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Customer relations for Dummies: Counting change 101
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Location: Blogs Sly Comments |
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| Posted by: Emory Schley |
5/11/2007 8:02 PM |
Lately, I’ve been marvelling, once again, how a cashier standing in front of a modern cash register, can fail to hand out the correct change to a customer.
My little bit of experience on a cash register came decades ago, long before they started building computers into them. Back in those days, you had to make change for a customer’s purchases manually. I doubt that many of us screwed up back then, because we all had been taught how to make change correctly.
Apparently, they no longer teach that lost art. Now, the procedure is to ring up the purchases, total the bill, punch in the amount tendered, then count out the appropriate amount of change as indicated on the cash register’s display. There are two basic problems with this approach: one, is that the employer is presuming, at his peril, that his employee actually KNOWS how to count money correctly; and two, the employer is also presuming – again at his peril – that his employee is capable of actually ringing up the correct amount tendered.
In my experience, neither presumption is correct.
Scanning devices have pretty much taken over the cashier’s need to punch in individual prices, but I would suggest that scanners now need to be “taught” how to recognize the amount of money given to a cashier, and then to parcel out the correct change, completely bypassing the employee. Computers, I’ve often been told, are just “dumb” machines. That’s true, but at least, they know how to figure math problems, and as long as they have the correct data to work with, they’re far more reliable than flesh-and-blood humans.
Most of us would hope the average employee should be capable of doing this “making change” business all by him/herself, but my observations indicate that is not necessarily how the situation is. And I’ve about given up hope that the situation will ever improve. I used to correct a cashier’s “oversight” when they screwed up, but I no longer bother. I got tired of the puzzled looks when I tried to simply explain something like, Two dollars and seven cents minus $1.87 is 20 cents.” Apparently, they don’t understand the concept of a customer trying to avoid collecting a pocket full of pennies from transactions.
If you’re one of those cashiers I’m talking about, and you’re wondering what the “correct way” of counting out change is – then consider this: You don’t even have to do any math, although you DO have to be able to count correctly. That’s why it’s called “counting out” change.
Say you ring up a purchase, with tax, that amounts to $3.87 and the customer hands you a $5 bill. Take the money, reach into the register and start counting his change as you pull it from the till. Start counting at the amount of the purchase, and count up to the amount given you by the customer. For the example just noted, pick up three pennies, and count, “$3.88, 3.89, 3.90.” Then fish a dime from the till. “$4.00 even.” Now retrieve a one-dollar bill and add that in with your counting. “Five dollars,” then you hand it to the customer. Simple, huh?
Now let’s say, still using the same numbers, that you get a case of the fumble-fingers, and inadvertently ring up $50 as the amount tendered. Your cash register will then tell you that you owe the customer $46.13. This is NOT a crisis! You overrang the amount by $45, so you simply subtract that overage from the amount the cash register is indicating as change, and you’ll still wind up with the correct $1.13 in change. Count out the change as you retrieve it from the till, just like before, and stop when you reach $5. The fact that you mis-rang the amount tendered doesn’t affect your calculations or your counting in the least. You might want to manually correct the receipt though, so that the customer can’t come back later and claim he didn’t get the correct change as indicated on the receipt.
Keep it simple, people. There’s no point in making Life more complicated than it already is!
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For a little over three months now, I’ve been adding new blogs to this site on a daily basis, seven days a week, but this edition will be the final one of those daily blogs. I’ll still be adding blogs regularly but on a reduced schedule, probably several times per week. I’m not going to commit myself to any particular days of the week, so you’ll just have to check each day if you’re interested in seeing whatever depravity my mind has come up with lately.
It’s been fun, but it’s been decided my time is best spent elsewhere. |
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Comments (8)
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Re: Customer relations for Dummies: Counting change 101 |
By Tommy F Thompson on
5/11/2007 8:06 AM |
Sly,
Yes, it seemed like a whole lot of work was going into these blogs. I'm sure everyone else enjoys them just as must as I do. Yet, a blog, at times, can be a throw-a-way. You have too much talent to expend it on that. However, keep up your efforts and we'll all be following you there. |
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Re: Customer relations for Dummies: Counting change 101 |
By Emory on
5/11/2007 1:28 PM |
Hey Tommy;
Thanks for the kind words – AND for being a faithful reader! |
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Re: Customer relations for Dummies: Counting change 101 |
By Kathy on
5/14/2007 12:46 PM |
Hi, Emory:
I was a supermarket cashier when cash registers went computerized, so I can speak for pre-and post computerized registers. You are right, all you have to do is count back the change. No cashier under 40 these days can do that. I handed a high school student cashier 3 cents the other day so my change would be $5.25 from the purchase, and she looked at me like "Huh?" I said to her, "now my change is $5.25 instead of $5.22," so I could get rid of the pennies, and she handed me back $5.28, INCLUDING MY THREE CENTS! I explained again what I wanted as change, but she didn't get it. The cashier manager, herself no more than 25, had to come over and I had to explain to both of them what I wanted. Finally the "manager" said, "Just do what she wants". I think she didn't get it either. It is not hard, people! |
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Re: Customer relations for Dummies: Counting change 101 |
By Jack on
5/15/2007 3:19 AM |
| Before I retired last year, I worked with a guy who would intentionaly screw with the young cashiers. After handing the cashier a five for a $3.13 purchase and the computer indicates change of $1.87, he would give the kid a quarter. You would have to see it to believe what he might get back in change! |
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Re: Customer relations for Dummies: Counting change 101 |
By Emory on
5/15/2007 5:04 AM |
Kathy, Jack;
I've also had the experience of handing a kid a $5 bill for a purchase of, say $4.92. Then I'd say, "Waitaminnit, I've got two cents" as I fished a couple of pennies from my pocket. Upon handing over the coins, one guy cheerily said, "You gave me too much." I just looked at him without saying a word. He then handed me eight cents from the register and gave me back the two "extra" cents I had handed him! Lord. . . give me strength! They just don't seem to fathom what's going on here. |
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Re: Customer relations for Dummies: Counting change 101 |
By Mike Johnson on
5/21/2007 12:48 AM |
| It really amazes me that people find your extreme views even slightly mentally stimulating. Take your views and go, for the good of all of us. Maybe the reason that nobody leaves negative comments is because people that do not like you do not waste their time reading your thoughts. I only do to let you know how I feel. |
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Re: Customer relations for Dummies: Counting change 101 |
By Emory on
5/21/2007 8:13 AM |
Mike;
We welcome one and all here. You don't have to agree with me. As long as you read my stuff, that's all that matters! Have a great day, no, as a matter of fact, make that Have a great Life! :-) Emory |
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Re: Customer relations for Dummies: Counting change 101 |
By Michelle A on
5/24/2007 10:34 AM |
| I love reading your column. I totally agree with what you have to say on this situation. When I was a cashier, I counted the change back to the customer. The one thing that I see happening more often, is when the cashier gives you the change back, they hand you the change ON TOP of your bills. I hate that. So if you are going through a drive-thru and you get your change back, you could drop your change all over the place. How hard is it to give me the change first and then hand me the bills? |
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