Matching shift closes to bank drops without losing an evening

When a café runs two evening shifts, the Z-report and the cash bag often part ways quietly. Someone counts quickly, someone else drops the bag, and the morning manager inherits a mystery.

Start with a single sheet taped inside the safe door: till ID, close total for cash tender only, bag number, counter initials, drop time. Ignore card totals on this sheet—they belong on the settlement printout. If your POS application prints a tender breakout, attach that slip to the bag with a clip rather than rewriting numbers from memory.

The financial audit lens is simple: every cash figure on the till must have a physical bag or a documented exception. Exceptions (paid-outs for market runs, change orders) need a second signature the same night. Owners who adopt this habit usually cut unexplained gaps before they ever book a formal review.