This is an update of a popular blog post from 2011

One of my favorite store tasks (for reasons I can’t fully explain) is pulling older invoices from all my vendor files.  I do this twice a year, removing the those from over a year ago so that only the most recent twelve months are still on hand. It’s a good opportunity to revisit the purchases made from each one of our suppliers, and to determine whether they are still active. When the newly pulled invoices go into storage, and the oldest box in storage goes to recycling.

The prediction of a paperless society has not fully come to pass. Although cloud storage is a real space saver, many of us still have desks and filing cabinets filled with invoices, tax forms, bank statements, receipts, advertising tear sheets and more.  The sheer bulk of all this paper can easily begin to overwhelm the space allotted, and make it difficult to find what you need.

There are two things that will make your “backstage” life easier: sorting out your papers to decide what you really need, and organizing what remains.  In most places paper is recyclable, which should make it easier for even the most dedicated hoarder (and we’re not talking the TV show extreme) to let go.

But before you start filling up your recycling bin — or heading for a shredding service for sensitive documents — you need to consider which records the government requires you to keep.  There are federal regulations regarding what documents, files and records must be retained, although some of these are no longer on paper. 

A good place to start your plan for retaining records is on the IRS small business site.  They helpfully advise that if you file a fraudulent return you should keep records indefinitely. But assuming that you haven’t done that (and I certainly hope you haven’t!), then you need to keep most records for 3 years, and personnel records for 4 years.

Three years is long enough to keep past invoices as well. You usually only need ready access to one year’s records in order to answer questions about pricing and such — if you have inventory over a year old on your sales floor, you should be moving it out.

Your store’s sales and other financial records are now likely to be data files. They should be copied and stored off-site, or uploaded to a secure cloud-based service. This is good protection in case of computer failure or fire. It is important for your own long-term business planning that you be able to reference your store’s past performance.

You will also want to have a plan for keeping the store’s cultural history alive.  In addition to what is on our computer, we have photo albums of staff events and window displays, and a binder of memorable employee newsletters (mostly the ones introducing new staff members).  We keep clippings of some of our advertising, and of media coverage about the store.  These archives help employees feel that they are part of an institution with a past — and a future — and are well worth the storage space.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder