Cash Gets Its Own Automation System

Watch more: Automation Is Reshaping How Retailers Handle Cash

The enduring significance of physical currency remains a reality, particularly for a substantial segment of the population.

Roughly 20% of America remains underbanked or unbanked, underscoring cash’s continued role across the U.S. and globally.

But as Robert Norman, senior vice president, head of cash logistics strategy for Fifth Third Bank, told PYMNTS in a recent interview, despite its prevalence, cash management frequently becomes an overlooked operational burden for businesses that rely heavily on it, such as restaurants, grocers, convenience stores and casinos.

Time and Labor Costs

The manual processes associated with handling physical currency demand labor, consume resources and present time management challenges, often diverting attention and personnel from core business functions like sales and customer engagement.

“They’re putting the cash aside and then counting it at the end of the day, and then walking that to the bank the next day to deposit,” Norman said.

This approach typically involves multiple individuals physically touching and recounting the same cash, creating inefficiencies and security vulnerabilities. In one common scenario, an associate manually balances their till, a supervisor accumulates all employee tills into a single deposit, and then potentially a third person, such as a manager, prepares and transports the combined deposit.

As Norman illustrated, a traditional setup might involve three different people counting the same cash: the associate balancing their till, the supervisor accumulating employee tills and a manager preparing the final deposit for the bank.

“These can be points of exposure for the retailer,” Norman said — namely through theft and robbery.

While some larger entities might use armored services for transport, they often have not fully embraced the comprehensive solutions available to streamline the entire cash management lifecycle.

Leveraging Automation and Devices

Fifth Third Bank is at the forefront of addressing these challenges, offering an automated cash handling system designed to streamline and modernize cash management for businesses. The bank’s Currency Processing Solutions (CPS) model integrates on-site smart safes, recyclers and armored courier pickups, creating a cohesive system that reduces labor costs, enhances security and minimizes manual touchpoints. This approach can begin with the installation of a safe, Norman said, and extends through the entire management of cash movement via an armored courier, culminating in the deposits occurring at the bank.

Recognizing that transitioning to automation represents what Norman termed a “paradigm shift” for many businesses, Fifth Third has adopted a proactive strategy.

The bank employs subject matter experts from relevant industries to guide customers through this transition.

“There’s no doubt that you’re changing the operational procedures,” Norman told PYMNTS. “The subject matter experts work with the customer, writing and developing ‘quick reference guides’ for employees.”

Those guides are especially important in a high turnover retail environment, Norman said. “We also have engineers that can … take retailers’ existing procedures, and modify them with the flow of how those changes will happen inside of their back offices” as they incorporate the new automated cash flow.

A core innovation central to Fifth Third’s automated cash management is the concept of provisional credit, which effectively transforms the on-site devices into “remote vaults” for retailers. The system works by integrating advanced technology into the devices, which are equipped with sophisticated bill readers or “cash tracks.”

As cash is inserted into these devices, it is immediately scanned and interrogated for counterfeit detection. While the system doesn’t declare a bill definitively counterfeit, it identifies if a bill lacks the specific counterfeit detection features embedded by the Federal Reserve. Once a bill is accepted by the device, it is instantaneously deposited into the retailer’s Fifth Third bank account. As a result, a CFO or treasury team can gain an accelerated view of all deposits happening across their store locations, enabling them to quickly understand their cash position and manage their working capital more effectively.

With the automated system, the associate makes their actual deposit directly into the device when closing out their till, and the cash is counted once and “never is touched again by any employee.” This single touchpoint dramatically reduces labor.

For retailers leveraging advanced recycling models, which offer both deposit and withdrawal capabilities, the labor savings can be even more profound, reaching upwards of eight hours per day. This level of automation can potentially allow businesses to eliminate a dedicated cash room person, freeing up a resource to be redeployed to higher-value activities such as customer service or sales.

The future of cash management, Norman said, revolves around the concept that “data’s the new gold.” By analyzing the trending data generated by the automated system, Fifth Third can help customers “home in and refine” how much cash is truly necessary at each specific location, moving away from a one-size-fits-all brand standard.

This optimization allows retailers to convert “dead cash” — funds sitting idly as petty cash or excess working capital — into more productive assets.

As he told PYMNTS, with cash automation in the mix, “employee accountability [increases], you’re reducing your shrinkage … and you’re reducing the labor associated with supervision and management — and these are the folks you need focused on the products that you’re selling from your shelves.”