The Irony of Losing Money From Handling Cash

What role does cash have in your business? Whether you sell widgets using cash registers or just keep some petty cash on hand for miscellaneous expenses, a recent study has shown that using cash actually costs businesses money, and that’s not all.

The study was conducted by Sage, an integrated accounting, payroll, and payment software provider. Surprisingly, it was shown that small to medium-sized businesses combine to lose a whopping £9.4bn each year through cash payments (roughly $11.7bn). This might come as shock for business owners who look fondly at cash as a way of saving money by avoiding the fees associated with credit card transactions and other small fees from transferring digital funds. Although, when all the various ways of mishandling cash are taken into account, using cash comes off as a rather expensive endeavor.

Consider these statistics taken from the Sage study:

• 24 percent of businesses said staff members stole cash.
• 34 percent said that human error when handling cash cost them money.
• 56 percent said that they have personnel spend at least one hour each week counting cash and depositing it at the bank.

Essentially, going with a cashless business model could have saved companies from these losses. For example, while several (but not all) financial services do charge a small fee for transferring digital funds from one account to another, this fee is often inconsequential compared to what it costs for an executive to make a bank run each week--and besides, you’ve got more important things to do than stand in line at the bank and make small talk with the tellers.

Additionally, consider the fact that nearly a quarter of employees have a tendency to pocket a little cash here and there. It’s much harder for a would-be thief to divert digital funds than it is to slip a few bills into their wallets. Although, siphoning digital currency certainly isn’t impossible, as seen in Superman 3 and Office Space:

Furthermore, not only does cash come with an unexpected price for businesses to use, but for smaller currency like coins, it actually costs governments more to make than what it’s worth. For example, it costs the U.S. Mint 1.7 cents to make a penny, and 8 cents to make a nickel. This is one reason why lawmakers have pushed to eliminate pennies and nickels from circulation.

And let’s not overlook the fact that handling money is a disgusting practice. The Washington Post reports: “Researchers at New York University tested dollar bills and found hundreds of different kinds of bacteria... 3,000 types of bacteria in all... Jane Carlton, director of genome sequencing at NYU’s Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, said: ‘It was quite amazing to us. We actually found that microbes grow on money.’ They found bacteria that cause gastric ulcers, pneumonia, food poisoning, staph infections and genes responsible for antibiotic resistance.”

So, whether your business is looking to cut your financial losses, or just reduce the amount of germs in the office, the fact remains that taking advantage of digital transactions is the way to go. That said, before you make your last trip to the bank, you’re going to want to make sure that your network is secure enough to store and transmit account information. For help going digital and kicking cash to the curb, call SCW today at (509) 534-1530.