Where a plumbing material dealer’s money leaks: returns, rates and commission

Plumbers take extra fittings to a job and bring back what was not fitted. The return may come weeks later, with no bill number. Counter staff credit whoever is standing there, at whatever rate they remember.

Link every return to the bill it was sold on, and check each piece back into stock. Credit the plumber, contractor or site named on that bill. Returns without a bill can be accepted, but mark them separately for the owner to review.

Pipe and fitting brands revise their price lists often. If the new list is loaded a few days late, some bills go out at the old rate. Nobody notices at the counter.

Load each revised list with the date it applies from. Compare bills raised after that date with the new rates. The gap tells you how long the old list stayed in use.

A half-inch and a three-quarter-inch elbow look alike when the counter is busy. When the wrong code is billed, both items drift from the physical count. The error appears months later at stock taking.

Count a few fast-moving fittings by size every month instead of waiting for the year end. Keep size, material and pressure class in the item name your staff search. Where items are often confused, add a photo.

Many dealers pay plumbers a commission on bills they bring in. When the bill is not marked at the counter, the total is argued at month end. The plumber remembers more than the shop does.

Mark each bill with the plumber who brought it, at the moment of billing. The monthly total then comes from the bills, and what has been paid sits beside it. Brand loyalty points are separate. They are claimed on the brand’s own app.

Rarely asked sizes and discontinued fittings sit in the godown until the brand will no longer take them back. Meanwhile purchase slabs for a quarterly scheme are added up too late to act on.

A short monthly report covers both. It lists items with no sale in a chosen period and each brand’s purchases against its slab. The owner reads it on one page.