Recounting in an optician's: frames, lenses and customers' items

In an optician's the goods are small, fragile and very varied: hundreds of frame models, ready-made lenses, contact lenses, solutions and accessories. There are also customers' belongings here: frames left to have lenses replaced and glasses that are ready but not yet collected. If you count them together with the shop's own stock, the result gets muddled. Below we go through how to count an optician's in order.

Frames: model, colour and size

A frame is marked with a size code on the inside or back, for example "52-18-140". The three numbers give the lens width, the bridge width and the temple length in millimetres. If a frame of the same model and colour has a different size, it is a separate position. On the count sheet write the model, colour and size in separate columns.

Frames sit in several places: in the showcase, in drawers, on the workbench and in the area prepared for repair. Showcase frames often carry demonstration lenses. Do not remove them, but in the count treat them as part of the frame and do not open a separate row for lenses. Count sunglasses and prescription frames as two separate groups, since they differ in price and accounting.

Handling fragile stock during the count

Frames and lenses are easily damaged. Cover the counting table with a soft cloth, pick up a frame by the temple without touching the lenses and do not tip many frames on to the table at once. Counters should not try frames on or wipe them during the count. Put a broken or scratched item at once in a separate box and leave a note on the sheet, so that there is later no dispute over whose shift it was damaged on.

Lenses: ready-made and made to order

There are two kinds of lenses. Ready-made lenses lie on the shelf and can be counted: they are defined by dioptre, index and coating, and are always counted in pairs. Made-to-order lenses are produced to the customer's prescription and are not the shop's stock. Order lenses that are in transit or in production do not show in the balances, and payment for them may have been taken in advance.

Lenses that broke during processing or did not fit the size go into a separate box and onto a "spoilage" list. So a difference in lenses is often not a shortage but unrecorded spoilage.

Contact lenses and solutions

Contact lenses come in packs: 1 pair, 6 or 30 pieces. If one model differs in dioptre, base curve and pack quantity, those are different positions. During the count copy the parameters from the pack in full. Lenses and solutions have expiry dates: read them on the pack and put packs close to expiry on a separate list. An opened pack is unfit for sale: mark it as used for fitting and remove it from the balance.

Customers' belongings and ready orders

Example: the books show 3 frames of one model in stock. The showcase holds 3 frames, and one more identical frame belongs to a customer and was left to have the lenses replaced. If you count everything together you get 4 and a "spare one" appears. That spare may hide the loss of a different frame. A customer's frame never counts towards the shop's balance.

Keep customers' belongings on a separate shelf, each in a bag. Write the receipt number, the date taken in and the customer's name on the bag. It helps to photograph a frame when taking it in: later there is no dispute about its condition. On count day do not open these bags but check them against the list by receipt number. Glasses that are ready but not collected belong here too: they are paid for and belong to the customer.

Accessories

Cases, cloths, cords, nose pads and sets of screws: there are many small, cheap items. Count them by pack and write opened packs piece by piece. If you group the packs before counting, the work finishes faster. Cases and cloths are often handed out free with a frame, so check consumption once a month.

Conclusion

Counting in an optician's rests on recording the frame size, separating lenses into pairs and made-to-order, checking contact lens expiry and keeping customers' belongings apart. The Pereuchet team counts an optician's this way, separates customers' belongings from the balance and hands over the result as a file for Excel or 1C.