This article is brought to you by Cash Depot.

Fun fact: Paper money is almost 1,000 years old, while coins are at least 2,500 years old. In other words, retailers have been managing cash for a long time.  

According to Sean Burke, CEO of Cash Depot, traditional cash management systems are inefficient and inaccurate. “Today there are better ways to manage cash that reduce costs and improve safety,” he said.

But first, what exactly is cash management? According to Burke, it’s the entire operation of how cash is managed in the store, across stores and across the corporation, from payment received from the customer to deposit into the company bank account. In its simplest form, it involves a cashier counting a drawer in a backroom, an operator frequently driving money to the bank for deposits, and manual bookkeeping.

Smart safes represent a step up from this basic level. They can keep a tally of the cash holdings and even offer the retailer provisional credit until the company that operates the smart safe can pick up the actual cash. “However,” said Burke, “the money isn’t really yours until it is picked up via an armored carrier, taken to a facility, counted, then credited to your account. And the costs for that provisional credit can add up fast.” 

“Cash recycling is a more advanced form of cash management,” Burke continues. It starts with a smart safe that can store, sort and manage multiple denominations. The money is then stored and made available to provide start-of-shift funds for registers, additional change for counters throughout the day and to easily break larger bills into smaller denominations–reducing the amount of time cashiers, managers and other staff spend at every level of the cash management cycle.

Cash Depot’s cash recycling system is called BANK IN A BOX. “Our BANK IN A BOX program further reduces time spent on cash management through its real-time, web-based reporting portal and unique API for easy back office integrations,” Burke said. “But it also offers additional benefits, such as reducing provisional credit payments and further limiting the amount of cash available in-store – by recycling funds out to ATM and financial kiosk users.

The biggest benefit of cash recycling is saving on the three costs of cash. Read more about these costs in the first article in this two-part series on cash management.

Learn more about Cash Depot.