How to count pharmacy stock while the till stays open

You’ve counted the first row when a colleague reaches past you for two packs. “Have you counted these yet?” she asks.

“Yes, go ahead. I’ll mark them down.”

A few minutes later, your count sheet shows 40 packs and the till shows 38. Before anyone changes the stock record, check one detail. What time does each figure describe?

One shelf, one sale, one cutoff

You’re counting two batches of the same product, strength and pack size. This shelf holds all the pharmacy’s stock of that item. You agree to compare your count with the stock balance at 10:10 a.m. On the count sheet, leave a little space beside each batch for the time you counted it.

10:02 a.m. You count 24 packs of Batch A in the front row and write down the time.

10:04 a.m. Your colleague takes two packs of Batch A for a customer. In your movement log, you write “10:04, Batch A, 2 packs out, sale.” The cashier completes the sale at 10:05. You add the receipt number beside the entry so you can match it later.

10:07 a.m. You count 16 packs of Batch B in the back row. Nothing else moves before 10:10.

Now bring both rows to the cutoff. Batch A had 24 when you counted it, and two left afterwards, so 22 remained at 10:10. Batch B still had 16. That puts 38 packs on the shelf at 10:10, exactly what the till shows. The stock record is correct. Leave it as it stands.

The detail that prevents a double deduction

If your colleague had taken the two packs from Batch B, you would have counted that row after she took them. The quantity you wrote down would already reflect the sale. Deducting two again would create a shortage on paper.

That’s why the batch and the time the packs left the shelf belong in the movement log. The receipt tells you when the cashier completed the sale. The count sheet tells you whether you saw those packs before or after they moved.

Try it on one shelf today. Pick a product and a cutoff time. Record each batch in packs, with its count time. For each row, add anything that came in and subtract anything that went out after you counted it and up to the cutoff. Compare the result with the stock record for that same time and location. If a difference remains, recount the affected batch and check its receipts and transfers before approving an adjustment or using that balance to reorder.