A stock count in a gold shop is more than counting pieces. Every piece has a weight, a karat and a high value, and a single missing piece can mean a large loss. A manual count with pen and paper takes hours, so it gets put off, and differences grow before anyone finds them.
This guide shows how to make the count fast enough to repeat: with barcodes, with RFID tags and with a phone, and how to deal with what the count reveals.
Why count regularly?
A count shows what invoices do not: a piece that was stolen, sold without being recorded, transferred to another branch and never received, or tagged with another piece's tag. The shorter the time between two counts, the easier it is to trace a difference back to its day and its cause. A short, frequent count beats a long count once a year.
Barcode or RFID?
A barcode is a code printed on the piece's tag. The reader reads it when you point it at the tag, one piece after another. It is inexpensive, and it is enough for a shop with limited stock.
An RFID tag has a small chip inside. The reader reads it by radio without seeing it, and several pieces at a time. You pass the reader over a tray or a shelf and the pieces are read without handling each one. It costs more, and the difference shows as stock grows.
| Comparison | Barcode | RFID |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | One piece at a time, pointing the reader | Several pieces together, no pointing |
| Speed | Suits limited stock | Faster as stock grows |
| Cost | Low | Higher: chip tags and a reader |
One important difference in counting: if two pieces carry the same code, every barcode scan counts as a piece. A chip's number, however, is unique to one piece, so it is counted once however many times the reader picks it up. And you do not have to choose: one tag can carry the printed barcode and the chip inside, so it can be read either way.
Prepare the pieces before the count
- Every piece has a tag with its barcode, and if you use RFID, the tag holds a chip paired with the piece in the software.
- RFID tags come encoded from the factory with a unique number, so your thermal printer is enough to print the barcode on them; you then pair the chip with the piece with a scan.
- Choose jewellery tags that read next to metal, and test reading on a tray of your own pieces before buying in quantity.
- Make sure the reader and the tags work on the frequency band approved in your country.
- When a piece is sold or written off its chip is freed, and when it is transferred to another branch the chip goes with it.
Counting step by step
- Open a count session for the branch.
- Scan the pieces: with a barcode reader one by one, by passing an RFID reader over trays and shelves, or with a phone connected to a reader.
- Follow the count as you scan: how many pieces have been counted, and how many remain.
- Close the session, and the variance report appears: pieces that were not found, and pieces that are surplus or belong to another branch.
- Deal with each difference with a written reason, then approve the count result.
Counting with a phone
Not every employee needs a computer. Connect a barcode or RFID reader to a phone over Bluetooth and the phone becomes a counting station. Several phones can join the same count session, so staff divide the shelves between them and their scans are gathered in one place. If the network drops, scans are kept on the phone and sent when it returns, without being counted twice.
It is best for the phone to collect scans only, while the session is closed and decisions are taken on the computer screen, where the person in charge reviews all the differences.
What to do with shortages and surpluses
Do not adjust the stock balance directly, in either direction:
- A missing piece is proposed for write-off with its reason, and the write-off is approved by the finance officer, not by whoever proposed it, and recorded as a loss in the accounts at the value of the metal and the making.
- A surplus piece is not added to stock. It may belong to another branch or come from an earlier mistake, so it is referred for checking.
- And if a piece turns up after it was written off, the write-off is reversed with an opposite entry, approved by someone other than the person who requested it.
Every decision carries a written note, printed with the decisions in the count minutes once the result is finally approved.
Raw gold and stones have their own counts
Not everything in the shop is a tagged piece. Raw gold in the treasury is counted by weight with approved minutes, precious stones are counted against their register, and any shortage in either is settled with an accounting entry.
Common stock count mistakes
- Counting once a year.
- Adjusting the balance directly, with no reason and no approval.
- Adding surplus pieces to stock before checking them.
- Opening two count sessions for the same branch, so scans are split between them.
- Scanning with a reader that works as a keyboard while the typing language is Arabic, so codes arrive garbled.
- Leaving a sold piece's chip paired to it, so it shows as missing in every count.
How ZMZMGold helps
In ZMZMGold each branch has a count session that reads barcodes and RFID tags together, and a chip is counted only once however often it is read. Several phones can join the session through the ZMZM Inventory app with a QR code from the session screen; their scans appear on the session screen straight away and are kept on the phone if the network drops. The software also warns you when the keyboard language is garbling the codes.
When the session is closed you get a variance report, write-offs approved by the finance officer with an accounting entry, referral of surpluses, reversal for pieces that turn up, and count minutes with the decisions and their reasons. Raw gold in the treasury and precious stones have count minutes of their own.
Details are on the gold and jewellery shop management software page, and in our article How to manage gold inventory by weight and karat in your shop.
The bottom line
Make the count fast enough to repeat: a barcode on every piece, RFID tags where stock is large, and phones that share the counting. Then settle every difference with a written reason, an approval and minutes, never with a direct change to the balance.