Running Your Liquor Store's Inventory on Handle POS

1 · Set up a product right

Five fields on the product form do 90% of the work. Get these right once and receiving, reordering, and age checks all run themselves.

Extra barcodes (case & pack UPCs)

1. On the product form, find More barcodes / SKUs.
2. Scan the case or sleeve barcode, set units per scan (12 for a 12-pack case), and a pack price if you sell it whole.
3. Save. If a cashier ever scans an unknown pack code at the register, it offers 🔗 Link to existing item right there — no trip to the back office.

Sizes (750ml vs 1.75L)

Each size is its own product with its own barcode, price, and stock. Link them: on the smaller sizes, set the Variant of field to the base product and give the variant a label ("375ml"). Set the Brand too — it keeps a 10,000-bottle catalog browsable.

2 · Receive a delivery

The distributor already typed your invoice — don't type it again. Two ways in, both end at the same review screen.

Way 1 — the file your rep emails you

1. Ask your distributor rep for the invoice as a CSV or Excel-exported file (every major house can send one).
2. Pick the Vendor, type the invoice number, choose the file.
3. Press Preview. Every line is matched to your products by bottle or case barcode, and you see old cost → new cost → new margin per item. Anything landing under 15% margin is flagged red.
4. Tick what you want it to do: update costs, add stock, update retail prices, create new items. Uncheck any single row to skip it.
5. Press Apply. Costs update, stock lands (cases × pack size), new items are created — and the delivery is saved as a received purchase order with the invoice number on it.

Way 2 — the paper invoice on the counter

1. Same screen — tap 📷 photo of a paper invoice and take the shot (straight on, good light).
2. The device reads it right there (nothing is uploaded anywhere). Fix any line it misread in the text box.
3. Press Preview — from here it's the same review-then-Apply flow.

3 · Reordering that runs itself

Set a reorder level once per item you care about; from then on the store tells you when to buy.

1. One-time: on your movers, set the level ("alert me at 6") and quantity ("order 24"). Skip the slow stuff — items with no level never nag you.
2. When something dips to its level you'll see it three ways: a red ▼ low badge on the Inventory tile, a once-a-day notice at sign-in with a Review & order button, and the list in your nightly email.
3. Go to Purchase orders → tap ⚡ Auto-PO from low stock. Your low items appear grouped by vendor, each pre-filled with its reorder quantity and last cost. Tap Create PO for each vendor.
4. Open the PO → 📧 Email to vendor. A clean order lands in your rep's inbox and the PO flips to "ordered". (Add shipping or fees on the PO if the vendor charges them.)
5. Truck shows up → open the PO → Receive items. Key what actually arrived — shorted lines stay open as a partial, and you can correct a cost on the spot.

4 · Count your inventory

A stocktake is how the computer's numbers meet the shelf's numbers. Do a section a week — never the whole store in one painful night.

1. Open a count and name it after the section ("Whiskey wall", "Beer cave").
2. Walk the section: scan each item, key how many you see. Case-stacked items have a Cases box — 3 cases + 4 loose, it does the math.
3. Counting is resumable — the count stays open if you get pulled to the register.
4. When done, read the variance table: every difference between counted and expected, in units and in dollars at cost.
5. Post to set stock to what you counted (every change is logged), or Void to throw the count away. Only items you actually counted are touched.

5 · Catch shrinkage

The stocktake tells you what's missing and what it cost. The Loss Prevention report tells you when to look at the cameras.

• The report is a timestamped timeline of every risky moment: voids, refunds, no-sales, paid-outs, big discounts, and every cash-drawer opening.
• Each row has the exact time — jump your camera DVR to that minute and watch what actually happened at the counter.
• The by-employee table shows who voids most, who refunds most, whose drawer runs short. Patterns, not accusations — but patterns are where to look first.
• Optional: turn on counter photos (Settings → Register security) and the register's camera snaps the counter on every no-sale, void, refund, and payout. Photos stay on your store's own system and appear right in the report.

6 · Track keg deposits

Who has your shells, and how much of their money you're holding — without a spiral notebook.

Keg goes out

1. Ring the sale normally (keg + your deposit line).
2. Tap Kegs → ＋ Keg going out: customer's name and phone, which keg, deposit amount. Save.

Keg comes back

1. Tap Kegs, find the customer, tap ↩ Returned, confirm.
2. The drawer pops and the deposit is recorded as a paid-out — so the drawer count and the day's Z report stay honest without you doing anything.

The Kegs screen always shows every keg currently out and the total deposit money you're holding.

7 · Age checks, restricted hours & deposits

Set these once at the category level and the register enforces them on every sale, every shift, whether you're in the building or not.

• Age requirement: set 21 on Spirits/Wine/Beer. Any item in that category forces the ID check at checkout — scan the license, the register shows the customer's age and blocks expired or under-age IDs. Every check is recorded in the Age Verification report, which is your paper trail if the ABC board ever asks.
• ⏰ Restricted sale hours: your state's rules, per day ("Sun 12:30 PM–11:45 PM"). The register refuses the sale outside the window — no relying on a new cashier remembering.
• Bottle deposit (deposit states): set the deposit on the product; it rings as its own line and totals into its own report.
• No reward points: tick this on categories the law says can't earn rewards (tobacco in most programs) — points simply don't accrue there.

8 · The state liquor report

When the state or your accountant asks "how much beer, wine, and spirits did you sell" — this is the two-minute answer.

1. Pick the date range (MTD chip for the usual monthly filing).
2. Read the cards: net sales (before tax), units, tax collected — refunds already subtracted. Below: by category, by day, and every product with size and UPC.
3. Tap ⬇ Download CSV for the per-product file, or 🖨 Print.

It finds your beer/wine/spirits departments by name automatically. If your state wants a specific file layout, tell Handle POS support — exact formats get built on request.

9 · Know your numbers

Because every invoice you imported kept costs current, these screens show real profit — not guesses.

• Overview: today/week/month — sales, profit, average ticket, busiest hours, top bottles, per-employee.
• Inventory report: what your shelves are worth at cost, right now. That number is your biggest asset — watch it.
• Daily email: Settings → System → Daily email report. The whole day plus your low-stock list, in your inbox every night at close.
• QuickBooks: Dashboard → Accounting → QuickBooks export. One balanced journal entry per day — hand the file to your bookkeeper and skip the data entry.