Book stock
Also called System stock, Computed stock.
What a tank should contain according to the records: opening stock, plus everything delivered into it, minus everything its nozzles dispensed. It is derived rather than measured, which is exactly what makes it a valid thing to compare a dip against — if either side can be adjusted to match the other, the comparison stops meaning anything.
Calibration drift
A dispenser gradually delivering more or less than it charges for. Over-delivery gives fuel away one transaction at a time and is invisible in cash — it shows only as stock loss that scales with that one nozzle's throughput and is absent on its neighbours.
Credit sale
Also called Udhar, Account sale.
Fuel supplied against a customer account rather than paid for at the pump. It is revenue on the day the fuel leaves and a receivable until it is settled — recorded as anything else, it becomes a hole in that day's cash that somebody has to remember the reason for.
Dead stock
The fuel that sits below the level a tank's suction line can draw from, and therefore cannot be sold while the tank is in service. It is real inventory you have paid for and permanently working capital rather than saleable stock.
Dealer commission
Also called Dealer margin.
The fixed amount per litre a dealer retains, set by the oil marketing company. Because it is per litre and not a percentage, a rise in the retail price does not increase it — it only increases the working capital tied up in every tanker load.
Decantation
Also called Unloading, Discharge.
Emptying a tanker's compartments into your underground tanks. Almost everything you can check about a delivery has to be checked before this starts, because once the fuel is mixed with what was already in the tank every question becomes an argument about inference.
Density at 15 °C
Also called Standard density, Reference density.
Density corrected to the industry's reference temperature. Fuel expands as it warms, so a density measured on a hot forecourt is not comparable to one on an invoice until both are converted — which is why a warm delivery so often looks like a shortage a few days later.
Dip
Also called Dip reading, Dipping.
A physical measurement of how much fuel a tank actually holds, taken with a calibrated stick or gauge and converted to litres through that tank's own calibration chart. It is the independent half of stock reconciliation — the only figure in the exercise that comes from the fuel itself rather than from a record.
Evaporation loss
Also called Handling loss, Shrinkage.
Fuel bought and never sold, lost to vapour and handling. It is a real cost priced at what you paid per litre, not at your commission — and because nobody writes a cheque for it, it appears in no ledger and shows up only as a stock variance.
Expected revenue
What the litres say the day should have collected: litres sold per fuel type, valued at the rate that applied. Comparing it against actual collections is the cash half of reconciliation, and it only works because the two figures come from different places.
Fleet card
A card issued to a transport operator that authorises fuel at the pump and settles against a statement from the issuer. It moves the credit risk away from the dealer but not the reconciliation — it is still a collection that has not arrived.
Meter reading
Also called Nozzle reading, Opening and closing reading.
The totaliser figure taken at the start and end of a shift. The difference between the pair is the litres that nozzle dispensed, which is the only primary measurement a pump makes of what actually left it.
Nozzle
Also called Gun, Dispensing point.
One dispensing point, with its own totaliser, drawing from exactly one tank. That last part is what lets a single reading do three jobs: litres sold, stock movement on the right tank, and attribution to a fuel type.
Oil marketing company
Also called OMC.
The company whose brand a dealership operates under and which supplies its fuel — in India principally Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, alongside private marketers. It sets both the dealer purchase price and the retail price, which is why the dealer's margin is a fixed commission rather than a markup.
Opening float
Also called Change float, Petty float.
Cash handed to a shift at the start so it can make change. It was never a sale, so counting it in the closing drawer makes every shift appear over by the same amount every day — which quickly trains everyone to ignore the figure.
Outlet
Also called Retail outlet, RO, Petrol bunk.
One fuel retail site with its own tanks, nozzles, staff and records. Two pumps at the same address under one licence are one outlet; two sites are two, whether or not they share an owner.
Reconciliation
Comparing two records of the same thing that were produced by different means, and explaining any difference. A register records; reconciliation compares. Almost every rupee a fuel outlet loses is lost in a gap that only a comparison would reveal.
Shift handover
Closing one shift's readings, collections and drawer before the next begins. It is what makes a discrepancy answerable — a shortfall found at handover belongs to someone who is still on the premises, and the same figure found at month-end belongs to nobody.
Stamping
Also called Verification, Legal Metrology stamping.
Statutory verification of a dispensing unit as a measuring instrument, after which it is stamped. It certifies the dispenser on the day it was tested and says nothing about what it is doing eight months later — which is what your own records are for.
Stock variance
Also called Loss or gain, Stock difference.
The difference between the dip and book stock, in litres. Negative means fuel left without being sold. The size of a single day's variance says very little; the shape of it across weeks is what separates evaporation from calibration drift from a leak.
Testing litres
Also called Test measure, Calibration litres.
Fuel dispensed into a measure to check a dispenser and then returned to the tank. It moved the totaliser and it was not sold — counted as a sale it manufactures a cash shortfall, and ignored entirely it reappears later as a stock gain nobody ordered.
Throughput
Litres dispensed over a period, usually per day or per month. Because dealer commission is fixed per litre, throughput is the only lever that moves gross margin — which is why stock loss expressed as a percentage of throughput is the comparison that matters.
Totaliser
Also called Totalizer, Cumulative meter.
The running count of every litre a nozzle has ever dispensed. It only ever increases, which is what makes it trustworthy — and what makes a closing reading below its opening always an error rather than a possibility.
Ullage
Also called Outage.
The empty space left in a tank — capacity minus what is currently in it. It is the number that decides whether a tanker's load will actually fit, and getting it wrong is how a delivery ends with a compartment that cannot be discharged.
Volume correction factor
Also called VCF.
The multiplier that converts a volume measured at one temperature to the volume the same fuel would occupy at 15 °C. Defined by ASTM D1250 / API MPMS 11.1, and different for petrol and diesel because they expand at different rates.