Reply #14: The computer can sort the gift cards out. [View All]

[jmowreader]

Every SKU in any retail store is attached to a department; everyone runs gift cards as their own department.

If you walk up to the counter at any store with a cartful of merchandise, the computer will sort every item out into its own department and credit that department with the sale. (It will also debit that department when an item is returned.)

There is a "Sales By Department" report in my computer. When I run it, it will tell me the non-retail departments (fees, gift cards and tool rental) figures, add them together, then report every retail department before adding those together and finally add the non-retail department and retail department figures to give a Store Daily Sales figure. But when we meet at the beginning or end of the day to look at the previous day's activity, the only number we'll care about is the retail department sales.