Two Dollar Bills

[inhawaii]

Do any of you ebay sellers also have a brick and mortar store? Here's why i ask.

In my store i keep $2 bills on hand in the cash drawer to give out as change.  They are readily available at my or any bank. I do this for 3 reasons.

1) My cash drawer has 5 slots for bills. $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 under the drawer.

2) Keeping $2 bills on hand and giving them out as change cuts way down on the amount of $1 bills i need.  The most $1 bills a customer will need as change is 1. 

3) It's fun giving out $2 bills as change. The customers reactions is always positive. Kids are thrilled. Some customers even ask if they can get more. 

The subject came up today that some of my employees "hate" having two dollar bills. I found out today that my manager will go out of his way to get rid of the two dollar bills from the drawer. He will take all of the two dollar bills with him to the bank when he's getting change and exchange them for $1s, $5s and $10s.

I haven't yet talked to them about it, but does this make sense to anyone?  Is there any (logical) reason why you would not want two dollar bills in the cash drawer?  Is there any (logical) reason to not like two dollar bills?

That's like saying "i don't like five dollar bills" and giving people 9 one dollar bills  as change when you buy a one dollar item with a ten dollar bill. 

Someone please shed some light on this before i talk to my staff.

[meadowedge16]

When a customer says, "Keep the change." It goes in the penny jar. I use pennies from it to help customers out. I never put "extra" coins in my till. I try to be very accurate. Usually, my till balances to the penny, or is off only pennies a day.

[m60driver]

Here we are talking about $2 bills while the rest of the world is going cashless, using their cell phones.  The only reason the US is not moving in that direction is the power of the banking industry.  Even in the third world cell phone banking is empowering the poorest people, such as the M-Pesa system used in Africa and elsewhere.  As a close friend in Beijing once told me when I asked about his inventory with the constant changes in technology, he told me that once it became obsolete in Asia you could always sell it to the US market as something new.

[sin-n-dex]

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@a_c_green wrote:

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@pargran3 wrote:

It could be that you are the only one giving change that can figure out how to use 2 dollar bills.

I have had cashiers that think 50 cents change would be five dimes.

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Um, it is, right? Granted, two quarters would be quicker, but sometimes you're out of quarters and life throws you a curve ball. 

Giving out correct change is easy; my old boss at the hobby store taught me this back on Day 1 of my high school part-time job around 1974: just lay the customer's bill on the ledge above the cash drawer so you don't forget what he gave you (which I think was pretty much the only reason for the cash register to even have a ledge there), start with the pennies, and count up. Jump to the next increment of coins as soon as you can; go on to singles, ($2 bills), $5 and $10 as needed, and before you know it, you have arrived at the customer's incoming payment, you're holding the correct change, and didn't even need to do subtraction to get there. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. 

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When I worked for 7-Eleven we used the ledge (until change was given), it also is shown on the camera what's going on when you leave the money on the ledge.

I did get a guy once who gave me a $20 and was getting $15 in bills in change. He insisted I only gave him the $5. In that neighbourhood people were pretty honest, so I gave him the $10 he claimed I shorted him, and got my manager to do a cash count. Turns out I was snookered.

He tried this again with me two weeks later with 10 customers in line behind him. (And I watched him closely, he pocketed the $10 so when he turned back to me he only had the $5). I said "you're not getting away with that a second time". He played dumb, so I loudly said "you ripped me off $10 last week, you got your change, now go away." I never saw him in my store again.

Fortunately that's one of only a few times I was taken as a cashier giving change... a few times customers had claimed short (and a quick till check confirmed they were being truthful). 

I work in a B&M store, but I don't handle face to face customers, cash registers or money anymore.

C.

[stanleysoverstock]

Boy, you got it started here! Enjoyed reading something for fun on this one. We have a B&M store and an old register. We count change back everyday with no problems. We are old fashioned. We believe in God, respect our military, law enforcement and emergency personnel. To us any form of cash is a bird in the hand. Thank you for the post. Andrew

[dtexley3]

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@atikovi wrote:

I don't know how cashiers operate and didn't think they calculate balances as mentioned. Just assumed they count how much money they have at the start of the shift which is really only for making change, and then count what they have at the end. The difference is the amount they sold. There are times when customers say, keep the change, and times when a cashier has said, don't worry about a few pennies if you don't have it, and times when you have just one item and they just put the money in the till without ringing it up.

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When this happens the cashier is either one of the owners and is taking in some "unaudited" cash that they won't report as income, or a cashier that's stealing and will remove that cash at the end of shift as they count out their till.  I usually ask for a receipt if they do that, just because I know (my family owned a small town business for years) what is going on.

I prefer to use cash for small purchases, again because I know how much it's costing that small business in fees for the plastic.  I usually have a fair amount of cash on me, and at times large amounts of cash (and properly "heeled" in that case) when making the rounds at estate sales, auctions or craigslist purchases.

[atikovi]

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@dtexley3 wrote:

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@atikovi wrote:

I don't know how cashiers operate and didn't think they calculate balances as mentioned. Just assumed they count how much money they have at the start of the shift which is really only for making change, and then count what they have at the end. The difference is the amount they sold. There are times when customers say, keep the change, and times when a cashier has said, don't worry about a few pennies if you don't have it, and times when you have just one item and they just put the money in the till without ringing it up.

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When this happens the cashier is either one of the owners and is taking in some "unaudited" cash that they won't report as income, or a cashier that's stealing and will remove that cash at the end of shift as they count out their till. 

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Do the actual cashiers do the counting or a manager or both together? I could image there could be problems if either do it alone.

[dtexley3]

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@atikovi wrote:

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@dtexley3 wrote:

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@atikovi wrote:

I don't know how cashiers operate and didn't think they calculate balances as mentioned. Just assumed they count how much money they have at the start of the shift which is really only for making change, and then count what they have at the end. The difference is the amount they sold. There are times when customers say, keep the change, and times when a cashier has said, don't worry about a few pennies if you don't have it, and times when you have just one item and they just put the money in the till without ringing it up.

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When this happens the cashier is either one of the owners and is taking in some "unaudited" cash that they won't report as income, or a cashier that's stealing and will remove that cash at the end of shift as they count out their till. 

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Do the actual cashiers do the counting or a manager or both together? I could image there could be problems if either do it alone.

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Sorry that should have read "before they count out" instead of "as the count out".  You would be surprised (or maybe not) how skilled some people are at skimming cash from a till.

[loveyourimagination49]

It depends on the business. Usually both, but separate. In my experience as management in different types of businesses.

[femmefan1946]

@m60driver 

The only reason the US is not moving in that direction is the power of the banking industry.

It's exactly the opposite.

When you use a credit or debit card, the bank (card processor like Moneris) takes a fee, usually based on a flat fee plus a percentage.

Like Paypal's 30 cents plus 2.9% to 4.4%.  And pretty much in that range.

The larger the average transaction, the lower the merchant's percentage.

Banks would LOVE to see cash disappear.

Cash is a pain to deal with.

Without cash, every transaction would mean a bank fee. We'd be back to the days when bank clients bought their cheque books (In the early 60s the Royal Bank of Canada charged $5 for a 100 cheques-- 20 cents a cheque. ) 

And then the merchant was charged for every cheque he deposited.

But even that control would become just another added fee at the end of the monthly invoice.

We've been discussing short change cons and employee skims.

But money has to be accounted for dollar by dollar, coin by coin. With cards, there is only one instrument per transaction. With cash, you could have 15 or 20.

Banks have to employ specialized businesses (like Brinks) to transfer cash from branch to central offices. And order new money from time to time, since a certain amount of it will be hoarded.

Old tattered bills and worn coins also have to be returned to the central issuer.

Cash puts control in the hands of the consumer. Electronic banking puts control in the hands of the bank.

[castlemagicmemories]

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@soh.maryl wrote:

"Seems better not to impose your will on others."?

The OP is an employer discussing an employee who does not wish to comply with his employer's rules.

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Understood.  Just don't feel it is something of such importance that the employer needs to insist upon it.  You know what they say~pick your battles.  

[guangxi_hone]

Sorry if I am repeating the idea (did not read all posts). Why don't you sell them on Ebay at $2.50? I saw them at this price. Sell in bulk for discount.

There is market for $2 bills out there.

Some people from foreign countries are buying them for whatever reason or purpose.

[lightlily_arts]

I think that people in general have difficulty with uncommon things.  I have had cashiers refuse to accept two dollar bills because they don't have a slot in their drawer for them.   I carried a couple of two dollar bills in my purse for years.    It was emergency money as I could buy a gallon of gas.  Mostly it was my little psych thing as I could always tell myself I was never broke.  The dollar coins were a problem because cashiers  as well mistook them for quarters.

[lightlily_arts]

My daughter has an acquaintance who works in his family's small liquor store.  He pocketed cash transactions  and also charged customers arbitrary amounts for merchandise. Went on for years before Dad finally wised up and fired him.  Meanwhile, I stopped shopping at one local 7Eleven because  they never actually credited me with a price reduction whenever I used a manufacturer's coupon.   I compared my receipts for these items with and without the coupon and there was no  difference.

[unusualgoods]

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@joesoucie22012 wrote:

About 10 years ago I found about 15 $2.00 bills in a book. I think they were from 1976. I tried to use them as cash at the post office and the clerk would not accept them. She said it was a postal regulation! 

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Bold faced lie and I'd complain to the Post Master. The two dollar bill is legal US currency and there is no reason that the USPS should NOT be accepting it.

[inhawaii]

I think we al know it's NOT a postal regulation not to accept two dollar bills ... just a stupid postal employee.  😃