Cash Management Essentials
Smart Safe Benefits for Retailers
Optimization of Store Labor
Smart safes automate the depositing and recording of cash deposits right at point of sale. They can also be integrated with the store’s POS system, ensuring that cash sales are accounted for and deposits are happening when they need to – e.g., when the till drawer exceeds pre-determined capacities. Since all deposits are recorded, reconciling a cashier’s till balance at the end of a shift is exponentially faster, allowing employees to wrap up their day much more expediently and efficiently. With the burden of manually handling and counting money removed from their daily tasks, employees are freed up to focus on more productive activities within the store.
Reduced Banking Fees
Smart safes can substantially reduce the fees banks levy on retailers – including fees to administer the retailer’s commercial bank account, deposit fees, change fund fees, sweep fees, and NSF fees. For retailers with multiple banking relationships, such fees can quickly add up. Smart safes can be programmed to communicate with a CIT provider, who can then communicate all safe activity to one bank, thereby consolidating banking relationships from many to one. In addition, with the presence of daily credit, retailers no longer need to make daily bank runs, substantially reducing their deposit fees.
Improved Cash Visibility and Accountability
Smart safes offer note validation, cash tracking and accountability, expansive reporting capabilities, and network connectivity, which enables dashboard-like access to the entire estate of safes. This level of access provides unprecedented levels of cash visibility for a retailer with multiple stores. To facilitate transaction traceability and auditability, each smart safe user is issued their own user PIN, providing an exact record of all safe transactions by individual user. This level of traceability provides greater accountability for the store’s cash operations and overall business.
Faster Access to Working Capital
With daily credit, funds deposited into the smart safe can be credited to the store’s bank account the next business day. This negates the need for the store manager to make daily bank runs, and provides the store much faster access to their working capital.
Reduced Risk
In any retail environment, the risk of theft from internal and external sources is real. With a smart safe, cashiers can easily deposit cash into the safe right at point of sale. This reduces cash volumes in the till, which in turn minimizes overall cash exposure in the store. Smart safes also serve as an effective deterrent to internal theft, since all cash transactions are completely traceable to the individual user.