A new helper at the counter can learn the names of a hundred medicines in a month. What takes longer — and causes more mistakes — is reading the strip itself: which number is the batch, which date is the expiry, and which price is the real one.
Here is everything on a strip, in the order a counter person needs it. Print it, stick it near the computer, and go through it with every new person on their first day.
1. Name and strength
The brand name is the big one. Next to or under it is the generic name (the salt) and the strength — 500 mg, 650 mg, 10 mg. Always check the strength. Paracetamol 500 and Paracetamol 650 are both "paracetamol", and they are not the same medicine for the patient.
2. B.No. — the batch number
A short code like PCM24117, usually printed as "B.No." or "Batch No." It tells you which production lot the strip came from.
Why it matters at the counter:
Every bill should carry the batch. If a batch is recalled, you need to know who bought it.
The same medicine can have two batches on your shelf with different expiry dates and even different MRPs. Bill the batch you are actually handing over.
3. MFG — manufacturing date
The month and year it was made. You rarely need it at the counter, except to spot very old stock.
4. EXP — expiry date
The most important date on the strip. It is printed as a month and year — EXP 01/2028 — and the medicine can be sold up to the end of that month. Two things to train:
Do not confuse MFG and EXP. On some strips they are next to each other, in the same font. Expiry is the later date.
Check the expiry against the course. A strip that expires next month is fine for a five-day course and not fine for a three-month supply. The last dose must come before the expiry date.
5. MRP — the most you can charge
"MRP ₹30.20 for 15 tablets (incl. of all taxes)". Two things here:
The MRP is for the whole strip or pack. If you sell 5 tablets from a strip of 15, the price is MRP ÷ 15 × 5.
Never charge above the MRP. Charging less is allowed. If an old strip shows a higher MRP than a revised price list (as happened when GST dropped in September 2025), follow the revised price. See what GST 2.0 changed for chemists.
6. The Rx mark and warnings
Rx means prescription only. Rx in red with a boxed warning is Schedule H1 — it needs an entry in the H1 register. XRx is Schedule X. This post explains all three.
Other warnings to notice: "Store below 25°C", "Store between 2–8°C — do not freeze", "Physician's sample — not to be sold". The last one should never be in your stock at all.
Where the details hide
On a strip, details are often printed on the back, along the edge, or embossed (pressed into the foil without ink) — hard to read under a tube light. On bottles, they are on the label or the bottom. On boxes, on one of the side flaps.
Teach new staff to tilt the strip under the light. And teach them that if they cannot read the expiry, they should ask, not guess.
Five mistakes new staff make
Reading MFG as EXP.
Billing the wrong strength of the same brand.
Charging the old MRP from the system when the strip shows a new one.
Cutting a strip so the batch and expiry are lost from the part given to the customer.
Handing over a strip from the new batch when the older one is still on the shelf.
A barcode scanner and batch-wise billing remove most of these: the batch and expiry come from the scan, not from the helper's eyes. Until then, this one page does the job.
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