Delays in your financial institution can come in many forms, and are sometimes inevitable. Cash orders can be delayed from an unexpected transportation change or because a holiday falls on a scheduled delivery day. In addition, there are other delays that can be caused when a branch does not place their cash order on time.
Not all delivery delays are within the control of a financial institution, but you must prepare for unforeseen circumstances and minimize the waste of time and money that results from those that are.
“We need to be thinking in terms of days of cash on hand based on actual usage for that time period,” says Kelly MacConnell, Vice President of Business Development at logicpath. “If you have a location that’s susceptible to snowstorms with a service schedule of every seven days, then it might be worth keeping eight or nine days’ worth of cash on hand. However, during the summertime, or if you don't have a lot of volatility going on at that location, then maybe sit with six or seven days of cash on hand instead. It’s more just being prepared for the unexpected and expecting that to happen in your equation.”
While we believe your branches should be prepared, there is a such thing as being over-prepared. “No financial institutions should be holding enough cash on a daily basis in case a meteor hits the Earth every single day of the week,” says MacConnell. “Financial institutions need to be ordering cash based off the true demand and usage.”
“Of course there are unavoidable delays like weather, but it's real important not to compound these types of delays with unnecessary type delays like submitting cash orders on time, or the inability to act on circumstances that really could have been avoided,” says Robert Lynch, Senior Vice President of National Financial Business Development at Loomis U.S. “Automation and accurate forecasting in the cash ordering process really helps financial institutions navigate around these avoidable delays like a missed cash order.”
To learn more about where to look for waste and areas of improvement in the cash supply chain, click the link the link below to download our new e-book, “The 7 Areas of Waste That are Killing Your Bank’s Efficiency.”
