Guides for running a phone shop · In the shop
Where screens, batteries and accessories leak out of a phone shop
In most phone shops the stock count and the invoices never quite agree. The gap is rarely theft. It's a screen taken "to test", a battery nobody wrote down, a cable handed to a regular "on the house", a faulty part that went into a drawer and not back to the supplier. Small amounts, every day, add up to real money.
· 6 min read
Where stock goes missing
- Fitted on a repair, never written on it. The technician takes a battery and fits it, and the ticket says "battery service" with no part listed.
- Tried and not returned. Three screens are tried on one phone. One is fitted, one goes back on the shelf, and one stays on the bench with a creased cable.
- Faulty on arrival, kept anyway. A screen with a line through it goes into the "bad parts" box and sits there until it's too late to send back.
- Small things nobody counts. Screen protectors, cables, adhesive, back glass. A free protector with every screen repair is a decision. Twenty that nobody decided are a leak.
- Received but not checked. The supplier sends nine screens, the invoice says ten, and nobody counted. Or ten arrive and two are for the wrong model.
- Sold at the old price. The supplier's price went up three months ago and the counter still charges the old one.
One battery a day that never reaches an invoice, at a cost of 40, is more than 1,000 a month.
Seven habits that close the gap
1. No part leaves the drawer without a repair
Every part taken is added to the repair it's for, at the moment it's taken, by whoever takes it. If it isn't on a repair, it doesn't leave. This one rule closes most of the gap.
2. The old part comes back for the new one
A new screen goes out against the broken one, a new battery against the swollen one. No old part and no explanation means a question, the same day. It also lets you show the customer what was replaced.
3. One person owns the stock
Per shift, one person hands out parts and takes them back. Technicians ask; they don't help themselves. The same goes for the accessories wall: what leaves it goes through the counter.
4. Receive against the order, and test on arrival
Count what arrived against what you ordered before you sign for it. Test screens the day they arrive, not the day you need them: a dead screen found three weeks later may be past your supplier's return window. Short deliveries and wrong items go back on the same day, with a return note.
5. Count a little, often
Skip the one painful count a year. Count ten fast-moving items every week: the screens and batteries for the five models you repair most. Differences show up while people still remember why. Count the phones you have for sale every week too, one by one, by IMEI. There are few of them, and each is worth a lot.
6. Write off what's damaged, with a reason
A screen cracked while it was being fitted is a cost. Record it as a write-off, with a reason and who approved it, so it shows in the numbers and stops hiding in the stock value.
7. Keep your prices in step with your costs
When the cost of a part goes up, check its price the same day, and the price of the repair that uses it. Watch for parts and accessories sold at zero or below cost: they're usually mistakes.
How SolderDesk does this
Parts are added to the repair from stock, so the shelf goes down as the repair goes up. Accessories sold at the counter come off the same stock on a quick invoice. Purchase orders are received against what was ordered, and faulty parts go back as supplier returns. Stock is kept per branch, at moving-average cost, with barcodes and a reorder list when a part runs low. Write-offs carry a reason, and phones for sale are kept one by one, by IMEI. Import your parts list and try it.