Question about sharing tills.

ralerin · #1 02-28-2010, 03:49 AM

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 · #2 02-28-2010, 03:55 AM

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 · #3 02-28-2010, 03:57 AM

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 · #4 02-28-2010, 05:11 AM

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 · #5 02-28-2010, 05:59 AM

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.

patiokitty · #6 02-28-2010, 03:13 PM

Once upon a time I worked in a little muffin and coffee shop - it was a job between jobs sort of deal that I held while waiting for something better to come along. Anyhow, we only had one till and there would be at least two sets of hands in it - mine and the shop's owner. This guy was famous for randomly pulling money out of the till without writing down exactly how much he was taking and then blaming me for any money that he figured we were short! He used to threaten to take the money out of my pay until I told him that 1) it was illegal, and 2) he was pulling money out all the time to pay for deliveries and random crap without writing down anything, and 3) the second he put his hand into the till that all bets were off and I wasn't responsible for any shortages or overages.

I was rather glad when he opted to lay me off, and even happier to find out that about two months later he lost the business by running it into the ground with his bullshit business practices. By then I'd found a much better job anyways

JLG · #7 02-28-2010, 08:28 PM

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 · #8 03-01-2010, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Quoth ralerin

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 · #9 03-01-2010, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Quoth bainsidhe

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.

Quote:

Quoth Zoom

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 · #10 03-01-2010, 04:07 PM

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.