Guard Your Store Against Counterfeit Money
A cash management solution reduced this c-store's theft problem and eliminated counterfeit money acceptance.
Retail losses in the form of transaction fraud continue to occupy a sizeable share in the cost of operations of retailers, as indicated by 680 retail companies surveyed by Aberdeen Group. The data shows that 60% of retailers surveyed recorded year-over-year shrink of 1.75% of their total inventory, further compounding the problem of existing theft, counterfeit detection, and protection against robbery in retail. Indeed, Mike Squillace, vice president of loss prevention and risk management at Speedy Stop convenience stores, had to solve the company's growing fraud problem or risk losing revenue.
Speedy Stop operates more than 100 locations in Texas and employs 1,000 people. "We were experiencing an increase in counterfeit bills at several locations," says Squillace. "Also, we experienced cash shortages between shifts. We needed a solution that would alleviate these costly problems." Speedy Stop needed a cash management solution to improve things affected by cash shortages, such as customer service, cash audit trail reports, and time management (e.g. on-site managers spent one and a half hours per day counting money for deposit preparation).
In March 2005, Squillace began researching cash management solutions. He made the decision to implement a cash management solution to improve employee safety and secure revenue. For 18 months, Squillace tested several safe systems. The company chose Tidel Sentinel Safe System and Sentinel SCD Safe System for low-cash-volume locations (i.e. those that generate under $2,000 per day). For high-volume locations (i.e. those that generate over $2,000 per day), it chose the Sentinel BCND Safe System and two Sentinel SCD Safe Systems. The Sentinel's cabinet size is 30.75-by-21-by-16 inches. Its PIN and data key system allows managed access to functions and reports, which gives shift managers access to shift-by-shift reports. The Sentinel SCD's cabinet measurements are 30.75-by- 12-by-16 inches. All transactions, deposits, drops, and vault access can be traced back to an individual user through the use of PINs.
Integrate The Safe With Your POS For Added Security
The Sentinel BCND's cabinet measurements are 30.75-by-14.4-by-19 inches. It dispenses bulk coins and notes in any quantity. Coins are dispensed into individual cups. The note dispenser is capable of managing up to four canisters of 500 notes each. All safes have the ability to integrate with the POS, back office PC, and remote location systems via a network connection. As of press time, Speedy Stop is in the process of integrating each store's safes with its POS. The safes are integrated with the company's DVR system. "All safe transactions feed data into the electronic journal of the DVR so we can match up video with all safe operations," says Squillace.
The company's internal maintenance team and a Tidel representative installed the safes. Each safe takes less than 2 hours to install. End user training was necessary for Speedy Stop employees. "Having been one of the first to utilize the BCND and SCD safe systems, we worked with the Tidel team to develop a training manual for use at the store level," says Squillace.
Read more on cash management at ismretail.com/jp/7124.
Since implementing the Tidel safes, Speedy Stop has reaped many benefits. Internal theft has been reduced. Currently, there are almost no cash variations during shifts due to individual user-based PIN transactional data. Of locations that have the Tidel safe system, there hasn't been one successful robbery of safe funds, as access requires dual control between Speedy Stop management and the vendor's armored courier service. Access to coins is more efficient because bulk coins are distributed via the safe's change cups. Employees no longer waste time unraveling packs of rolled coins. Squillace says two of the most important benefits of the safe system are counterfeit bill detection and time saved during deposit preparation. "To date, zero counterfeit bills have been accepted at Tidel Safe System locations," he says. "Also, we've saved one and a half hours per store in management's time, as no deposit preparation is needed for armored courier service to pick up the deposits. This time savings allows our management team members to have more time 'on the sales floor,' which improves our image, customer service, cash management, and employee training."