Australian Convenience Store News | C a s h H a n d l i n g

A hands-off approach

The question of cash handling at service stations and convenience stores is no longer about whether or not to adopt secure and safe practices. Itís now about minimising cash handling and providing audit trails for cash - at the lowest possible cost.

Peter Symington is New South Wales Sales Manager for Lamson Concepts, an Australian owned company that specialises in pneumatic tube cash systems.

"For a lot of service stations and convenience stores, a simple two-key safe system is adequate," said Mr Symington. "But some of the larger sites with registers at several locations in the store are now looking to more sophisticated systems to manage the large cash volumes that are going through the store."

"This type of system has three major advantages," Mr Symington said. "The first is improved security, which is pretty obvious. The second is productivity. We donít need to have someone moving about a store, with an escort, collecting cash. The third is that, in the event of an armed hold-up, there is no issue about opening up a safe, because the safe is located well away with no access to it.

"Now the cash tube modern intelligence. A service station owner or manager can sit at home and log onto the system and monitor who is sending, how much, at what time into the safe or receiving cabinet," Mr Symington said. "Any inconsistency in an operatorís deposits are evident on the audit log, and a manager knows how much is being collected. PINs are punched into a keypad for operators and there are various levels of system access for supervisors and owners. We also have a tube system under trial for secure storage and dispensing of cigarettes and soon weíll see multiple ATMs operating with this technology."

Choosing the best system for your site
Choosing the best cash handling system for your site is really a matter of balancing risk against costs. Darren Dubrich is Retail Area Manager of a ninety-five site Shell MSF operating in Melbourne and Adelaide.

"We handle huge amounts of cash and we try to control handling costs as best we can, without compromising security," Mr Dubrich said. "Our cash collection costs were very high because the process was very labour intensive. We were dropping maybe 250 bags with dockets into a two-key drop safe, which were then collected by uniformed guards, counted off-site, reconciled and banked. It was reliable, but expensive and, even if weíd gone to a soft skin approach, our costs would still have been unacceptably high.

"We looked at a number of systems and finally asked API Security to integrate their cash cassette system with our existing point of sale system. Our fundamental aim was to reduce the time spent collecting and handling cash so, instead of using a bag system and a drop safe, we now have a two key safe with an in-built note counter and a cash storage cassette.

"Notes are fed in by console operator and automatically counted by the machine throughout each shift. Shift ends are signalled by our point of sale system and the guards still come and collect the cash,í Mr Dubrich said. "But instead of collecting a couple of hundred bags, they collect one cassette full of counted notes, which can be machine counted for rechecking off-site, and slip an empty cassette back into position inside the safe."

"The system maximises safety because there is less money in the till than we had with cash bags. The crooks are learning that thereís no point in robbing a Shell site because they wonít get much money. Our sites are therefore safer for our staff. The labour content of cash handling, both on site and off site, has been substantially reduced and reconciliations are now smooth.

"The API system sits transparently with the pre-existing Breeze system and in the 18 months weíve been operating it, we have not had a single occasion when the on site count and the off-site count have failed to reconcile," Mr Dubrich added.

"Typically, youíd expect the average site to experience between $1,700 and $3,300 per year in unexplainable cash losses between point of sale and bank," said API Security General Manager, Mr Bob Turner, "depending on the size of the site. Add to that the costs of cash collection and reconciliation, at maybe $6,000 per year per site, and the cash handling issue starts to become a significant expense.

"Itís also frustrating that, with conventional handling systems, it can take several days before site management hears of a shift that canít reconcile its cash. That makes it very hard to do anything about it. By reducing the labour content in cash collection, providing shift-end reconciliations in real time and interfacing safe, cash dispenser and POS system, weíve handed real control back to the site or area manager."

Tank Security is an integrated security company, supplying and manufacturing electronic and vacuum and time delay safes, CCTV and alarms. One of its best-known product is the TACC cash dispensing range of time delay drop safes. The latest TACC 2A has a note reader.

"We havenít seen any need to integrate the note reader and safe to the POS," said Tank Securityís National Marketing Manager, Vince DíAngelo. "You clear the cash and the TACC prints a docket that goes back into the till, so that the till always balances. Thereís a comprehensive sort and report facility for management, which is powerful enough to reveal patterns in cash loss. And, if a crook comes in, all heís going to get is a handful of dockets.

"I agree that itís important to get shift end balances in real time, even if management is not always on site at every shift change. But I see little benefit in complicating matters by interfacing to the POS system. Weíre currently looking at one large project for a major retail chain and even they preferred a stand-alone system.

Important issues
"The important things," said Mr DíAngelo, "are that cash is not double handled on site; cash is counted as it enters the drop safe; and that shift end reconciliations are timely and properly reported. Itís also important that the cash carrier takes ownership of the cash the moment it enters the drop safe."

Although it has been operating in cash handling in Australia for less than three years, Brinks is the worldís oldest armoured car operation. It was established in 1859 and now operates in 52 countries.

"Service station and convenience store operators are progressively turning towards more technology to control the movement of cash," said Lloyd Markwell, General Manager for Sales & Marketing. "They are also adding ATMs and managing them in a secure way.

"Whether you are looking at an armoured pickup service or a soft skin service, the cash processing remains a constant. Notes, even pre-counted notes, have to be sorted, faced and recounted. The banks simply wonít accept notes any other way. But pre-counting systems are a lot more efficient.

"Brinks will not do soft skin collections as an international policy," Mr Markwell said. "The risk of injury or death is just too high. Thatís why we only operate with fully armoured crews. Armoured operators are the only organisations that can run a cash pool to sort and bank the cash. Thatís why, at the end of the day, there is very little difference in cost for a soft skin service or a fully armoured service.

"Service stations and convenience stores have improved enormously in terms of security," said Mr DíAngelo. "But cash shrinkage has become an issue. An audit trail for cash will protect both management and staff."

"Thereís no doubt that the service station and convenience store industry has improved in recent years," said Mr Markwell. "It now has a higher regard to safety, but we are still seeing end of shift reconciliations not being done properly. Good cash handling procedures reduce the level of employee theft and ultimately add value for the employee in terms of security and safety on site."