CommerceCommerce GlossaryPart 8 of 12
Point of Sale and Stores Glossary
24 terms from the Commerce book's Point of Sale and Stores part, each defined in a line and linked to the chapter that explains it.
- Blind close: counting a cash drawer without being shown the expected amount, then revealing the over or short (Store Operations).
- Check (restaurant): what one guest or group pays for an order; an order can have several, split by item, seat or evenly (Restaurants & Food Service).
- Coursing: grouping a table's items into courses that the kitchen receives as separate tickets and fires in turn (Restaurants & Food Service).
- Drop: excess cash moved from a drawer to the safe during a shift, counted and recorded on both sides (Store Operations).
- Expediter (expo): the kitchen station between front and back of house that sees every item on an order and releases it when all stations are done (Restaurants & Food Service).
- Fire by prep time: staggering when each item starts cooking by its prep time so a table's items finish together (Restaurants & Food Service).
- Float: the counted cash a drawer opens with (Store Operations).
- KDS (kitchen display system): screens that replace printed kitchen tickets; cooks bump items when done and the times are recorded (Restaurants & Food Service).
- Manager approval: a second staff member's PIN on someone else's void, refund or override, recorded with both names (Store Operations).
- No-sale: opening the cash drawer without a sale; sometimes needed and watched in aggregate (Store Operations).
- Offline mode (POS): taking sales and stored card payments without a connection, within vendor limits and at the merchant's risk (Point of Sale).
- Organized retail crime (ORC): theft by groups who steal goods to resell them, often online (Store Operations).
- Over/short: counted cash minus expected cash at a drawer's close (Store Operations).
- Paid in / paid out: cash added to or removed from a drawer for something other than a sale, each with a reason (Point of Sale).
- Register session: one drawer from its opening float to its closing count (Store Operations).
- Sales receipt: the customer's record of a sale, printed or digital, rendered from the order; distinct from a goods receipt (Point of Sale).
- Service charge: a mandatory charge on a restaurant bill; the employer's revenue, and wages if distributed, never a tip (Restaurants & Food Service).
- Shrink event: a known loss (theft, damage, expiry, vendor shortage) recorded when it happens, with retail and cost value (Store Operations).
- Tender: one way a sale was paid (card, cash, gift card, store credit, EBT, house account); a sale can have several (Point of Sale).
- Tip credit: counting tips toward a tipped employee's federal minimum wage, at most $5.12 an hour over a $2.13 cash wage (Restaurants & Food Service).
- Tip pool: tips gathered and divided among eligible staff by a formula; never shared with managers (Restaurants & Food Service).
- Tip (restaurant): a voluntary payment from the guest that belongs to the employee; the employer may not keep any of it (Restaurants & Food Service).
- Void: cancelling a line or sale before it closes; nothing was sold, unlike a return (Point of Sale).
- X report / Z report: a mid-shift snapshot of a register session, and the end-of-day close that locks the day (Store Operations).