It frustrates me the number of newsagents I speak with who say their staff have trouble balancing at the end of shift yet they take no action to rectify the situation. I am usually met with a shrug of the shoulders and what can I do? question.
What you can do is provide leadership for your newsagency by respecting cash for what it is, the lifeblood of the business.
If your end of shift is not balancing here is what I suggest you do:
- Establish rules. Be clear in what is acceptable. I’d suggest $5.00 over or under as the boundaries.
- Outline what you expect. If the balance is outside the rules, put in writing what is to be done and demand that this is followed.
- Act on people who fail. From failing to balance to causing, during the day, problems for the end of shift. You want the best people working for you.
- Train. make sure your people have the skills to behave as you want.
- Enlist help. Call your newsagency software company and ask them to review your data. Not balancing may be because of misuse of the software. It may also be due to employee theft. No matter what the cause, your software supplier ought to be able to help you with a plan of action for your specific situation.
Balancing at your end of shift is a serious matter. Ignore it and the cost to your business could be considerably more than the few dollars you appear to be out every day or so.
I was working with a newsagency recently where one employee offered up different excuses a couple of times a week for the cash being out. Over time the pattern showed they were either stupid or stealing. Either way, the only option for the business was to cut their hours.
This is serious.