Cash

Every other payment lands in a bank account and sorts itself out. Cash sits in somebody’s pocket until they hand it over, so Bottle keeps a list: what was taken, at which door, by which driver, whether the office has had it yet, and how long ago it was taken.

That last one matters more than it sounds. Cash does not come in at the end of every day: a driver on a week of rural rounds hands over on Friday, one on holiday hands over when they are back, and one who keeps meaning to pop into the office hands over when somebody asks. Nothing here is written around today.

At the door

When an order is Cash on delivery, the driver is asked what they took as they write up the drop. It starts at what is owed, because that is what happens at almost every door. If they took less, they change it. If they took nothing, they set it to nothing.

Where the notes cover what is owed, the order is marked paid, and the same amount goes against the driver as money they are carrying.

Part payment leaves the order unpaid for the rest. The notes still count against the driver, and the door still owes the difference, so a customer who was twenty short on a ninety-pound drop shows as owing seventy rather than nothing.

Once the money is recorded, the drop stops asking for it: the row says what was taken, and the button on it becomes Change cash, for a figure typed wrong.

If the customer would rather use a card

Card on the drop. Bottle makes a payment link for what is owed and shows a code on the driver’s phone. The customer scans it and pays on their own phone, so their card details never pass through the driver. The link can also be copied and sent, if scanning is awkward.

It shows as paid within a second or two of them paying, the same as a link the office sent.

Contactless on the driver’s own phone, tapping a card against the handset, needs the card reader built into the phone. A website cannot reach it. That waits for the Bottle app on the app stores.

What the driver sees

Their round shows what they took today and, separately, everything they still owe the office with how far back it goes: To hand in £96.00 · oldest 4 days. The amount stays on screen on a day they take nothing, because they are still carrying it. The same figure appears on their overview.

Handing it in

Cash in the rail, for anybody who runs the office. It lists each driver, what they are carrying, how many drops it came from, and how old the oldest of it is. Everything outstanding is on it however long ago it was taken: money owed does not fall off a list because a week went by.

Three figures sit at the top:

• Out with drivers, across everybody, whenever it was taken.
• Longest carried, in days. The one to read first. A yard where that says “Today” is a yard with nothing to chase; one where it says “12 days” has a phone call to make, whatever the amount.
• Counted in, over the period chosen at the top right: a week by default, a month or three months if you want a longer view. Only this figure and the list at the foot of the page follow that choice. What is out is what is out.

A driver carrying anything more than three days old gets a marker against their name, and it turns red at a week. The same week shows up on your overview as Cash has been with a driver 9 days.

Counting in

Each driver’s drops sit under the day they were taken, oldest day first, with the day’s total beside it. That is how the conversation at the counter actually goes: Monday and Tuesday are in the bag, Wednesday is not.

Count in this day takes that day and leaves the rest. The button at the top of the driver takes everything outstanding, or just the drops you have ticked. Bottle checks the figure against its own list and refuses if they disagree, because a disagreement about what is in the bag is something to settle in the yard rather than paper over.

If only some of it turns up, tick the drops that were handed over. The rest stays with the driver rather than being written off to make the arithmetic tidy.

Both sides agree

Cash changing hands is agreed by both the driver and the office, whoever starts it.

A driver hands in. On their round, Hand in cash says what they have given the office, with a note if they want. It stays theirs until the office confirms it: the office is told under the bell and on Cash, where it sits under Waiting for an answer with the driver’s figure. Confirm, it is here counts it in. Not received asks what is wrong, and the driver sees that; the money stays with them until it is sorted, and they can hand it in again.

The office counts in. Counting a driver in, as above, puts the money in the safe at once, and asks the driver to agree that is what they gave. Yes, that is right closes it. No, it is wrong asks what is wrong; the money goes back to being carried by the driver, and the office is told why.

Whoever started a hand-over can take it back with Take it back until the other side answers. Anything disputed stays on Cash under Disputed lately, with the reason, and nothing is deleted.

Drivers hear about all of this under the Cash handed in switch in their notification settings, on by default in the bell and on their phone.

Putting a count-in back

Somebody presses the wrong row eventually. Counted in at the foot of the page lists what has been taken in over the period chosen at the top, with Undo on each one and Undo all of these for the lot. Each row carries both dates, because money is often taken one week and handed in the next. The money returns to the driver who took it. Nothing is deleted: the drop still happened, it is simply not in the safe after all.

Once counted in, the takings stay on the record. The driver’s day still shows what they collected; it is just no longer money they are carrying.

Where the invoice is

Each taking shows the invoice it settles, where the order has one, and the number is a link to it. The invoice was marked paid in cash when the driver took the money, not when it was counted in: counting in is about the notes reaching the office, and the customer’s bill was settled at the door.