Cash handling comes with a lot of responsibility. Cash must be handled properly to ensure that your company doesn’t lose money as a result of costly mistakes. Do you find that you think you are doing everything right, yet your business is still experiencing losses due to poor cash handling procedures? It is well worth your time to consider the ways your business handles cash and find areas for improvement. Your business will thank you for it!
Start your transition from frequent mistakes to a secure cash management process as you learn more about five cash handling mistakes that your business can easily avoid.
1. More Cash on Hand, More Problems
Depending on the type of business you own, you may find that you accept large volumes of cash every day. If you keep large amounts of cash in your registers, they can attract theft or simply become disorganized, causing things to go missing. Keeping minimal amounts of cash in your registers allows your staff to handle cash transactions with confidence and reduces the chance of lost or misplaced cash. One way to easily fix this issue is to install a smart safe underneath your cash register so that your staff can quickly and securely manage the amount of bills and coins that they have on hand.
2. Transaction Errors
Throughout a busy retail day, your staff will receive and give out change for many cash transactions. It can be difficult for all cash transactions to be kept straight, particularly if there are distractions or long lines causing your staff to rush. Transaction errors can be reduced by encouraging your staff to focus on their cash handling process. If extreme efficiency is important for your business, you may consider automating the point-of-sale process to increase speed and eliminate errors.
3. Counting Cash by Hand
Anybody who has worked in retail has had at least a few challenging cash counting experiences where the till simply won’t balance and the error is nowhere to be found. Counting cash by hand is not the most accurate or efficient way that your business can handle cash. Your staff may be forced to double or triple check their counting each time the registers are balanced. You can drastically increase the efficiency and accuracy of counting cash by investing in cash management automation.
4. Manually Checking for Counterfeit
Counterfeit fraud is a challenge that many retail businesses face, but it is also a challenge that can be easily avoided. Manually checking for counterfeit can be risky, as increasingly sophisticated counterfeit bills make their way into circulation. Additionally, manually checking for counterfeit doesn’t provide your staff with the assurance to reject counterfeit bills. Your business does not have to fall prey to counterfeit currency; using a counterfeit detector gives your staff the ability to efficiently and exactly identify counterfeit bills. Counterfeit detection technology is a worthwhile investment to protect the integrity of the cash your business accepts.
5. Swapping Cash Registers
In busy retail settings, your staff may find themselves switching from cash register to cash register during the same shift. Swapping cash registers can create big problems when handling cash as it reduces any sense of accountability that your staff have to the registers that they work on. Swapping registers can lead to cash handling mistakes, particularly if your retail establishment is busy. When you or your staff go to balance the till at the end of the day, you may find unexplained errors and be unsure of who to hold accountable. Keeping your staff committed to and responsible for their own register is a simple way to reduce the margin for error in your cash handling process.
Author: Robin Steinberg October 10, 2016 09:00 AM