The Gift Card Float: The Only Loan Your Customers Give YOU

Cash now, service later, 0% interest in between — the sample shop carries a $4,150 average float worth $498 a year against a credit line. But it IS a loan: the $5,700 outstanding is a liability, and shops that spend December's card cash as December revenue meet January — when the wave redeems — with payroll due and a room full of prepaid customers.

How it works

• The Float Ledger — sold, redeemed, outstanding, monthly. The December–January shape becomes visible once and never surprising again
• The Float Math — three machines: the free loan ($498/yr), the redemption lift (a $50 card walks in and buys $69 — $3,534 of extra spend on the year), honest breakage ($1,488 — a bonus, never a plan), and the slow-season promo that buys a guaranteed visit for $10 against the $218 an ad buys one for — with the cash banked months early
• The Rules — book it as liability, staff the January wave like the holiday it is (every redeemer is a first-visit prospect — someone else chose you for them), the two-push promo calendar, sell everywhere / redeem easily, and the one-hour state-law homework on expiry and escheat

Built for

Salons · spas · restaurants · boutiques · massage and wellness — every business with a rack of cards by the register and a January it keeps being surprised by.

What you get

One .xlsx file, four tabs, instant download. Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice. No macros, no subscription. The math half of a conversation your CPA should finish.