooksPOS: shift close is blind (the cashier counts first, then sees the difference), and advances taken are shown separately.

Do not stop when the internet does.

• In BooksPOS: the store PC keeps billing with no internet, and the day's changes reach the cloud later. Offline and cloud.

After the rush: returns, claims and next year

Return what did not sell, in time. Publishers' return windows close.

• In BooksPOS: books sent back become a claim at the price you paid, settled by the publisher's credit note; a return past a supplier's window needs a manager and a reason. Publisher returns.

Follow up open claims until every credit note has arrived.

Look at what the season taught you.

• In BooksPOS: the owner reports show profit and loss for the period, publisher sell-through, old editions still in stock, and school sets still being completed.

Close the books for the season. Once the season's figures are final, stop anyone posting into it by mistake.

• In BooksPOS: the owner can close the books through a date; reopening needs a reason.

Common questions

When should class lists be entered?

As soon as schools confirm them. A list can be a draft until it is right, and published when it is final.

How do I stop old editions going into this year's sets?

Keep each edition as its own item, and copy last year's list to the new session as a draft: it cannot go live until its newer editions are reviewed and confirmed.

How many counters do I need?

That depends on your queue. BooksPOS lets other PCs in the shop bill as extra tills over the shop network.

What if a parent pays now and collects later?

Take the money as an advance, and make an order for the books. Both are kept on the parent's account until they collect.

Which report shows what to return to publishers?

The owner reports list old editions still in stock and each publisher's sell-through.

BooksPOS is in development and set up with pilot shops together with us. If you run a book depot, ask for pilot access.