How to manage rider cash remittances without leaks

Keep one running balance per rider

The most useful number in a pay-on-delivery business is simple: for each rider or delivery partner, how much of your money are they holding right now? Build it from four kinds of entry:

If the balance is positive, the rider holds your money. If it is negative, you owe them fees. Zero means you are square.

Settle the fee question once

Some riders keep their fee and send the rest; others send everything and are paid weekly. A running balance handles both. Example: a rider delivers two orders worth ₦22,000 and ₦28,000 and earns ₦1,000 per delivery.

• Collected ₦50,000, fees ₦2,000, so the balance is ₦48,000.
• If they keep the fee and send ₦48,000, the balance is zero.
• If they send ₦50,000, the balance is −₦2,000: you owe them their fee.

What matters is writing the fee down as its own entry, not quietly accepting a smaller transfer.

Make every transfer traceable

• Ask for a reference in the narration, such as the rider’s name and the date. It makes bank matching quick.
• Ask for a photo of the receipt for transfers and POS deposits.
• Allow part payments. A rider who can send ₦30,000 today should not wait until they have the full amount.

Have a second person confirm

The person who records that money was sent should not be the person who confirms it arrived. Confirm against the bank statement or the cash count, and choose the account it landed in. Reject with a reason when it does not match; the rider’s balance stays as it was until it is resolved.

Match against the bank, not screenshots

Screenshots can be edited and transfers can be reversed. Download your bank statement daily or every few days and tick each rider transfer against a credit. Credits you cannot explain, and transfers you were told about but cannot find, both need a call the same day.

Set a limit on how long cash stays out

Decide how many days a rider may hold delivery cash, for example three, and stop new dispatches to anyone past it until they settle. It is fairer than an argument at the end of the month, and riders know the rule in advance.

When money is genuinely lost

Counterfeit notes, theft and honest mistakes happen. Record a write-off with a reason, approved by the owner, so the loss shows in your accounts instead of hiding in a rider’s balance forever.

The routine

1. Every delivery: amount collected and payment method recorded.
2. Every evening: riders send cash with a reference and receipt.
3. Every morning: match yesterday’s credits; confirm or reject each remittance.
4. Every week: send each rider a statement with a running balance.