City of Vista Cash Handling Training

CITY OF VISTA CASH HANDLING TRAINING

SECTION I

The City Treasurer for the City of Vista acts in the capacity of the City’s bank. The City Treasurer is responsible to receive, retain, and disburse all City revenue and keep detailed records of these transactions. As employees of the City that are responsible for handling cash, you are an extension of the City Treasurer, and a vital part on ensuring that the duties of the Treasurer are properly carried out.

Your Job is Important to the City!

There is no such thing as “just a cashier”. As far as most of your customers are concerned….YOU ARE THE CITY. For some of them, you may be the only face to face contact that they will ever have with someone from the City. Do your best to make a good first impression. When your customers arrive, greet them pleasantly; when they ask questions, answer them expertly or find someone who can. Remember, by the time the customer leaves, YOU are the one that they will remember, try your best to make it a good memory.

Your position within the City as someone who handles cash is very important. Your job responsibilities fall within the following separate, yet related areas:

To establish and maintain good customer relations.
To receive and pay out money to customers.
To perform cash handling operations according to established procedures and to balance and deposit cash on a daily basis.
To protect the City’s assets through sound and reasonable loss prevention practices.
To assist in other cash handling procedures as directed by your supervisor.

Your have four essential expectations of your work as a cash handler for the City. They are:

To be accurate, with no errors;
To be efficient and perform quickly and cost effectively;
To perform your duties consistent with the Treasurer’s Office and your departments stated policies; and
To show initiative arising out of a desire to excel and to contribute to your departmental goals.

These expectations can be distilled down into the following performance standards:

Receiving and Paying. You are expected to perform accurately and efficiently when processing customer transactions, accepting payment, or making change.
Security and Loss Prevention. You are expected to safeguard City funds against loss. You should also know what to do in time of an emergency, such as in the unlikely event you are confronted with robbery, fire, or natural disaster. In these circumstances, protecting human life should be your first concern!
Establishing and Maintaining Good Customer Relations. You are expected to establish and maintain good customer relations. This includes “professional” job performance as well as being friendly and polite. Remember, to the customers, YOU are the City of Vista.

SECTION II

The Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve System was created by the Federal Reserve Act in 1913 to remedy the problems that were common in early America’s bank environment, economy, and money system. The Federal Reserve System of the United States is the central bank. As the central bank, it controls all currency and demand deposit exchanges between banks in the United States. The Federal Reserve System also regulates the supply of money and the issuance of paper money. The Federal Reserve System (The “Fed”) consists of a seven-person Board of Governors that are appointed by the President for 14-year terms. The Federal Reserve Banking System is broken down into 12 Federal Reserve district banks. The Western United States (Idaho, Utah, Arizona, and all States west including Alaska and Hawaii) are in Federal Reserve District #12.

Recognizing Currency

The Federal Reserve Bank of the United States has the responsibility for issuing currency for the United States. Our currency take the form of notes engraved on special paper and comes in seven denomination, each bearing a portrait of a different famous American as follows:

$1George Washington (Great Seal of the United States)

$2Thomas Jefferson (Declaration of Independence Signing)

$5Abraham Lincoln (Lincoln Memorial)

$10Alexander Hamilton (US TreasuryBuilding)

$20Andrew Jackson (White House)

$50Ulysses S. Grant (US Capital)

$100Benjamin Franklin (Independence Hall)

At one time, denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 were printed and issued by the Federal Reserve, but no note larger than $100 has been issued since 1969. Needless to say, these larger denominations have become extremely rare.

Counting Currency

To ensure consistent accuracy, there are three common ways of counting currency. Each method ensures that no bill is counted twice. Whatever method you use, recount the money as many times as necessary to come up with the same total twice. This is the key to ensuring that your counts are always accurate. This means you will always count a stack of currency at least two times. You should establish a set, comfortable routine for counting money.

When you are receiving currency from customers, you should always use the “hand-to-hand” method of counting the money. The “hand-to-hand” method involves the following steps:

Separate the bills into denominations with all bills facing up and in the same direction.
If the pile contains more than one denomination, the largest denomination should be on top of the pile, with the pile sorted from largest denomination on top to smallest denomination on the bottom.
Place the pile in one hand.
Transfer one bill at a time from one hand to your other hand as you count.
Look at each bill as you count to ensure correct denomination.
Once you finish your count the first time. Perform another “hand-to-hand” count a second time.
If your totals do not agree, repeat the count until they do.

When you are paying out monies, you should use one of two methods:

Hand-to-Hand Method: This is the same method as when receiving currency except that instead of currency being transferred to your other hand on the second count, you will place it in the customer’s hand as you count.

Hand-to-Table Method: This is the same at the hand-to-hand method except that instead of placing the currency in the customer’s hand, you will place it on the table as you make your second count.

The Walk-Through Method is used to count new money, count pre-packaged money, and counting currency for banding or packaging. The “Walk-Through” method involves the following steps:

Place the stack of bills on the table face up. For unbanded currency, all bills should be face-up and in the same direction. Each stack should contain only one denomination.
Use the thumb and forefinger of one hand to lift back the corner of each bill. Then use the thumb and forefinger of your other hand to hold back the counted bill.
Check each bill as you count to ensure correct denomination.
Pay attention to the possibility that the corner of a bill of a larger denomination may have been taped onto the corner of a bill of a smaller denomination. This is known as “raised notes”.
Count the pile twice.
If your totals do not agree, repeat the count until they do.

Counting Coin

As with counting currency, establishing a set routine for counting coins can ensure your accuracy as a cash handler. Coins are stored in coin wrappers, or rolls, to ensure accurate handling. Each person counting and inserting the coins into the wrappers should initial and date the wrappers. When you open a wrapper of coins, always empty the whole package into the coin drawer. Have customers who pay with rolled coins put their name, address, and daytime phone number on the outside of the roll.

Coin wrappers have established values printed on the wrappers that correspond to the number of coins to be wrapped in each:

CoinNumber of CoinsValue of Wrapper

$.0150 $0.50

$.0540 $2.00

$.1050 $5.00

$.2540$10.00

$.5010 $5.00

Steps to Receive Currency and Coins

The following is a list of steps that should be followed when receiving currency and coin:

To the best of your ability, keep money received in view of the customer.
Never place money received in the cash drawer before the transaction is complete.
Separate the currency from the coins.
Count the currency before the coins.
Count each currency denomination separately (hand-to-hand method).
Separate coins into denominations.
Count each coin denomination separately.
Count all currency and coin in the presence of the customer.
Verify the total counted against the amount to be paid.
Make change if necessary (see below).
Put away currency and coins into register from current transaction before starting a new transaction.
As currency is a major carrier of germs, it is recommended that you wash your hand frequently.

Making Change

To ensure the accuracy of all transactions, it is important that you follow a routine, accepted practice in making change. There are two ways to give change back to a customer: (1) the cash register automatically calculates the dollar amount to be returned to the customer; or (2) the cash handler counts from the amount of the sale to the amount tendered by the customer.

Change should be counted at least two times; once when you count it out of the cash drawer and a second time when you count it back to the customer. Hopefully it will be counted a third time when the customer counts it along with you. Below are two examples as to how you would count back change.

If a customer pays a $78.32 amount due with a $100 bill

Count the change back starting with the smallest coin denomination to the highest denomination of currency.

Cashier: “Your total is $78.32 out of $100.00. Your change is:

count three pennies$78.35

count one nickel$78.40

count one dime$78.50

count two quarters$79.00

count one one$80.00

count on twenty$100.00 Thank you”

Count $21.68 change back from the register with the largest bills to the smallest coin.

Rules for Mutilated Currency

From time-to-time, a customer may attempt to pay what they owe with a mutilated bill. Currency is considered mutilated if it is torn, written on, missing a portion, or otherwise damaged. You may ask the customer for another bill if you are presented a mutilated bill. However, if the customer cannot substitute the bill, or does not want to, you must accept the mutilated bill if it is “legal tender”. If the bill is more than 3/5 (60%) intact or 3/4 of the two serial numbers are still intact, the bill is considered “legal tender” and will be honored by the Federal Reserve. If the bill does not meet this definition of “legal tender”, do not accept it.

Counterfeit Currency

Because of its worldwide acceptance, relative value stability, and the fact that up until 2003, allU.S. currency has been printed in the same color inks and size, United States currency is the most commonly counterfeited currency in the world. Even so, the amount of counterfeit currency in circulation in the United States is very small, only 3/100ths of 1 percent of the total currency. About 75% of all known counterfeit currency is seized before it reaches the public. The U.S. Secret Service was created in 1865 to curtail counterfeiting and that is still their primary focus today (and you thought all those guys in the dark suits did was protect the President!).

Being aware of how to spot and detect counterfeit currency is very important, for both your business and personal lives, because the holder of a counterfeit note assumes the loss for accepting the note. Listed below are some of the features you should become familiar with to avoid accepting counterfeit currency.

The Paper: Genuine United States currency is printed on special paper that is part cotton and part linen. All United States currency paper is produced in a single guarded mill in Dalton, Massachusetts. If you look at it closely, you will notice randomly placed hair-like red and blue chopped silk fibers impressed in the paper. On badly worn or dirty notes, these fibers may not be visible. On counterfeit bills, these threads may be imitated by fine red and blue lines printed or drawn on the paper. Experienced cash handlers can tell the difference in the feel of “real” mint paper and other paper by the softness of the feel of mint paper. Mint paper can be washed without losing its overall quality.

The Portrait: The genuine portrait looks lifelike and stands out distinctly from the fine background. Counterfeit portraits look more one-dimensional, lifeless and flat. On counterfeit notes, the portrait and picture may merge with the background. The eyes or other features on the portrait may be dull or smudgy or the face may seem unnaturally white.

Microprinting: This is a technique of placing very fine printing within certain areas of each note. The printing is so small, that it is virtually impossible to re-create using a copy machine or desktop scanner.

When trying to determine if a bill is counterfeit, look for differences, not similarities, when you are comparing the suspected bogus note to one that you know is real.

One of the most common methods of “counterfeiting” money is the practice of creating “raised notes”. Genuine currency is sometimes altered in an attempt to increase its face value. One common method is to glue or tape the corners from a higher denomination bill, such as a twenty, onto the corners of a lower denomination bill, such as a one. The perpetrator then tries to pass-off the one-dollar bill for a twenty in the hopes that the person accepting the bill will not notice the alteration. You can protect yourself from becoming a victim of this scam by always paying attention to the portrait on the front of the bill and not relying solely on the numbers on the corner of the bill. It should be noted that raised notes are not counterfeit bills, but genuine bills that have been altered, and may be accepted for their true face value, usually $1.

Over the past several years, the United States Treasury Department has been introducing redesigned currency to deter the efforts of counterfeiting operations. Attached to the end of this document is presentation on each of the newly designed currencies and improvements made to them to discourage counterfeiting.

Checks and Check Cashing

A check is a payment on demand financial instrument, used to transfer funds from one party to another. The term “negotiable instrument” means the check is payable to a person at its signer’s bank. The “drawer’ or “maker” of the check is the party issuing and signing the check. The drawer may be one or more individuals acting on their own behalf or one or more individuals authorized to act on behalf of a company, corporation, partnership, or governmental entity. The “drawee” is the party on whom the check is drawn, usually a bank, credit union, or trust company. The “payee” is the party to whom payment is being made.

During your work as a cash handler, you will see different types of checks:

Personal Checks: Personal checks are the most common type of check. Personal checks are checks belonging to people that maintain demand accounts at a bank or credit union. All checks you accept should be made payable to “City of Vista”. This is important because checks made out to a generic name such as “Parks Department” may confuse the bank that may have several other cities as customers.

Company Checks: Company checks look somewhat similar to personal checks. They are usually larger in size and typically have a company name instead of an individual's. There may also be a carbon strip on the back that is utilized by the company’s bookkeeping system. Company checks may also have stubs or copies attached. Pay attention to if the check indicates the need for multiple signatures or if it has a “not valid over $__” statement on the face of the check.

Cashier’s Checks: This is a check drawn by a financial institution’s own funds, usually purchased by a bank’s customer. Genuine cashier’s checks are almost as good as cash because the only way that a bank would not honor the check is if the bank failed. Caution should still be used because fraudulent cashier’s checks can be produced.

Personal Money Orders: This is a check purchased by a customer from a vendor for cash or against bank balances. When issued, it shows a drawee bank and an amount. The person buying the money order fills in the date, the payor, and the payee’s name and address. Money orders usually have a maximum amount that they are good for. This amount is usually printed on the face of the money order. Check the money order for the words “not to exceed $__” and make sure the amount of the money order is not greater than that amount. Money orders are accepted almost as readily as cash, but caution should be used as fraudulent money orders can be produced and the accounts on which they are drawn upon can be insufficient.