Why is my till always short?
A till that keeps coming up light is a shift problem first. Change given too fast, a float nobody owns, voids with no note, or two people in one drawer will do it without anyone stealing. Coach that routine before you decide you have a thief.
Short answer
Name one drawer owner per shift where you can. Count the float in and out where someone else can see it. Make voids, no-sales, and payouts leave a reason. Compare the shortage to that shift’s exceptions. If the routine is sloppy, fix the routine. If the routine is tight and the same shift is still light, then look at those timestamps with a short clip and talk to the lead.
Coach these before you accuse
- The float. A float that is “about right” will be short forever. Write the number and count it.
- Change habits. Rushed change and unpaid tabs that never hit the register look like theft and are often haste.
- Shared drawers. You cannot coach a person you cannot point to. Split drawers or accept you only have a team problem.
- The conversation. “The close was light; walk me through the voids” is coaching. “Who stole?” ends the information.
When a shortage survives a clean process
Then you are allowed to look harder: repeating shortages on one owner, exceptions with no reason, a clip that does not match the note. That is still a documented conversation, not a scene on the floor. Next pages: is staff stealing from the till, how to stop it, signs that are patterns, and what POS shows versus what a camera shows.
A short till is a coaching signal first
SoraData soft-connects cameras you already run so a light close has a timestamp you can review with the shift. Request a trial or view plans when it fits.