Question about sharing tills.

[ralerin]

Apparently, Aid of Rite will be updating its registers to new FANCY! ones and also eliminating the counting on and counting off of the registers, instead choosing to have one single cash drawer in a register and each person being given a passcode for one specific register that will be shared by many other cashiers who will ring in under their own passcode. Then the next person to use that register will punch in their passcodes and everything will be properly logged. there will be other FANCY! equipment installed as well, but this is the one that's bugging me the most.

How does this work for others who have a similar system? Is it good, is it bad, does money mysteriously end up "missing" as I'm afraid it's going to do? I'd like some info.

[fireheart]

The system we have is that yes, there is one single cash drawer and everyone logs in with their own number and passcode. The regsters get counted at least 2-3 times a DAY, that is, once in the morning, once in the afternoon and then again after we close. When there's a discrepancy, they start doing one of three things.

1) Restrict the people on those tills to either small or big registers only. (small-express)
2) Place everyone on the same tills all week.
3) Start interviewing and/or watching the security tapes.

Usually it's 1 or 2.

[Indigo]

It works pretty well at my job. We all have to log in with our employee IDs and a password that we make up for ourselves. I haven't heard of any problems with missing money, and if there was, they would know everyone who had used that register throughout the day. I like it because it seems simpler than having separate drawers and taking the time to count them before you leave. Instead, I just sign off when my shift is over.

[PepperElf]

i worked at ames dept store before i joined the navy, in the jewelry dept

we had a shared register and it worked out pretty well... however we did have one day when it was short. they couldn't tell who to blame because we all used it.

[bainsidhe]

At Hellmart there could be any number of cashiers on the same register. My understanding is that it worked surprisingly well.

Audits are supposed to be performed throughout the day. If tills start coming up short (or excessively over), there's usually a pattern as to who is running register during those times. That's when LP starts paying closer attention to the certain cashiers. It's time-consuming and some cashiers could get away with stealing for a while before being caught, but they would get caught.

I wouldn't worry about it too much unless management tries to make you sign a write-up or anything about a short till. Refuse to take responsibility for it unless they can prove it was you. I had more trouble during my fast food days because of management playing the blame-game than I did working at Hellmart.

[JLG]

Where I work we do share tills when the line gets long and maybe an associate is on break or lunch and we need another associate to jump on that till to help get the line down. Usually we don't share tills and we change them out for the next shift.

But when a cashier is short or over in their till they can't share or have another associate go on their till for 30 days. Of course this doesn't seem to happen cause if a manager tills you to get on that persons till you have no choice.

If the till is short or over money and more than one person was on that till then every associate that did a cash transaction goes onto that 30 day of no sharing. We can tell who is on a 30 day cause their is a red card on the till.

[Zoom]

How does this work for others who have a similar system? Is it good, is it bad, does money mysteriously end up "missing" as I'm afraid it's going to do? I'd like some info.

For my store, it was a complete mess.

Basically, we stopped being cashiers that day, and started being checkers (i.e. we stopped having to count our drawers down at the end of shift). If a small (under $20) discrepancy occurs, nobody is held responsible or anything. And if a large amount of grotzits goes on hiatus, those who tilled the till can point fingers until Doomsday.

What you should worry about under such a system is what the next step taken will be. More cameras? More drawer count downs? Having to sign your name to lots of extra pieces of paper in an increasing attempt at red-taping the problem to death?

Oh, and the passcode will be annoying, because whenever I want to type in something sensible (like Prince's "3121"), it will block me after a couple months and tell me I need to try a new one that I won't be able to remember (like Van Halen's "5150".)

[Pagan]

I wouldn't worry about it too much unless management tries to make you sign a write-up or anything about a short till. Refuse to take responsibility for it unless they can prove it was you. I had more trouble during my fast food days because of management playing the blame-game than I did working at Hellmart.

That's exactly what would happen where I used to work. Didn't matter if you never had any problems otherwise with your cash audits when you were on a drawer by yourself (I was usually within a penny or two if not perfect). Funny thing though, if there had been the store manager or asst manager on that drawer they didn't get written up. Funny that.

For my store, it was a complete mess.

Basically, we stopped being cashiers that day, and started being checkers (i.e. we stopped having to count our drawers down at the end of shift). If a small (under $20) discrepancy occurs, nobody is held responsible or anything. And if a large amount of grotzits goes on hiatus, those who tilled the till can point fingers until Doomsday.

We'd get written up if it went beyond the grace of +/- $3US.

[Darkforge]

It can work in a larger shop where there is a limit on how many people are on each till, but in a small shop where all the employees use the same till it can be a pain.

I remember cashing up one night and found we were £200 short, double checked it and yes, exactly £200 short. I managed to work up enough courage to ring the boss and tell her, but as 10 different people had used the till over the course of the day (including 2 new hires we were training) we had no idea where the money had gone.

Then 2 days later it cashed up as exactly £200 over. I have no idea where the money went, or how it came back, and I do still wonder what went through that person's head.

[Geek King]

Then 2 days later it cashed up as exactly £200 over. I have no idea where the money went, or how it came back, and I do still wonder what went through that person's head.

This sounds like 10s in the 5's till, or something like that. If the discrepency is an even number like that, check for mixed bills.

[casey13]

I remember the OSU vs Michigan game. We had two drawers assigned to two cashiers, but everyone was running register on our numbers. Managers, cooks, and we both ran on each other's numbers. There were so many cash transactions that it was insane. I tried to sign out when I signed on, but it was so hectic as we were the closest food place to the stadium.

Basically, I ended up 20 dollars and some odd cents short and she ended up 20 dollars and some odd cents over. It wasn't an exact amount, but it was really close. It was really messed up. We figured that money was pulled from my drawer to get change, but then was added to the other drawer by mistake. We never had to have so much money in the tills because usually students use their ID cards to pay.

Apparently we would have been written up for it, which I thought was kind of unfair as even managers ran on our numbers.

At Walmart, I never understood the audits as they never could pinpoint who it was. Supposedly there'd be a trend, but the amount of factors that would have to be factored into it would be annoying was we had the same people in the department running on the same till. They did figure out that we weren't signing off the register when we walked away though. It's not like someone could pop the till out though without waiting ten minutes for the CSM to approve it.

Meijer tried to fix it so only one person ran on a till, but they didn't really care in the end. I've ended up running on four different tills. Plus it was silly when they audited GM because they would tell us we were being audited.

[Android Kaeli]

At my current job we just went to this method, where two or three people can and will run the same register without it being shut down although before if the lines got long and the cashier in question was on break/lunch then whoever would jump onto it until the cashier came back. It actually saves time between the shifts because if four people are coming in and five people are leaving, only one register needs to be shut down before the first shift leaves.

Nothing major has happened with this process and tills haven't come up more then a couple of dollars over or under at random times( I think we're safe up to about +/- $5USD before questions are asked ). It actually saves a lot of time because before there was a long process where a cashier would have to spend twenty minutes waiting to get a till before anything else could be done.

[underemployeed]

I ALWAYS count down my drawer before I start because people can lie about what they put in the drawer. However, I hate when another person uses my drawer, because it kept coming up short. and well this same girls drawer was running short constantly too I accidentaly was told by management. I really would hate being fired becasue my drawer gets money stolen by another employee who against my wishes uses my drawer but can't be stopped as they list all our access codes in a location everyone knows. Not to mention the management does follow proper procedures either

[Cats]

I remember cashing up one night and found we were £200 short, double checked it and yes, exactly £200 short. I managed to work up enough courage to ring the boss and tell her, but as 10 different people had used the till over the course of the day (including 2 new hires we were training) we had no idea where the money had gone.

Then 2 days later it cashed up as exactly £200 over. I have no idea where the money went, or how it came back, and I do still wonder what went through that person's head.

That could have been someone who needed money ASAP, but couldn't wait until payday. So they take the money from the drawer, but honestly put it back when they get paid. It's still considered theft and a fireable offense at most places.


Either that, or money could have been stuck beneath the drawer or behind it (or maybe in a drop box, if you have them) and someone found it later. It doesn't happen very often, but I've seen it occur at my place.

[sarasquirrel]

at the 3 letter pharmacy we share tills

there have been times (at my old store) where when cash problems showed up everyones drawer was counted at the end of their shift before the next person could use it.

i doubt theyve ever done it at my store now.