Loose items and barcodes: a faster counter without losing count

A kirana counter sells two kinds of goods: packed items with a barcode, and loose items weighed out of a sack. Both have to be billed fast and both have to come out of stock correctly. Most stock errors in a shop start here.

Packed items: let the barcode do the typing

Nearly every packed product already carries a barcode. Scanning it picks the exact item — the right brand, the right pack size — which typing a name often doesn't. A scanner gun is fastest, but a phone camera works well for a small counter.

Once, when you first stock an item, link its barcode to it. After that, every sale and every stock count can use the scan.

Loose items: price by the kilo, bill by what the customer asks

Keep one price per kilo or litre. Customers ask in two ways: “ek kilo cheeni” or “pachaas rupaye ki cheeni”. The first is a quantity, the second an amount — and the bill should handle both, working out the other from the price per kilo.

Weigh on a verified, stamped scale; the weights-and-measures rules require it for anything sold by weight.

Buy in sacks, sell in grams

A 50 kg sack goes into stock as 50 kg, and every sale takes out exactly what was weighed. Count loose stock by weight at your stock check. A small gap each month is normal — spillage and moisture — but a big one tells you something is wrong.

How Distiqo helps

In the Retailer OS you can scan with your phone's camera or a scanner, and link barcodes to items when you add them. An item can be marked as sold by weight or volume with a price per kilo or litre; Quick Bill takes either the quantity or the rupee amount, and stock goes out in grams or millilitres. Weighing-scale price stickers scan straight in. Receiving stock takes loose goods by the kilo.