Archived A Different CO Question

[Cel]

Most CO information I've found from here and from Target has to do with the how and what to do. I have all of that information down, I've done it 7 times now and balanced each time. My issue is speed. We're scheduled 90 minutes in the CO, and on a good day it will take me from 45-75 minutes more than that. I'm pretty meticulous by nature, which has helped me get the routine down and get everything done correctly and balance in the end, but I get the feeling a couple of the ETLs are starting to get annoyed that I'm not blazing through there in 80 minutes.

Anyone got any tips for speeding things up in there?

 

[Retail Girl]

We're ULV and our cash office girls take the entire two hours they are allotted...sometimes a bit more... to do it.

 

[StaticSun]

90 minutes? We typically had 180 mins (7-10am) to do it, most finished in 145 but I typically took 160-170 mins.

I once finished it in 60 minutes... my ETL-HL kept dropping (requisitioned) bottles of mountain dew down the cash chute as incentive for me to hurry. I had a slight shortage, but I accepted and closed the safe.

We were a B/C volume.

 

[mrknownothing]

At my store, GSAs are scheduled for 3 hours in 239, and even the fastest GSAs take more than 2 hours to finish. Though to be fair, my store is higher volume than all of yours (A+).

 

[redeye58]

You've only done it 7 times?
Like we used to say to new cashiers: focus on accuracy first.
With repetition comes confidence; with confidence comes speed.
It just takes time.

 

[MarleyP]

Most CO information I've found from here and from Target has to do with the how and what to do. I have all of that information down, I've done it 7 times now and balanced each time. My issue is speed. We're scheduled 90 minutes in the CO, and on a good day it will take me from 45-75 minutes more than that. I'm pretty meticulous by nature, which has helped me get the routine down and get everything done correctly and balance in the end, but I get the feeling a couple of the ETLs are starting to get annoyed that I'm not blazing through there in 80 minutes.

Anyone got any tips for speeding things up in there?

I do the CO at my store, we are given 2hours to do it. I can do it in that time most days. The only thing I do to make it go faster for me is I make my bundles as I am counting the money. I hope that helps.

 

[awbuckit]

ULV here. Have done CO for 8 yrs now.
We used to only be scheduled for an hour and usually got it done in an hour. For Mondays I asked for 30 min extra because of extra duties in there. Now that we have my time, we are given 2 hrs. I'm usually still out of there in 1.5 hrs. I just can't justify staying in there twiddling my thumbs, especially because I know there are cameras watching me.
To help increase speed:
*I make my bundles of $150 also as I go. Like if a bag only has 48 ones and the rest is the same for start funds, I just add 2 ones and rubber band the start fund together.
*I stack the empty bags together and enter them all at the end of counting the money. 50, 10, 3, 1. Goes pretty quick.
*When counting the coin I write it on a post-it and stick it on the monitor. Use that for doing transfer to safe. Then I use that also when I refill the coin for the next day's money. We use the coin boxes that they came in and label them Green and Red.
*At the end, I know I'm supposed to have 24 bundles between the unused bundles still in the safe and the ones I just counted/made that are stacked in front of me. We have a post it on the monitor stating what those dollar amounts are per denomination. 1200/1200/720/480. 🙂
Yes, speed will come the more you do it.
I love CO. It's my favorite.
Do you all have a radio? It makes the time go so much quicker. 🙂

 

[Cel]

Yeah, we have a radio, I set it to my local classic rock station that I listen to in my car.

I'll usually bundle as I go for anything that's easy (i.e. bag already has the full bundle or just about already inside) or for GS registers/change fund since they're always pretty large amounts. I stack the empty bags at the end as well. The coin post-it is a good idea.

Guess it'll just come with time, but it sounds like most stores get more time than we do.

 

[paidtosmile]

At my store, org chart 1, best practice is 2 hours in the cash office. It usually takes me about 1.5 hours. You're right about speed, it will come with time. It sounds like you're at the stage where you know what to do, but it's still a fairly new area to work in. Just like you wouldn't expect a new cashier to have 3% conversion and 95% cashier speed after a week (5-7 shifts), you wouldn't expect a cash office team member to whip through bags after 5-7 shifts.
It might feel like you've been doing it for a while now, but if you're only in there once or twice a week it really hasn't been that long 🙂

What really helped me was when I started to remember all the numbers, what to prepare for start funds, what to enter for daily advances, etc etc. Speed will come with time 🙂

 

[Cel]

Yeah I've been a GSA for ~6 months, but only doing CO for about a month now. ~2 shifts a week in there on average. Guess it's just a little frustrating because some of the ETLs seem to be giving the impression that they think I'm having problems in there because I'm taking more time. Granted there have been occasional hurdles (the day I messed up keying in advances and had to fiddle with it for a bit before figuring out that you had to key in negative numbers to reduce it, the day I had 200 dimes to handcount because the dime tray took a tumble off the top of the beast during open, etc.), but I've always balanced and I do feel pretty confident that I'm at least doing things in there correctly, just not quickly.

Should probably note that according to my learning plan CO training is like 22 hours...I got 4 shifts, one of which was in January, and another of which I had to beg my ETL for on my day off the day before my first solo shift.

 

[StaticSun]

I had 200 dimes to handcount because the dime tray took a tumble off the top of the beast during open, etc.), but I've always balanced and I do feel pretty confident that I'm at least doing things in there correctly, just not quickly.

That's when you go to GS and start spreading out dimes between the four registers.

 

[Cel]

With a change request for dimes on each? God that's a good idea why didn't I think of that. It was 4 rolls that were unsalvageable, would've perfectly split between 2 registers too. Oh well.

 

[redandkhaki]

i'm at a high volume store and we get 3 hours to do cash office. I'm usually done in an hour or so but spend more time in there catching up on coachings, doing schedule, writing emails, etc. I'm not technically suppose to be in there but because i get so much done without anyone knowing what i'm doing in there my ETL purposely schedules me in there one day a week when both the TL's are scheduled.
The other GSA's take about 1.5-2 hours. I can't imagine it taking any longer to do once you get it down.

I strap all start funds as i go from the bags i count. Once i started doing that it dwindled my time way down. I wouldn't worry about the ETL's. Your speed will come with more practice! Enjoy your time in there.. It's the best place in the store!