People paying with a $20 for a $0.85 purchase

[PepperElf]

i think it would be easier to avoid doing that if ATMs gave out smaller bills

[MannersMakethMan]

i think it would be easier to avoid doing that if ATMs gave out smaller bills

QFT. There are still one or two in the UK that will give you some fives, but mostly you just get tens and twenties (Used to be able to ask for just £5, but that's a thing of the past).

I hate getting twenties, because most of the time I'm not buying anything close to that amount. I feel so embarrassed having to change it, that I'll go through a self-checkout in a supermarket just to break it down. It's no better on the system overall, but I don't have to feel bad about shorting a real cashier, and at least other days I can top it up with my groaning bag of change without having to make someone count it.

[Kagato]

You get that happening a LOT on bus services, I get people paying for a $1.60 fare with a $20 note. I have started carrying a coin bag under my main cash tray with around $100 in $1 coins, and whenever they try to pay with a $20 note, I pull out the coin bag and dish out $18 in $1 coins. =p

Happens most often when you get someone who is in a rush to catch a bus, doesn't realise they haven't got enough change till the last minute, and runs to an ATM to get some money out.

We generally start off with a $60 float, but when you get a number of big notes in a short period of time, it doesn't go far. And contrary to belief, we try not to carry many bank notes for security reasons. If our cashbox total gets over a certain amount, it is requested that we contact control and organise a cash drop, or that we cash in some of the money mid-shift during a break. Better to be held up and only lose $60 than up to $500 if you have had a busy day.

[PepperElf]

In Japan, the lowest amount you can get is 5000 ¥ - which is close to $50 USD depending on the current exchange rate.

However ... it's not so bad there really. One of the ATMs my boyfriend and I use to go to was at the train station. So it was super easy to break a 5000 bill or even a 10,000 bill at the train-card machines. Those machines get so much money they can break just about anything.

On top of that all vending machines take 1000¥ bills.

[Lurking Sockpuppet]

Am I correct in assuming that this was a fundraiser for the school or another charity? If so, that is just unbelievably cheap of those people. It's one thing to buy one egg if all you have is a dollar. It's quite another to buy just one when you've got a $20 bill in hand. Why not buy half a dozen?

Yes, you are correct. And I wish I knew why someone (usually adults) would do that. Still it was fun watching the kids buy as many as they could then run around chasing each other trying smash each other without getting hit themselves.

Sockpuppet

[sarasquirrel]

i think it would be easier to avoid doing that if ATMs gave out smaller bills

ATMs reminds me of a SC.

the company i work for has a lot of stores that have an ATM in the store, we don't because i guess it wouldn't fit? idk

like a week ago, this old lady comes up to me and asks if we have one, i tell her we don't, but have a cash back option when you use a debit card.

and she got all pissed off! i was like

and i said (when she was far enough away) "how did people live before ATMs"

[powerboy]

At one of my old jobs. We had a customer who would have us break $100.00 bills. When all we had was about $30-$40 at a time in the float. Ofcourse, we had to go next door for cash. No wonder they went out of business.

[Arm]

Thinking about it... It doesn't make sense that the float should be so small... No matter what, the odds are great that someone has just come from an ATM, or that their parents have. If a kid buys nothing but milk, every 24th time he buys, he uses a 20. If he buys some other lunch, then he's going to use a 20 much more often. (a two dollar lunch, he goes to the ATM every 10th purchase. A 3 dollar, every 6th. 4, every 5th, etc.) But any time they show up before you've handled more than twenty bucks of sales, you're going to get wiped out.

As for the 100s... I don't get people paying with 100s, because you'd have to (at least in this region) go to the bank and specifically *request* that you be given 100s. So that's going *way* out of your way just to be an asshole. A real dick move. But 20s are also all you can get out of the ATMs here. Which is a shame- there used to be two in the town you could get 10s from, but not any more...

[Dreamstalker]

Better to be held up and only lose $60 than up to $500 if you have had a busy day.

That's what my take on things was for GameStore. It fell on deaf ears...I had access to deposit slips but wasn't allowed to close the store for two minutes to go around the corner to the bank. So he'd rather lose a couple hundred bucks than close the store for a few minutes to make sure said money was safe...nice.

At one point during the latest Harry Potter book release we had some obscene amount of money in the drawer (mainly twenties, but it was still nuts); upon seeing this, one of the local beat cops actually came back around closing and stayed in the store until I got the deposit secured and was safely on the train home. Owner complained at me the next day (for what exactly? that's what the cops are there for, make sure the stores' staff and money are safe) and got it dished back to him by the officer.

[Boozy]

That's what my take on things was for GameStore. It fell on deaf ears...I had access to deposit slips but wasn't allowed to close the store for two minutes to go around the corner to the bank. So he'd rather lose a couple hundred bucks than close the store for a few minutes to make sure said money was safe...nice.

I guess it depends on how much money the store might lose if a customer came during the time the store was closed and left instead of waiting.

There would be any factors involved in that decision: How long the store would have to be closed to do the deposit, how likely it is that you'd lose business during that time, and how likely it is there would be a hold-up. At my store, when it's busy, we just do cash drops into a locked drawer in the back. The odds of a hold-up are very low compared to the odds of losing a customer who doesn't want to wait for me to get back from the bank.

[Dreamstalker]

There would be any factors involved in that decision: How long the store would have to be closed to do the deposit, how likely it is that you'd lose business during that time, and how likely it is there would be a hold-up.

When I was there alone, the odds of the latter were slightly higher than the former; the real losses in business happened on the days when the owner showed up ~30 minutes after the store was supposed to open (when that was happening, I had not gotten a key yet so could not open the store). He would regularly lock the store up to get lunch; I learned of this habit when a regular came in the back door (I had been "banished" to the dungeon at that point so was not aware of what was actually happening on the salesfloor; the back door opened directly into the hallway going downstairs) and informed me that a small crowd of people wanting to buy stuff had just left in a huff.

We did have a locked bank bag in the office, but it never got used (deposits instead were "hidden" somewhere in the store which was probably the first place a thief would look).

[Jack7957]

i think it would be easier to avoid doing that if ATMs gave out smaller bills

My banks ATMs will give out $5 denominations. Downside is it also gives out $50s. So if I take out $100, I get two $50s.

The grocery store I worked at, the till would warn you when your cash was above $500. It would then lock up if it reached $1000. So once you'd reach $500, you'd (when there was time) get someone from the CS desk or a manager to come over, count out everything but $50, and take it to the lockup in the office for that days deposit.

One time a whole bunch of us were going to the movies after work, but one girl still had to take the deposit to the night drop at the bank. The bank itself was on the corner of the malls parking lot where we were going, so picture in your mind, 5 or 6 cars, all pull in the parking lot of the bank, then position themselves so everyones headlights are facing the night drop while one girl goes and drops the bag in.

[Andara Bledin]

You get that happening a LOT on bus services, I get people paying for a $1.60 fare with a $20 note. I have started carrying a coin bag under my main cash tray with around $100 in $1 coins, and whenever they try to pay with a $20 note, I pull out the coin bag and dish out $18 in $1 coins. =p

Wait, your buses give out change?

In this neck of the woods, if all you have is a $20, then you can either get a $20 bus ride, or you wait for the next bus while you go break your bill.

I hate getting twenties, because most of the time I'm not buying anything close to that amount. I feel so embarrassed having to change it, that I'll go through a self-checkout in a supermarket just to break it down. It's no better on the system overall, but I don't have to feel bad about shorting a real cashier, and at least other days I can top it up with my groaning bag of change without having to make someone count it.

Actually, I'm willing to bet that the self-service machines have a ton more cash than any cashier. After all, they don't have to worry about a self-service machine trying to steal money or getting robbed.

^-.-^

[VenomX]

I guess I am lucky. My boss told me that if we can't make the change because it will mak us short to deny the sale.

[Dreamstalker]

I made change from the "home for wayward dragons" bucket--customers dumped unwanted coins, contents would be donated to a local charity--and put the bills in an envelope under the register marked as being for the charity bucket. If I didn't hide the bills, SCs who came up short for their purchases would take the bills out and use that to pay. If the register needed small change and I wasn't able to get to the bank I would do the same.