How to Be Accurate With Cash Flow

Working in a retail store can be stressful, especially if you are having money issues.

Recently since my coming back from a honeymoon in Iceland, where the ice and cold froze away my cares of sunshine and oranges in Florida, I came back to a store where three employees quit. One was the former assistant to the general manager who was there for three years. It was time to pursue her degree. The other two were employees who have had some rough situations with phones, bathrooms, and eating store products while the hiring manager was on the clock.

At the store where we work, we often get cash tips at the end of the night. But sometimes we are short a lot of money and then no one gets any at all. Most nights, I have had to pay it back myself when the rule is that everyone who has access to the register must contribute to the cash shortage. But since the hiring manager thinks the problem lies with me, he makes sure no one pays it back and that I have to do it myself so that I get better giving back proper change.

Here is the issue, I give back proper change, but if the register is changed hours before the next shift is to occur, then why do I have to pay for someone's mistakes?

I noticed a pattern that occurred four nights a week. Every day we are short between $12-15 Monday, Friday, and Saturday. Every Wednesday we are short only $5. The other three days of the week, we are perfectly fine. But because of these shortages, I have been paying $30 almost every weekend night, $20 almost every Monday, and $5 almost every Wednesday. So far, it has been nearly a hundred dollars or more in cash going to deposit and drawer.

I have worked on a method that is accurate to the dollar. But for me to ensure that it is accurate, the details are in between the lines. Here are some of the concerns that raise the red flag as to the shortages nearly every night:

• The till is changed 30 minutes before the next shift when it should only be 10 minutes prior.
• It takes nearly one hour to count down a drawer when it should take about half the time.
• Having 5 people in a store and splitting tips means less money in the drawer and more money in people's pockets.

So here is a method based on my theories and analysis of what goes on in the store.

1. Ensure all cash is accurate to paper print out.
2. When splitting tips, managers who perform closeout duties such as safe, deposit, and drawers must place their tips back into the register.
3. When everything that requires cash is correct (safe being the proper amount, till being the proper amount, and deposit reading exactly like the printout), then any extra change or bills at the end of the night represents the tips earned for the night.
4. If you happen to be short, then do not take your tips home. Put them directly towards till or safe. If you happen to be over, then follow steps one to three and the extra cash was your tips in the drawer.

Let's practice this theory by looking at the steps individually below.

Ensure all cash is accurate to print out

If your store requires a cash deposit to pay for bills, products, shipments, etc., then you might need to read the information I will be posting down here.

Let's take a Saturday night and use it for the explanation. Friday we were short $14.55, with $5.75 split between the drawer and cash deposit. The remaining shortage was $11.80. So throughout the night, I split tips normally between employees. But as the manager must put my tips back in the drawer. By the time it is 11 a night, I should have an extra $13.15 in tips sitting in the till. This number is going off the number of the person you are closing that night with. So I closed with a co-worker and while I was supposed to have $13.15 in my tip cup, it was in the drawer. So we each should have the same amount.

Next, I count down the drawer to the required number. We must have $200 in our tills for both morning and night. I was over by a certain amount, but I reached $200 and took out the rest of the cash from that night. I look at the print out of stats and it says my cash should be about $931 and some change. As I count, I end up over the $931 by $11.19, meaning that I have paid 90% of my shortage back within a night. So then the next night, I owed only $0.61 back to the shortage and then I can regain my tips.

When splitting tips, managers who perform closeout duties such as safe, deposit, and drawers must place their tips back into the register.

So Sunday night, I forgot to check one last thing, the safe. So we were short $8 in the safe at work. So then that meant Sunday night, I should not have taken home my tips. I resume the same method on Tuesday night and for the rest of the nights, I am closing.

Tuesday night we needed to be at $246.63 in the deposit. So following the method I did, I split the tips and then I left mine in the drawer. I take it back to the office and then I proceed to count down my drawer, it goes to $200 exactly. Then I count down my deposit. The deposit was over by $6.91, but it was exactly the right amount on the paper. Which means the method worked very well. However, going back to what I said about Tuesday nights is that we are never short.

Once I count down my drawer and make the deposit fit the exact amount of money needed for the bank, I check the safe and we reach the proper amount of money. The only difference was the change purse was over by the six dollars I added in when it should have been $653. So, therefore, deducting from that logic, those six dollars were my tips I left in the drawer. This means that I followed the first two orders of my method and brought me to the end goal which is all cash flow is correct, every drawer is $200 and the safe is $1,625. So that meant Tuesday night I can take home my tips and it was a very rewarding $6.

If you have employees who are causing shortages, take them off the register immediately. But if they count everything back properly and read the right amount of change back, then there shouldn't be a problem.

This method works much better than splitting cash tips at the end of the night and having nothing left. Your employees get money and you get money at the end of the night. I made $15 in tips the last time I ever worked the register and it was very fulfilling that I could take it home and save it up for future projects and knitting consignment.