Assigning Responsibilities
Listed below are some of the responsibilities that may be assigned to you and are common to the ship's store operation:

Custody, care, and protection of monies and property
Proper documentation of receipt and issue of materials and monies
Custody and accurate maintenance of stock and financial control records
Inventory control practice to ensure prescribed stock levels
Completion of inventories and preparation of ship's store returns
Preparation of required reports

Keep in mind, the term monies as used previously is referring to cash transactions in the ship's store operation and does not include monies held by the disbursing officer. Although you may be well trained in your area of responsibility, the supply officer will still exercise certain controls to maintain his or her accountability. First, the supply officer will prescribe the responsibilities assigned to you in the supply department organizational chart, manual, or other written directive and in the letters of assignment issued by the ship's store officer. Second, the supply officer will conduct frequent inspections of spaces and operations to make sure responsibilities are being carried out properly. Third, the supply officer will conduct internal reviews to make sure tasks are being completed according to the NAVSUP P-487 and other current manuals, publications, or directives. Fourth, the supply officer will make sure responsible personnel are being properly trained and supervised. Your assignment as sales outlet operator in no way relieves the supply officer or the ship's store officer of his or her responsibilities to the commanding officer for the proper operation of the sales outlet.

Letters of Assignment
The ship's store officer is required to assign in writing all responsibilities to personnel. These letters will include your duties and limitations, effective date, and the person you relieve, if any. You will acknowledge acceptance of these responsibilities required to perform your duties. These letters of assignment will be filed and maintained in the Military Correspondence File, SSA-17, for a period of 2 years.

Separate and Combined Responsibilities
As a Ship's Serviceman, you will often hear the terms separate responsibility or combined responsibility. You should be familiar with and understand the difference between these two terms because many ship's store tasks will differ procedurally between the two. A separate responsibility operation is one in which two or more persons are responsible for the operation of a sales outlet and the bulk storeroom that supplies that sales outlet. On the other hand, a combined responsibility operation is one in which one person is responsible for both a sales outlet and the bulk storeroom that supplies that sales outlet. Most ships are under separate responsibility operations; however, some ships have combined responsibility operations and some ships have a mixture of both.

Multiple Sales Outlet Operators
When circumstances make it necessary, the commanding officer may request to have more than one person operating a sales outlet. Once the type commander approves the commanding officer's request, a two-drawer cash register must be used, where each operator has access to only one drawer. When two persons operate one retail store, cash will be collected at the end of each shift and inventory will be held monthly.