by Sam Bosch, President of Peregrin Financial Technologies
Contact him via: Email or Connect on LinkedIn
As much as Visa, PayPal, Apple Pay and others are trying to bury cash, it is still very much alive and an important part of American commerce.
Cash is becoming a smaller part of all retail transactions, but according to L.E.K. Group and Celent it still participates in over $2 trillion in sales every year. Also, there are 470,000 ATMs in the U.S. dispensing trillions of dollars every month – that’s a lot of $20 bills. Those $20s are not stuffed under a mattress; they are spent at retail locations across the nation.
Cash sales have many benefits for merchants. There are no processing discounts, no chargebacks, and no delays in receiving the value of a sale. For these benefits retailers commonly offer discounts for cash sales or provide a benefit like a free dessert with a meal.
For consumers cash is readily received by all merchants; some states and cities now have laws that retailers must accept cash. And a $20 bill leaves no footprints.
Cash does have one issue: handling it. Bills must be separated, counted, recorded and transported to a bank. But these issues can be solved with smart safes that take cash deposits and credit them to the retailers every business day. Smart safes can save retailers hundreds of net dollars per month.
With the minimum hourly labor rates now rising to $15, there is even more reasons retailers must streamline cash handling. Smart safes are a readily available option for them to do so.
For more information about how you can benefit from Peregrin's smart safe program, contact us by email or call 1-800-925-3266.