# Guides for independent supply stores

> https://rundoo.ai/resources/guides/

# Guides for independent supply stores

Practical answers on running a supply store, from picking a POS to counting stock, pricing, and charge accounts.

## Choosing or switching a POS

What a supply-store POS costs, which systems each kind of store runs, and how to move off the old one.

* [BOPIS for independent stores: buy online, pick up in store](/resources/guides/buy-online-pick-up-in-store-for-independent-retailers/index.md)

  Buy online, pick up in store works for an independent hardware, garden, paint or feed store when the website reads the same live inventory the counter sells from, and the rest (staging, notifications, payment) is will-call process your team already knows.
* [ECI Spruce alternatives for lumber yards, and who stays](/resources/guides/eci-spruce-alternatives-lumber-yards/index.md)

  Where lumberyards on ECI Spruce look next, which yards should stay, the lumber tests any replacement has to pass, and what to check when the data moves.
* [ERP for a hardware store: what you actually need](/resources/guides/erp-for-hardware-stores/index.md)

  Someone told you your hardware store needs an ERP, so here is what the word means, the six functions you are really asking for, five signs you have outgrown a plain POS, and where a store system like Rundoo stops and QuickBooks starts.
* [Greenhouse retail POS: checkout at the bench, in the yard, and in the spring rush](/resources/guides/greenhouse-retail-pos-spring-rush-checkout/index.md)

  A greenhouse retail POS is less a special category of software than a checkout plan that holds up at the bench, in the bulk yard, and in a line that triples on the first warm Saturday, so here is how to map it, staff it, keep it connected, and get it ready before spring.
* [How a paint store POS should handle tinting, formulas, and color matching](/resources/guides/paint-store-pos-color-matching/index.md)

  Why a general retail POS fails to handle tinting, and what color matching, formula sync, and catalog search should actually look like when the sale starts with a gallon and a fan deck.
* [How long does it take to switch POS? Downtime and cost](/resources/guides/switching-pos-downtime-and-timeline/index.md)

  A well-run POS switch does not close your store, because almost all of the work happens while the old system keeps ringing sales and the cutover runs overnight, so here are the phases of a switch, what makes each one longer, how to pick a go-live date, and the switching costs owners forget to budget.
* [How much does a POS system cost? (2026 guide)](/resources/guides/pos-system-cost/index.md)

  There is no honest single number, but every POS quote breaks down into the same six budget lines: hardware, software, payment processing, data migration, training and support, and the cost of leaving your current system.
* [Landscape supply yard: how the business runs](/resources/guides/landscape-supply-yard-business/index.md)

  A landscape supply yard sells bulk stone, soil, sand, and mulch by the ton or the yard, mostly to landscapers on account, and it wins or loses on the season, the delivery truck, and whether the scale, the pile, and the invoice agree, so here is how the business runs, what makes one profitable, and a checklist for starting one.
* [Lumber yard POS and inventory software](/resources/guides/lumber-yard-pos-and-inventory-software/index.md)

  A 2x10 is bought by the unit, stocked by the piece, quoted per MBF and sold as fourteen pieces plus a cut, so here are the eleven things a yard needs from its POS and inventory software that a hardware POS never had to do, with a test for each.
* [POS data migration: what transfers and how it gets verified](/resources/guides/pos-data-migration-what-transfers/index.md)

  The plain answer to the question every store owner asks before switching POS: which data comes with you, how accounts receivable and tax settings are handled, and how everything gets verified before go-live.
* [POS that syncs with QuickBooks: what actually posts](/resources/guides/pos-that-syncs-with-quickbooks-online/index.md)

  Every POS vendor says it syncs with QuickBooks, but that can mean per-sale invoices, a nightly summary journal, or a file your bookkeeper imports, and for a store with charge accounts the question that matters is where your receivables live.
* [QuickBooks POS discontinued: what to switch to in 2026](/resources/guides/quickbooks-pos-discontinued-what-to-switch-to/index.md)

  Intuit discontinued QuickBooks Desktop Point of Sale on October 3, 2023, and it still opens but gets no patches, support, or payments, so here is how a supply store picks a replacement that keeps the books in QuickBooks.
* [The best POS systems for lumberyards in 2026](/resources/guides/best-pos-for-lumber-yards/index.md)

  A buyer's guide to lumberyard POS systems in 2026, from Epicor BisTrack, ECI Spruce, and DMSi Agility to Flitch, GenetiQ, and Rundoo, with a plain answer on which kind of yard each one fits.
* [What POS do Benjamin Moore dealers use?](/resources/guides/what-pos-do-benjamin-moore-dealers-use/index.md)

  Benjamin Moore dealers run a mix of Epicor Eagle, Decor Fusion, and newer cloud systems including Rundoo, and here is what a paint store POS needs to handle, from tint integration to CCP rebates.

## Inventory and purchasing

Counting, reordering, units of measure, landed cost, and ordering from distributors.

* [2/10 net 30 and other vendor payment terms, explained](/resources/guides/vendor-payment-terms-2-10-net-30/index.md)

  2/10 net 30 means 2% off for paying a vendor within 10 days or the full amount in 30, a discount worth about 37% a year, and this guide decodes it alongside EOM, ROG, prox, and spring dating terms.
* [ABC analysis for inventory: classify every SKU](/resources/guides/abc-analysis-inventory/index.md)

  ABC analysis ranks every SKU by annual dollar movement at cost so your counting, reordering, and vendor attention go where the money is, and here is the step-by-step method with a ten-SKU feed and hardware example.
* [Backorder vs special order vs out of stock](/resources/guides/backorder-vs-special-order/index.md)

  Out of stock means your shelf is empty, a backorder means the vendor's shelf is empty, and a special order is an item you never stock that you order for one customer, and each one gets a different answer at the counter.
* [Cubic yard calculator: feet and inches to yards](/resources/guides/cubic-yard-calculator/index.md)

  A cubic yard is length times width times depth in feet, divided by 27, so here is a calculator for rectangles, circles, and triangles with depth in inches, three worked examples, the three mistakes that wreck an estimate, and the conversion to cubic meters.
* [Cycle counting: how to stop closing the store to count](/resources/guides/cycle-counting-for-retail-stores/index.md)

  Cycle counting replaces the dreaded once-a-year full count with about an hour of daily counting that keeps on-hand numbers honest, catches shrink while the trail is warm, and never closes the store.
* [Days inventory outstanding (DIO): formula and example](/resources/guides/days-inventory-outstanding/index.md)

  Days inventory outstanding tells you how long the average dollar of stock sits before it sells, and with weeks of supply and the stock-to-sales ratio it turns into a buying plan for a supply store.
* [Dead stock inventory: how to find it and clear it](/resources/guides/dead-stock-how-to-find-and-clear-it/index.md)

  Dead stock is retail inventory that has stopped selling, and here is the routine to define it by days since the last sale, size it in dollars, clear it without wrecking your margins, and keep the next batch from piling up.
* [EOQ formula: economic order quantity, with an example](/resources/guides/economic-order-quantity-formula/index.md)

  The economic order quantity formula, EOQ = √(2DS/H), worked through on a box of deck screws, plus the quantity-break math and the places a weekly distributor truck bends the textbook.
* [Gravel calculator: how many tons or yards you need](/resources/guides/gravel-calculator/index.md)

  Gravel takes two steps to figure, length times width times depth divided by 27 for cubic yards and then yards times the stone's weight per yard for tons, so here is a calculator, three worked jobs, the weight factors yards and quarries publish, and why gravel is priced by the ton at one yard and by the yard at the next.
* [Hardware store inventory management: running 40,000 SKUs without losing the aisle](/resources/guides/hardware-store-inventory-thousands-of-skus/index.md)

  A working guide to hardware store inventory management, from clean distributor item data and honest counts to bins, labels, and reorder points that stop guessing before the shelf goes bare.
* [Inventory carrying cost: formula and store example](/resources/guides/inventory-carrying-cost/index.md)

  Inventory carrying cost is what it costs a year to keep stock on hand, and building your own rate from capital, storage, insurance and tax, and risk tells you whether an early-buy discount or a deep order is worth it.
* [Inventory turnover ratio and GMROI: formula and example](/resources/guides/inventory-turnover-ratio-and-gmroi-for-hardware-stores/index.md)

  How to calculate inventory turnover and GMROI with a worked example, why turns differ so much between fasteners, power tools, and seasonal, and why GMROI is the better lens for a supply store.
* [Landed cost: formula, allocation, and a calculator](/resources/guides/landed-cost-for-retail-inventory/index.md)

  Landed cost is what a product cost you by the time it was on the shelf, freight and fees included, and the way you split one freight bill across the lines on it can move a fitting's cost by a third, so here is the formula, three allocation methods, a calculator, and what it does to margin.
* [Lumber grades explained: No. 2, Stud, Select, and the stamp](/resources/guides/lumber-grades-explained/index.md)

  Softwood lumber grades rank each piece by the knots and imperfections that affect its strength, so here is what Select Structural, No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and Stud mean, how to read a grade stamp, how hardwood grades differ, and how a yard should handle grades in inventory.
* [Material takeoff: how a lumber takeoff becomes a quote](/resources/guides/material-takeoff/index.md)

  A material takeoff is the list of every material and quantity a job needs, measured off the plans, so here is who does it, how a lumber takeoff is organized, a worked wall with studs, plates, and sheathing, the common mistakes, and how a yard turns the takeoff into a quote and a staged job.
* [Mistint paint: why it happens and what to do with oops paint](/resources/guides/mistint-paint/index.md)

  A mistint, or oops paint, is tinted paint the customer rejected or the store mixed wrong, so here is why mistints happen, how to prevent most of them, how to price the oops shelf, how to track mistints so they don't hide as shrink, and when PaintCare will take them.
* [Mulch and topsoil calculator: yards, bags, coverage](/resources/guides/mulch-and-topsoil-calculator/index.md)

  One cubic yard of mulch covers 108 square feet at 3 inches deep and fills about 13.5 two-cubic-foot bags, so here is a calculator for yards, bags, and loader buckets, a coverage chart, how deep to spread it, and what moves the price of a yard of mulch or topsoil.
* [Negative inventory: why on hand goes below zero](/resources/guides/negative-inventory/index.md)

  Negative inventory means your system recorded more units going out than coming in, usually from selling before receiving, a unit-of-measure mistake, or the wrong item rung up, and here is how to find, fix, and prevent it.
* [Open-to-buy for hardware stores and garden centers](/resources/guides/open-to-buy-plan-for-supply-stores/index.md)

  Open-to-buy turns 'we always buy heavy in March' into a number per department per month, with a stop line, and here is the formula, the five inputs, a worked April for lawn and garden, and which reports fill the worksheet.
* [Ordering from Orgill through Rundoo: catalogs, EDI, and everything in between](/resources/guides/ordering-from-orgill/index.md)

  What connecting a POS to Orgill involves, and how Rundoo automates the catalog, ordering, receiving, and price changes so the data moves itself.
* [Paint store inventory software: bases, sizes, colorant](/resources/guides/paint-store-inventory-software/index.md)

  Paint store inventory software has to track untinted bases by line, sheen, base, and size rather than colors, take the right base out of stock when a tinted can sells, account for colorant and mistints, and reorder bases by size around the weekly truck.
* [Physical inventory count: checklist and count sheet](/resources/guides/physical-inventory-count/index.md)

  A year-end physical inventory count checklist for supply stores, from cutoff rules and count zones to units of measure, a sample count sheet, recounts, and why a counting error lands straight on your tax bill.
* [Pick ticket vs packing slip vs bill of lading, explained](/resources/guides/pick-ticket-packing-slip-bill-of-lading/index.md)

  What a pick ticket, packing slip, bill of lading, delivery ticket, and proof of delivery each do, who signs what, and what goes wrong when one gets skipped.
* [Plant tags and waterproof labels that survive the bench](/resources/guides/plant-tags-and-waterproof-labels-for-garden-centers/index.md)

  What a retail plant tag needs, grower tags vs your own price tags, and the label stock and printing method that keep a tag scannable through a season of watering.
* [Purchase order process for retail stores, step by step](/resources/guides/purchase-order-process-for-retail/index.md)

  How a supply store builds, sends, receives, vouchers, and pays a purchase order, with the fields every purchase order needs, a worked three-way match, and the difference between a purchase order and an invoice.
* [Reorder point and safety stock formula, with examples](/resources/guides/reorder-point-and-safety-stock-formula/index.md)

  The reorder point and safety stock formulas worked through one lawn fertilizer SKU, then fixed for the weekly distributor truck, late deliveries, and the season, and translated into min and max.
* [Retail shrink: how to measure it in a supply store](/resources/guides/retail-shrink-hardware-and-feed-stores/index.md)

  Shrink is the gap between what your books say you own and what the count finds, and independent home improvement stores average 1.7% of sales with a median of 1%, so here is the formula, the seven places it hides in a hardware or feed store, and how to measure it without closing.
* [Rundoo distributor integrations: Emery Jensen, AllPro, House Hasson, and more](/resources/guides/distributor-integrations/index.md)

  A spotlight on Rundoo's distributor integrations, leading with Emery Jensen and working through AllPro, House Hasson, Blish-Mize, and Lancaster, with every connection labeled as shipped or in progress.
* [Scale tickets for bulk yards: what goes on one](/resources/guides/scale-tickets-for-bulk-material-yards/index.md)

  A scale ticket records a truck weighed loaded and empty, and the difference is the net weight the customer pays for, so here is the gross, tare, and net math, the fields a ticket should carry, what states require of bulk-sale tickets and legal-for-trade scales, and how a yard gets every ticket onto an invoice.
* [Sell-through rate formula, and how it maps to turns](/resources/guides/sell-through-rate-vs-inventory-turns/index.md)

  Sell-through rate is units sold divided by units received, and while the supply-store trade runs on inventory turns, sell-through is the right number for seasonal programs, booking buys, and anything with an end date.
* [Selling by the flat, yard, and ton: units of measure for garden centers](/resources/guides/garden-center-units-flats-yards-tons/index.md)

  Every garden center POS promises to sell by the flat, the yard, and the ton, but few show you how to set it up, so here is a calculator for mulch, soil, and stone, a begonia sold three ways, and how your system should handle each unit of measure, cost, and price.
* [Shelf labels and electronic shelf labels: a store guide](/resources/guides/shelf-labels-and-electronic-shelf-labels/index.md)

  What belongs on a shelf tag, direct thermal vs thermal transfer printing, how to keep shelf and register prices matched, and when electronic shelf labels pay off.
* [Tons to cubic yards: conversion table by material](/resources/guides/tons-to-cubic-yards/index.md)

  Cubic yards equal tons divided by the material's weight per yard, and published factors for stone, sand, and gravel run from about 1.1 to 1.75 tons a yard, so here is a table of what producers, stone yards, and a state DOT publish, a converter, and how a yard finds its own number on its own scale.
* [Units of measure: buy by the roll, sell by the foot](/resources/guides/units-of-measure-buy-by-the-roll-sell-by-the-foot/index.md)

  One product, one base unit, every other unit a conversion: how a hardware, electrical, feed or garden store sets up wire by the foot off a reel, fasteners by the each out of a box, and feed by the bag or the ton without running two SKUs for one pile of product.
* [Vendor managed inventory (VMI) for independent stores](/resources/guides/vendor-managed-inventory/index.md)

  Vendor managed inventory hands the reorder decision for a line to the vendor while you still own the stock, which saves buyer hours on fussy displays but needs written terms and a regular check on turns and GMROI.
* [What is a SKU? SKU vs UPC for supply stores](/resources/guides/what-is-a-sku-vs-upc/index.md)

  A SKU is the item code your store makes up for itself, a UPC is the 12-digit number the brand owner licenses from GS1, and most supply stores need both but never need to buy UPCs for the products they resell.
* [What is EDI? The 850, 856, and 810 for retail stores](/resources/guides/edi-for-retailers-850-810-856/index.md)

  EDI is how a store and its vendors swap purchase orders, ship notices, and invoices as data instead of re-keyed paperwork, and the 850, 856, and 810 are the three documents a supply store meets every week.

## Pricing and payments

Margin, markup, card fees, surcharges, and cash discounts.

* [Break-even point for a retail store, with worked math](/resources/guides/break-even-point-for-a-retail-store/index.md)

  A store's break-even point is its fixed costs divided by its contribution margin, so a supply store with $45,000 of monthly fixed costs and a 40% margin needs $112,500 of sales a month, about 111 customers a day, and here is how to run that math for your own store, a new hire, or a delivery truck.
* [Cash discount vs surcharge for supply stores](/resources/guides/cash-discount-vs-surcharge/index.md)

  Surcharge, cash discount and dual pricing all chase the same card cost, but they follow different rules and fit different stores, and for a store whose contractors pay statements rather than swipe at the counter, the biggest lever is not the sign on the door.
* [Chargebacks: how they work and how to fight one](/resources/guides/chargebacks-for-retail-stores/index.md)

  A chargeback is a card payment the customer's bank reverses and pulls back through your processor, so here is how the four Visa dispute categories work, what evidence wins, how to respond step by step, and how a supply store prevents the common ones.
* [Cost of goods sold formula: how to calculate COGS](/resources/guides/cost-of-goods-sold-formula/index.md)

  Cost of goods sold is beginning inventory plus purchases minus ending inventory, and for a supply store the hard part is knowing what belongs in purchases, so here is the formula mapped to Schedule C, a worked example, and what freight, payroll, and shrink do to the number.
* [Credit card surcharge laws by state (September 2026)](/resources/guides/credit-card-surcharge-laws-by-state/index.md)

  Surcharging is legal in most of the US, but the card networks, your state, and your processor each get a vote, so here are the caps, signs, and receipt rules, with the statute linked for every state that has one.
* [Delivery fees and fuel surcharges for supply stores](/resources/guides/delivery-fees-and-fuel-surcharges/index.md)

  How to price a delivery fee from what one truck run costs, how to build a fuel surcharge from the weekly diesel price, and why sales tax on delivery depends on your state.
* [Gross margin formula: gross vs net profit margin](/resources/guides/gross-margin-formula/index.md)

  Gross margin is gross profit divided by net sales, and net profit margin is what is left after every expense, interest, and taxes, divided by the same sales, so here are the four formulas, a worked store P&L, and the five things that move gross margin at a supply store.
* [How to price plants: markup, freight, and markdowns](/resources/guides/how-to-price-plants/index.md)

  Garden centers price plants by multiplying the landed cost per pot (grower cost plus freight) by a markup multiplier, typically 2x to 2.8x at retail, rounding to a price point, and planning bench losses and markdowns before the truck arrives, with a size ladder, the multiplier-to-margin table, and worked examples here.
* [Layaway and special order deposits: how they work](/resources/guides/layaway-and-special-order-deposits/index.md)

  Layaway lets a customer pay for an item in installments while you hold it, a special order deposit is money down on something you never stock, and in both cases the deposit is money you owe until the sale completes, so here is the policy template, the sales tax timing, and the counter process.
* [Lumber pricing: how yards price per MBF, piece, and foot](/resources/guides/lumber-pricing-for-lumber-yards/index.md)

  Lumber yards buy per thousand board feet and sell by the piece or the lineal foot, so here is the board foot math that converts an MBF cost into a counter price, why margin beats markup, and how to reprice when the commodity market moves.
* [Margin vs markup: the difference, with a calculator](/resources/guides/margin-vs-markup-pricing-hardware-store/index.md)

  Markup divides profit by cost and margin divides it by price, which is why a 40% markup is a 28.6% margin and why two owners who both 'make 40 percent' can be eleven points apart, so here are the formulas, the conversion table, a calculator, and the three places the mix-up costs a supply store money.
* [Paint sundries: what they are and how to sell more of them](/resources/guides/paint-sundries/index.md)

  Paint sundries are everything a painter needs besides the paint, from brushes and roller covers to tape, drop cloths, and caulk, so here is what counts as a sundry, why the category matters for a paint store's margin, and how to price, stock, and merchandise sundries around the tint area.
* [PaintCare fee: states, amounts, and the register](/resources/guides/paintcare-fee/index.md)

  The PaintCare fee is a per-container charge on house paint, primers, stains, and clear coatings in twelve states and the District of Columbia, paid by manufacturers and passed through to the customer, so here is the current fee table by state, what retailers must do, and how to set it up at the register and on the books.
* [Penny rounding: cash rounding to the nearest nickel](/resources/guides/cash-rounding-without-pennies/index.md)

  With the penny out of production in the US and long gone in Canada, stores round the after-tax cash total to the nearest five cents and leave card, debit, check, and charge account sales exact to the cent, so here is the rule for every ending, worked examples, what states said about sales tax, and how to keep the drawer and the books straight.
* [Quote vs estimate: how to write one contractors accept](/resources/guides/quotes-and-estimates-for-contractors/index.md)

  The difference between a quote and an estimate, what goes on each, an estimate template to copy, and a worked deck quote from takeoff to accepted sale.
* [Retail loyalty programs for small supply stores](/resources/guides/loyalty-programs-for-supply-stores/index.md)

  A supply store loyalty program usually takes one of three shapes, points per dollar, a punch card or brand-sponsored frequent buyer program, or perks for the contractors already on account pricing, so here is the margin math for each, what to leave out, and how to tell whether yours is working.
* [Retail pricing strategies for supply stores](/resources/guides/retail-pricing-strategies/index.md)

  The main retail pricing strategies are cost-plus, keystone, suggested retail, competitive pricing on the items customers price-check, charm pricing, good-better-best, and clearance markdowns, and an independent supply store does best running cost-plus as its base and adjusting by department, with the math for each one here.
* [Return policy, store credit, and restocking fees](/resources/guides/return-policy-store-credit-restocking-fee/index.md)

  A supply store return policy needs a window, a receipt rule, a condition rule, a final sale list, the refund method, and any restocking fee stated as an exact amount, posted where customers see it before they pay, so here is how to decide each piece and a template to print for the register.
* [Tiered pricing and price levels for contractors](/resources/guides/customer-price-levels-and-contractor-pricing/index.md)

  Tiered pricing gives each trade account a price level, and the tiers that hold up are built from cost at a target margin rather than a flat percent off retail, so here is the margin math behind contractor tiers, quantity breaks, and job pricing, plus the house rules that keep them from eroding.

## Charge accounts and tax

House accounts, contractor charge accounts, statements, and tax-exempt sales at the counter.

* [Farm charge accounts for feed stores: terms and aging](/resources/guides/farm-ranch-charge-accounts-feed-stores/index.md)

  How a feed, farm, and ranch store should run charge accounts for producers who buy all season and pay when the calves, hay, or crop sell, with a season-long worked example, open-item statements, and an aging report read against each account's agreed terms.
* [Florida agricultural exemption: the TEAM card at the counter](/resources/guides/florida-agricultural-sales-tax-exemption/index.md)

  How Florida's agricultural sales tax exemption works at a farm store counter: the TEAM card, the paper certificate, which items need no document at all, and what the dealer has to keep.
* [Georgia agricultural tax exemption and the GATE card](/resources/guides/georgia-agricultural-tax-exemption-gate-card/index.md)

  How Georgia's agricultural tax exemption works at a farm store counter: who qualifies for a GATE card, what the merchant must check on every sale, what is and is not exempt, and the yearly card cycle.
* [House accounts: limits, statements, aging, finance charges](/resources/guides/house-accounts-statements-aging-finance-charges/index.md)

  What a house account is and how to run one well: credit limits and terms, monthly statements, a worked AR aging report, and how finance charges are calculated and regulated.
* [Landscaper accounts at a garden center: a season guide](/resources/guides/landscaper-accounts-garden-centers/index.md)

  How a garden center, nursery or landscape supply yard runs a landscaper account through a season: trade pricing on plants and bulk, jobs, will-call and delivered loads, the tax question, statements, and six demo tests for any POS.
* [Net-30 without the headache: contractor charge accounts for paint stores](/resources/guides/contractor-charge-accounts-paint-stores/index.md)

  Contractor charge accounts are the financial backbone of a paint store, and doing them right means house accounts, per-customer pricing, clean statements, real aging, and a way for painters to pay from their phone instead of the shoebox-and-spreadsheet workaround a general POS forces on you.
* [North Carolina farm tax exemption: E-595E at the counter](/resources/guides/north-carolina-farm-tax-exemption/index.md)

  How North Carolina's farm sales tax exemption works at the counter: qualifying and conditional farmer numbers, Form E-595E, what is exempt and what is not, and what keeps the retailer out of trouble.
* [Oklahoma agricultural exemption card: a retailer's guide](/resources/guides/oklahoma-agricultural-exemption-card/index.md)

  How Oklahoma's agricultural exemption permit card works at a farm store counter: who qualifies, what the vendor has to keep, which items are exempt or taxable, the three-year renewal, and the few sales that need a signed line on the ticket.
* [POS with built-in charge accounts: what to look for](/resources/guides/pos-with-charge-accounts/index.md)

  A POS that can invoice customers is not the same as one that runs charge accounts, so here is the thirteen-point checklist for real charge accounts, a six-step demo script, and straight answers on how Rundoo measures up, limits included.
* [Resale certificate and sales tax exemption certificate guide](/resources/guides/resale-and-tax-exemption-certificates-for-contractors/index.md)

  A resale or tax exemption certificate only protects your store when you take it complete, check that the purchase fits the buyer's business, verify the number where your state offers a lookup, and keep the paper where an auditor can find it, and contractors are where the rules get tricky.
* [Tennessee agricultural sales tax exemption at the counter](/resources/guides/tennessee-agricultural-sales-tax-exemption/index.md)

  How Tennessee's agricultural sales tax exemption works at a farm store counter: who qualifies, the certificate and wallet card, what qualifies and what does not, what the seller keeps on each invoice, and the four-year reissue.
* [Texas ag exemption and farm tax exemptions at the counter](/resources/guides/farm-ag-tax-exemption-at-the-counter/index.md)

  The farm tax exemption belongs to the farmer, but the audit risk belongs to the store, so here is how to collect the right document, exempt the item rather than the person, and keep a paper trail that survives an audit, with Texas and nine other farm states.
* [What is use tax? The store-use items retailers forget](/resources/guides/use-tax-on-store-use-items/index.md)

  Use tax is owed on taxable items used in your state when no sales tax was paid, and for a supply store it most often comes due when you pull ice melt, trash bags, or paint off your own shelf for the store, so here is how it works, which price gets taxed, and how to track it.

## Running the store

Closing out the drawer, the books, the numbers worth watching, and the policies behind the counter.

* [Accrual vs cash accounting for a store with inventory](/resources/guides/cash-vs-accrual-accounting-for-retailers/index.md)

  Cash accounting records money when it moves and accrual records it when it is earned or owed, and for a store with inventory and charge accounts the difference decides whether your monthly numbers mean anything, so here are the IRS rules, a worked example, and why most stores keep accrual books.
* [Compare sales last year to this year, with AI reporting](/resources/guides/ai-reporting-last-year-vs-this-year/index.md)

  To compare sales last year to this year, line up the same weeks and compare net sales, margin, and units by department, and an AI assistant in your POS lets you ask for that comparison, or a vendor or customer report, in a plain sentence instead of a report writer.
* [End-of-day cash drawer closeout: till count and Z report](/resources/guides/end-of-day-cash-drawer-closeout/index.md)

  Closing out a cash drawer means counting the till, pulling the Z report, comparing counted cash to expected cash, logging the over or short, and sealing the deposit, and this guide walks through each step with a sample cash count sheet.
* [FIFO vs LIFO vs weighted average cost for retailers](/resources/guides/inventory-valuation-fifo-lifo-average-cost/index.md)

  FIFO, LIFO, weighted average cost, and the retail inventory method compared on one pallet of layer feed, with what IRS Publication 538 and the CRA say about each and which fits a supply store.
* [General ledger and chart of accounts for a retail store](/resources/guides/general-ledger-and-chart-of-accounts-for-retail/index.md)

  The general ledger is the complete record of every transaction sorted into accounts, and the chart of accounts is the numbered list of those accounts, so here is a sample retail chart of accounts for a supply store, worked journal entries, and the setup mistakes that hide your margin.
* [Key cutting and tool rental in a hardware store POS](/resources/guides/hardware-store-rental-key-cutting-pos/index.md)

  Key cutting rings as a tracked blank plus a fixed-price service line, and a tool rental is a contract that checks one asset out and back in, so here is how to set up both, count blanks, bill rentals to accounts, and test any POS.
* [Petty cash: how to set up and track a petty cash fund](/resources/guides/petty-cash-for-retail-stores/index.md)

  Petty cash is a small, fixed fund kept apart from the register for minor expenses, and it stays honest when every payout gets a slip and the box is topped back up to the same amount, which this guide walks through with a worked example.
* [Planogram: a hardware store guide to resets and endcaps](/resources/guides/planogram-for-hardware-stores/index.md)

  A planogram is the diagram of where every product sits on a shelf and how many facings it gets, so here is who makes them for an independent hardware store, how to run a reset in the right order, how to work endcaps and the fastener aisle, and how to keep the shelf matched to the plan.
* [QuickBooks Online vs Desktop for a retail store in 2026](/resources/guides/quickbooks-online-vs-desktop-for-retailers/index.md)

  QuickBooks Desktop is not discontinued, but Intuit stopped selling new Pro Plus, Premier Plus, and Mac Plus subscriptions after September 30, 2024 and retires each version on a schedule, so for a store the real choice comes down to who needs access and how the POS posts the day's sales.
* [Retail KPIs for hardware, paint, and farm stores](/resources/guides/retail-kpis-for-supply-stores/index.md)

  The retail KPIs that matter for an independent supply store are gross margin, average ticket, ticket count, units per transaction, sales per square foot, inventory turns and GMROI, and receivables aging, and each one is a simple formula you can pull from the POS every week.
* [Time clock for a small store: what the law asks](/resources/guides/time-clock-for-small-retail-stores/index.md)

  Federal law does not require a time clock, but it does require complete and accurate records of hours worked, so here is what to keep and for how long, how rounding works, the five ways small stores track time, and what to look for in a time clock app.

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