The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-12-24
TAB ON $4,000 SALES,
How It Is Kept in q Big Department
Store and the Work Done
Promptly.
System in Use in Powers Store De-
vised BY N. F. Carlo, Chief
Auditor.

store, wv CLERKS, IN seventy
two departments, have sold Is high as
$4,000 articles in one day Of the holiday
rush. Patrons of the store sometimes in
quire, therefore, whether 1t is possible for
the bookkeepers to complete their account
of sales oftener* than once a week, and
whether the thirty cashiers are not fre-
quently kept up half the night trying to
balance their cash. Such inqurers are
surprised to- learn that work upon the
account of sales does not begin until =
O'Clock each afternoon, and that the sales
of that day are accounted for. to the last
cent. no later than 10 o'clock the next
morning. Before and after the holiday
season the sales are accounted for daily
by 8 o'clock p. m. All the accounts for
every week are. completed by noon on
Saturday. The thirty cashiers never lose
their beauty Sleep
These agreeable results have been made
possible by N F.. Carlo, chief auditor of
several account books and blanks which
effect great saving of time and point
out promptly the clerical error
AS in most large stores. each clerk in
Powers keeps record Of her sales. The
object of the bookkeepers-the audit
styles to find out the value of the goods
sold daily by each clerk, the amount OF
the sales in each department. and the
amount Of money actually paid over to-
each cashier. .
The Clerks Account. -. :
The little book kept by the clerks was
not devised by Mr.. Garbo 1t is pat
ented form or blank, and is one of 15O
such patents now commended to the care
full merchant. The contrlver Of the blank
used at Powers is said to have been an
uncharitable and ungallant creature, who
was convinced that on an average per
cent of all clerks are financially careless,
and that they are not to be trusted, but
| to be checkmated. Every one OF their
little books must have numbered pages.
and part of each page, must form two
stubs When the clerk sells a, china doll
for 8 cents, she writes. IT doll, .0S." on
page 49, tears off that page and the cash
| ier's stub, and leaves second stub IN the
book She then sends the page, the first
stub and the 8 cents to a cashier and
keeps a duplicate page for the customer.
| The cashier holds the cents and the
main part of page 46, and returns to the
clerk the cashiers stub. which Is also
numbered "46. H.. .-.=--'. =. T.
| If a clerk has made out a slip for any
sale and cannot show the corresponding
cashiers stub. she is assumed to have kept
the money. If slip Of any consecutive
number is missing. and she cannot show
either slip or cashiers stub, and says that
the slip was never In her book. the sec
| ond or permanent stubs of that book are
pulled apart and examined. Then part: OF
the missing page and its hidden page
number would be revealed III case the
| clerk had been mistaken.
The clerk cannot wrap up goods herself,
but must hand them to a bundle girl
| near by. Hence, presumably. the clerk
| cannot transfer to an outsider any article
not paid for. If the clerk makes the price
too low. the bundle girl is expected to
! notice it. II the clerk puts money In her
i mo- <et or al
| out a slip, another clerk might observe
her. or the bundle girl might see. or the
foorwal1er, or the department manager
! or a house detective. ~ s,.. -: ,r,.I .
After fifty Scent dolls. for example
have been laid In a row and their value
has been charged to the doll department
the pretty creat lures are not again counted
until Jan. l. 1t is held to be impractfca
BILE to take stock of small articles in q; big
store oftener than once a year. =, -,
| =. The foregoing precautions coupled with
a check upon all parcels removed from the
store by clerks are considered SUFFICIENT
to assure a correct foundation for every
sales account-namely. that all goods have
been reported at proper prices
! The stubs returned to the clerks by the
cashiers are presumed to be an adequate
check upon the cashiers accuracy. :,
The cashiers at Powers keep their own
/ accounts of receipts and disbursements
to the auditing department several times
a day spindles on which are "speared,
the slips received by the cashiers from the
clerks. .s ~
The Auditing Department
i In the auditing department fifteer
young men and women receive the slips
and begin sorting them according to Mr.
4 Garbo's system. The sorters, using ad
Unstable boxes devised by Mr.. Carlo, place
i in a separate box all the slips for sales ir
a. specified department. The slips o.
the same department are subdfvided II
| other boxes, SO as to bring together al
slips given by each clerk. in that depart
ment to the same cashier. The clerks are
known by number
The amount of each clerks slips are
now recorded upon Mr.. CARLOS paten
audit sheet One clerk, it should b,
remembered, frequently sells in severa
departments during the day and frequent
" sends her. money to more than one
cashier. But the slips, when received b,
the auditing department., have alread.
been assorted as to cashiers. The slip
are subsequently distributed as to de
partments and as to clerks. The recort
: necessary, then, must provide space
showing the receipts of each cashier. tn,
sales of each department; and the sale
of each clerk.
Wide columns on the audit sheet recor,
: the transactions of each department; mar
: row columns within each wide column
show the transactions of each clerk II
. that department; cross sections of tn
: sheet divide the columns llorizintally 81
as to separate the receipts Of each 'cashie
: in each department.. A single sheet dis
Ma ys cofnnlete the transactions OF one o