In a business where margins between profit and loss are so slim, you need to carefully control all your costs. When it comes to cash handling procedures, retailers need to follow best practices.
These five practices can help you streamline cash management for lower costs, higher efficiency, and more.
1. Automation Is One of the Cash Handling Procedures Retail Must Adopt
The most obvious way to handle cash more efficiently in any retail business is to adopt new technology.
For the last few decades, cash management technology has been making serious advances. Smart safes helped retailers keep better track of cash and store it more securely.
Coin and bank note recyclers are taking automation one step further. With a recycling system, you can sort, count, store, and dispense cash, all from the same machine. Adopting such a system results in serious time savings, as cashiers can make change for large bills, top up their tills, and even prepare floats.
Automation also lowers the administrative burden of handling cash, since the machines can count and sort bills and coins. They also keep good records, and they can help you prepare deposits.
2. Set Rules about Deposits and Pick-Ups
Some of the cash handling procedures that retailers should examine include managing how much cash is on site at any given time.
You’ll want to set rules about how much cash should be in a register drawer at any given time. If you use coin and bank note recyclers, the cash can be stored safely in the machine. Otherwise, you’ll want to have supervisors or cash managers pick up from tills on a regular basis. This keeps the amount of money on the floor to a minimum.
You’ll also want to think about how much cash is on site waiting to be deposited at the bank. You’ll need to keep a certain amount of cash on hand in order to make change, prepare floats, and so on.
Knowing when to deposit can be a challenge. You don’t want to keep too much cash on hand, but you also don’t want to deposit too often and be left with too little cash on site. Minimizing trips to the bank and fees associated with making deposits is key.
Automating your cash handling system can help streamline deposits. This makes it easier to determine when to deposit as well. Set rules about when to make deposits and you’ll minimize the amount of time you spend at the bank.
3. Control Access to Cash
Another important best practice that retail business owners should follow is access. Who can handle your cash? Who is responsible for which cash handling tasks in the business?
Adopt policies that give you control over who can access cash, and control the level of access people in different roles have. For example, cashiers probably don’t need high-level access. Certain functions can be restricted to your cash managers or your bookkeeper.
Again, cash handling equipment can help you manage this aspect of cash handling. You can create accounts and set roles within those accounts. You can then create restrictions and grant different levels of permission to different roles.
4. Monitor and Report on Cash Handling
You need to know how well your new cash handling procedures are working. That’s why you need to monitor and report on your cash handling activities.
You’re probably running reports already, but cash automation technology can increase the number of reports you can create and improve their accuracy. This paper trail can help you find mistakes and keep track of who is handling cash.
5. Train Employees
Once you’ve developed effective cash handling procedures for retail, you need to make sure all your employees are following them. Training is vital, especially when you adopt new equipment.
With these cash handling procedures in place, retail business owners can improve efficiency, productivity, and more.
