Convenience store cashier checklist - parcel pickup and group-buy handover in three gates, plus one end-of-day equation, parcels on shelf = arrivals - handouts - returns; damage photographed at arrival, and a mis-given parcel only counts as caught if caught the same day

You are an operations advisor for a convenience store that
runs a parcel pickup point and a group-buy pickup corner. I
am the cashier who minds the pickup counter. Build me a
three-gate handover checklist from arrival to handout - for
every item: what to do, what counts as done, and what counts
as a miss.

Inputs I will provide:
- Volume: parcels per day, split between courier parcels and
  group-buy orders, peak pickup hours
- ID method at handout: [ID method] - last digits of the
  phone number, the pickup code, or both
- Shelving setup: how shelf / floor / cooler positions are
  divided
- Platform rules: I don't remember every platform's
  liability policy - do not write one for me

Decision rules (build the checklist on these):
- A mis-given parcel only counts as caught in time if caught
  the same day. The next day the nature changes: the
  customer is gone, the platform's claim window may have
  closed, "recoverable on the spot" has become "a loss on
  the books" - which is why all three gates close same-day
- Damaged parcels get photographed and reported at arrival,
  before signing. Reported after signing, platforms
  typically stop honoring it and the loss lands on the store
- Every item must answer "was it done or not" - no "check
  carefully" entries with no completion standard

[Gate 1: arrival]
- Tick off every parcel against the manifest. Count
  mismatch: contact the courier side first, sign after -
  never "sign now, sort later"
- Damaged, leaking, visibly crushed parcels: photograph on
  the spot (waybill number in frame), report, park them off
  the shelf, wait for the platform's disposition. Damage
  first raised the next day counts as a miss for that shift
- Group-buy chilled items: straight into the cooler at
  arrival, never parked at room temperature waiting for
  shelving
- Finish ticking before anything else. During a register
  rush, park arrivals safely unticked rather than skip
  ticks; log the actual count-finish time

[Gate 2: shelving]
- Fixed zones per [zone map]: courier / group-buy /
  oversized / chilled, each in its zone - never "wherever
  fits"
- Pickup-code labels in one consistent spot (top of the
  waybill). A code across a seam or a fold will not scan
  at handout
- Heavy oversized items on the bottom tier only: no
  stacking high, no pressing on small parcels

[Gate 3: handout]
- Verify per [ID method], one at a time: check one, hand
  one. Never "the whole family quotes a stack, you hand a
  stack"
- Proxy pickup: valid only with that order's pickup code
  (or matching last digits plus order details). "I'm his
  roommate / coworker" with nothing to show does not get
  the parcel - ask them to have the recipient forward the
  code, then hand it over
- Kill each parcel in the system or ledger the moment it
  leaves the counter. Saving the kill-list for the evening
  is the single biggest source of a shelf count that will
  not reconcile

[End-of-day reconciliation (run at [reconciliation time])]
- One equation: parcels on shelf = today's arrivals -
  today's handouts - today's returns
- Count the physical shelf. If it disagrees with the
  equation, investigate tonight, in a fixed order: missed
  kill-list entries first, then mis-gives, then parcels
  shelved in the wrong zone. Leave only after it reconciles
- If it cannot be resolved tonight: log the gap and the
  last confirmed checkpoint (which gate, what time);
  tomorrow's opening task one is picking it back up

Prohibitions:
- Do not invent any platform's liability rules - they
  differ. Anything touching liability reads "confirm
  against our platforms' rules and fill in," and I do the
  confirming
- No platform names, no courier brand names
- No "be responsible" / "double-check everything" entries
  that cannot be verified
- No fabricated data: where I haven't given volumes, leave
  a blank for me - no "a typical store receives X parcels"
  estimates
- No pleasantries - start at gate one

Why it is written this way

The one-line equation is the spine of the checklist. Parcels on shelf = arrivals - handouts - returns, with all three numbers coming from same-moment records at the three gates, turns "did we lose a parcel" from mutual guessing into one subtraction you can finish tonight. The equation only holds if every feed is real - which is why handouts must be killed from the system on the spot: a kill-list saved for the evening makes "handouts" a number written from memory, and a pretty equation over a made-up number reconciles nothing. Ticking arrivals is not ceremony either; it is the first feed.

"Sign now, sort later" is banned outright. On a heavy delivery the convenient move is signing fast so the driver leaves and counting later - but a shortage discovered after signing is no longer the courier's problem; the store eats the count. Gate 1 hard-codes "contact first, sign after" to kill that future dispute before the signature exists. Damaged parcels run on the same logic: platforms typically stop honoring damage reported after signing, so the photograph has to happen before the signature, waybill in frame - it is the only hard evidence when platform, courier, and store start pushing the parcel back and forth.

"A mis-give only counts as caught if caught the same day" gives the word timely a testable definition, and it is why all three gates close same-day. The same error is two different things depending on when it surfaces: same day, the customer is still reachable, the cameras are easy to pull, the platform's claim window is open, and most errors unwind. Next day it is liability and loss settlement, and liability at a pickup point lands on whoever signed. Logging "damage first raised the next day counts as a miss" is not about blame - it converts "I got busy and forgot" into a named process gap, so the post-mortem can find the hole and the next shift can plug it.

The proxy-pickup rule stands alone because the highest-frequency missing-parcel complaint is "someone else picked it up." Relationship claims with no credential cannot be honored: once the parcel leaves, if the real recipient says they never got it, the store has no proof of proper handout. The pickup code is the platform-backed credential, and "have the recipient forward the code" neither bans proxies (family and coworkers picking up is everyday life) nor leaves the store holding the bag - the chain of custody stays inside the platform's system.

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