How to manage the till in a barbershop
Most owners know how much came in today and do not know how much should be in the drawer right now. The gap between those two numbers is the whole of till management.
Start with the opening float
The drawer does not start at zero. In the morning you put in a float — two hundred, say — and that money is not income and is never counted as such.
The common error is closing on the whole amount and thinking you made two hundred more, or forgetting the float and thinking you lost it. Write it down at the start of the day and take it out of the calculation.
⚠️ Card and transfer are income and never enter the drawer
This is the point that confuses most people. A customer who paid by card is income but is not in the drawer. Add the two into one number, then count the cash, and you will find a large discrepancy and suspect someone took it.
The rule is two separate numbers. Today income adds every payment method; expected in the drawer adds cash only: opening float + cash from services + cash paid in − whatever went out.
Whatever leaves the drawer is written at that moment
Fifty for shampoo out of the till, an advance to a barber, a delivery fee — each reduces the drawer without reducing income. Written down later means not written at all, and the gap appears in the evening with no cause.
A small sheet beside the drawer is enough if you have no system: amount · reason · who took it.
Closing: the gap, not the count
At the end of the day count the cash and compare it with the expected figure. The number that matters is the gap, not the total.
A small gap that repeats in the same direction means a systematic error — a service that never gets recorded, or change given without a note. A single large gap means an incident to investigate. Not knowing the gap at all means the drawer is open to every possibility.
In short: Keep cash separate from card, write down every withdrawal as it happens, and close on the gap rather than the total.