Billing for your toy and gift shop in Goa
A child's five small things, a gift to be exchanged tomorrow and the rainy-day puzzles against the beach-season sand toys.
From a quoted rate nobody remembers to a camp's order with its rate on the bill
The camp's order on one bill with its rate fixed, collected on Monday and paid when the fees are in
Make the bill for thirty kits and thirty colouring sets on the Saturday, with the rate written into it, and send it to the teacher's phone. On Monday the camp collects, and the bill has the rate that was agreed. When the fees come in, the payment goes on the camp's page beside the bill.
The cloth bag off the bus written on the maker's page, so a sold-out toy does not wait on the driver's memory
The maker never comes to the shop. The toys come on the bus in a cloth bag, and the one person who knows which maker packed which bag is the driver. The day the bag comes off the bus, write the toys, the day and the sum paid on a page in the maker's name. When a toy sells out, the page tells you who made it, and you do not have to ask the driver.
The slow shelf found by reading the month's report down the lines
Open the month's report and read down the items. The ones that sold nothing show a zero. Those are the shelf at the back, and you know what to put on offer without counting dust. Put them on offer at the school gate on the first day of the holidays, with the number in your hand.
Tools for a shop of a thousand small things and two quite different seasons
Bills on your phone
A bill for the uncle who buys the toy every child wants in the week before Christmas, sent to his phone, and the shelf count falls by one.
Daily reports
The Christmas week's daily sales of one size of star, read in January beside the count left on the shelf.
Orders to suppliers
The order for the toy that every uncle and aunt asks for in the week before Christmas, written the day its count runs low and noted as the wholesaler's lot arrives.
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Why a Goa toy shop forgets the rate quoted for a camp's craft kits, a maker's bag from over the border and the Christmas week's few toys
A holiday camp's thirty craft kits wanted by Monday morning
In the long school holiday a class or a camp asks the shop for thirty craft kits and thirty colouring sets by Monday morning. The teacher comes on Saturday, the owner counts what he has, and says he will find the rest. The camp pays when its fees are collected. By Monday the owner remembers the number but not the rate he quoted, and the teacher remembers a lower one. The teacher is polite about it, but the camp starts at nine and she cannot wait while the two of them argue over a number.
Wooden toys that come from a maker by bus in a cloth bag
Some of the best toys in the shop come from a maker over the state line, sent by bus in a cloth bag in small lots. The driver hands the bag over, the owner pays on the spot, and the toys go to the shelf. A month later a toy sells out and the owner wants more, and he cannot say who made it, when it came, or what he paid. The cloth bag goes back on the bus the same afternoon, and the driver is the only person who knows the maker's name.
The week before Christmas, when uncles, aunts and grandparents all ask for the same few toys
In the last days before Christmas the counter is three deep with relatives buying the same few popular toys. The shelf of those is bare by the middle of the week, and the next customer asks if the shop will have it tomorrow. The owner cannot say, because he does not know how many were sold, or how many the supplier has. The customer who is told maybe goes to the next shop.
What a Goa toy shop owner asks before starting
The camp wants only half the drawing sets on Monday and the rest the Saturday after. How do I bill it?
Make the bill for the half it takes on Monday. When it comes for the rest, make a second bill under the camp's name. Both are on the camp's page, so the whole order is one list.
A wooden toy sold out and the maker has no phone. How do I find who made it to ask for more?
Open the maker's page, where every bag from him is noted with its day. A toy that sold out has its line on that page, so you know whose it was, and you can send word to him by the bus driver.
Stars are left on the shelf after Christmas. Can they go to the holiday camp with the craft kits?
Yes. The camp can have the left-over stars with its craft kits. You see the star shelf thin out in the weeks after Christmas, and the stars that stay are the ones to remember when the next December comes.
Christmas stars and a season of gifts
Christmas runs from mid-December to mid-January in Goa, and Christmas stars and decorations are in high demand across the state. A shop that sells stars and decorations can keep each size as its own item, and read the weeks of the season day by day.
Christmas in Goa is celebrated by people of all faiths as a season of sweets and gifts, and city markets fill with decorations, lights, stars and balloons. A shop that sells balloons and small gifts to every kind of family has one page for the family that comes back each year.