Handling dollars and riel at one register
Most Cambodian shops price in dollars but make change in riel. Here is a simple routine that keeps both currencies straight — at the counter and in your end-of-day count.
Why two currencies trip registers up
Walk into almost any shop in Phnom Penh and you will see prices in dollars, a drawer full of riel, and a calculator on the counter. The math is not hard — the problem is doing it fifty times a day, quickly, while a queue forms.
Every mistake goes the same way: a rounding here, a mixed-up rate there, and at closing time the drawer does not match the sales. Not because anyone was careless, but because two currencies were flowing through one till with no fixed rules.
Fix one rate, and write it down
The single most useful habit is to pick one exchange rate for the day and use it for everything. Most shops follow the informal market rate — commonly around 4,000 or 4,100 riel to the dollar — and round to a friendly number.
- Choose the rate once, in the morning, before the first sale.
- Post it where staff and customers can see it.
- Use the same rate for pricing, change, and the evening count.
A rate that changes during the day is how drawers stop matching. A point of sale that shows both currencies on every total, the way CashBear does, removes the calculator step entirely — but the one-rate rule matters even if you sell from a notebook.
Giving change without the pause
The slow moment in a dual-currency sale is change. A $2.80 sale paid with a $5 note means $2.20 back — but the customer expects small change in riel.
Keep it mechanical: give the dollar part in dollars down to the nearest note you stock, then the remainder in riel at your posted rate. For $2.20 that is $2 in notes and 800 riel. Staff stop improvising, customers stop double-checking, and the queue keeps moving.
Closing the day with two piles
At closing, count dollars and riel separately, and compare each pile to what your sales say you took in that currency — not to a single converted total. Converting first hides which pile is off.
- Count the USD pile against USD received.
- Count the KHR pile against KHR received.
- Only then convert, if you want one number for the day.
CashBear records every payment in the currency it was actually received, so the two piles on the counter should match the two numbers on the screen. When they do not, you know which currency to recount — which is usually the whole mystery solved.