It’s 2020, and, despite predictions from so-called experts, the cashless society of the future has yet to appear. In fact, most business owners expect that they’re going to keep handling cash for the foreseeable future.
As you take your business into a new year and a new decade, you’re probably thinking about how you can improve your cash handling. After all, cash might be costing you much more than you give it credit for.
One of the best steps you can take is investing in an automated cash management solution for your business. Although the technology may seem futuristic, the problems it can solve have plagued businesses since the dawn of time. Make 2020 the year you finally put these three cash handling problems to bed.
A Lack of Accountability Is a Serious Cash Handling Issue
How often do your cashiers share a till? It might seem convenient when someone needs to head off on their lunch break, but allowing several team members to use the same till could be causing you more headaches.
What about your safe? You may control who has access to the vault, but you’re not keeping track of who is in and out, nor how much cash they deposit or take with them.
These situations point to a lack of accountability. Without a proper chain of custody, your cash management suffers. This makes it much more difficult to pinpoint errors. Tracing them back is time-intensive, and good luck avoiding similar issues in the future.
An automated cash management system can change the story. With better tracking, you’ll be able to see where you cash is constantly. You’ll also have more information about who is handling cash and when. With this system, you’ll be able to spot the exact moment things go awry. Learning from errors is even easier.
Minimize Transactional Errors with Automation
Mistakes happen. Your employees are only human, after all. Even when they’re following all policies and procedures to a “t,” you know that an error is bound to happen. Maybe they feel a bit flustered and count back change incorrectly, or maybe some fives stick together and get handed back to the customer. Maybe the employee isn’t sure how to handle a discount or a refund and pushes the wrong buttons. Now the till is out, and no one is quite sure what happened.
An automated cash handling solution rarely has “off days,” unlike your human team members. The devices involved are made to count, sort, and keep track of your cash with precision. You know that you’re getting better accuracy and improved oversight when you add specialized technology to the mix.
An even better plan? Make sure you train your team to handle all kinds of cash transactions, from the simplest tendering of cash to discounts, refunds, and more. Between their expert skill at cash handling and the automated solution, you’ll minimize transactional errors and make it even easier to reconcile your accounts.
Banish Accounting Errors
Just like your team on the floor, your team members in the office are only human. It’s easy to lose count, record numbers incorrectly, skip numbers, and mix up denominations when handling large volumes of cash. This goes double when your employees are tired or distracted after a long day. When your employees are counting and sorting money at the end of the night, your risk of accounting errors increases.
To ensure greater accuracy, you should invest in cash counters and sorters that automatically count, sort, and report totals. Take human error out of the equation, and you’ll find your books are much more accurate, even after those late-night counting sessions.
