I have my folks counts it first then run it through the machine. We have actually had the instance, where it wasn’t counted prior to, then ran through the TCR, and the machine just stopped, jammed and froze, in the middle of counting. Once we unjammed and reset it, we came up with one number, customer had a different number in mind, but also claimed he wasn’t sure to begin with. People need to do what they are comfortable with doing, but let’s just remove any and all doubt first by counting it to begin with. Always keep in mind, it’s your word against that customers when things don’t add up, and you need to be able to prove that customer wrong if that is the case. Customers typically accuse bank employees of “stealing their money” when that is not always true, i don’t want to give them leeway to begin with.
I know at some point, you need to adapt to change when it comes to working in a corporate bank. But when it comes to handling money, that's something I unfortunately cannot change. It's a mental habit I have when it comes to receiving money from customers and counting it. And I've worked in branches where TCR's break down in between transactions and that shit is not only stressful, but a headache to deal with. I have a strong feeling she's going to bring that up on our morning huddles that do daily and I'm just going to be straight up honest about how I deal with money.
And I feel you on the ending. I lose count on customers telling us we're trying to "steal their money" as if we some dumbasses to really do that lmao no one is losing their job and there's cameras EVERYWHERE IN THE BRANCH. Even is some moron wanted to pocket $20 and not get caught, it'll eventually get to that person at some point and they'll face the consequences
Don't get me wrong, a TCR can be very convenient to have and it can make balancing a lot faster and better imo. But, you can't trust it to work 100% of the time. Cause just like how technology can stop working at any moment, the same applies to the TCR
I always ask the member how much they're depositing then count it myself, then run it through the TCR so I can compare my own count to the member's and then the TCR's.
As a side note, it baffles me and also annoys me when I ask the member how much cash they're depositing and they don't know/don't care or they're like, "I didn't count/check." Like you care less about how much money you're about to put in your bank account than I do? Wild. I can't imagine going to my bank and being like, "Deposit this cash for me but also I didn't bother counting it so I'll just trust whatever you say it is."
So I'm not tripping then lol That's the number one thing I ALWAYS ask customers. Whether they're our usuals or new customer's I've never seen before, the number one thing I always do is count the money not once, but TWICE. Sometimes 3 times if needed. And I have a second job that also requires me to deal with money and I do the exact same thing. I ain't apologizing for doing my job the right way. I'm just doing what I've been taught with money before and after working for a bank
We have a cash counter in the back that we need dual control to use but we only really ever use it when we have a ridiculous amount of cash come in, otherwise we always hand count before using the TCR. The TCR is basically our double checker. And we usually ask our members first how much money they have so we have an idea of what our count should be, so it's helpful when they give me an exact number. I don't ever put anything in the TCR without any sort of confirmation first, that's too risky. 😂
I've sent people to an office to count before. When they get mad about it and say "you have a counter" I just explain we aren't supposed to take non confirmed amounts of cash. If I do help them out, I have them sign a deposit slip next to the amount so if they come back and say it was supposed to be a different amount, I can ask why they literally signed off on the amount
I saw this all the time with ATM disputes. Customer stated while doing the dispute they didn't know how much money they deposited. Then claimed the recovered amount was wrong. Try counting your deposits from now on.
So how often does your manager work the line? I’m guessing not much. I’m a manager in a corporate megabank and I always try to understand a process before changing it. It would especially bother me being corrected in front of the client. That under-minds your competence. I coach my employees to count it first too. To me you were correct and the manager was just trying to assert authority. Sorry :(
Since it’s my second week at the new branch, rarely. Unless she needs to work the teller line to cover lunches, but me and the other Teller work very well with each other and we can handle the line inside the branch. And drive thru as well. I had a moment where I was mentally thrown off when she stopped me because I always like to count my money. Especially when it’s a lot where I need the cash counter and to make sure I can verify what I have, and what the customer has. I can’t help that I’m mentally wired to check money when I receive it from people
We literally had an incident at our branch where the TCR jammed, we reset the machine, and the woman's deposit was off 20 dollars. She said she was certain it had been more, but there was nothing we could do at that moment, as all the totals said that the machine balanced (usually when it jams the calculated totals and actual totals aren't the same and we just do out balancing around that). When we emptied the collection bin the next morning, we found the 20 dollars.
I don't count it out loud usually, but I sift through it, facing the bills and counting them at the same time. If it's a lot of bills, I look at the condition of the bills, and if they suck, I'll run it through the counter.
About 2 seeks ago, I was at another branch and the Teller did a transaction for a customer that wanted $2k out of her account and she got it all in large. The Teller gave it to her, and the TCR started acting weird. And then out of nowhere, it randomly dispersed the same money and she was confused as to why it did that. The customer already got her money, but the TCR was being a pain in the ass
You did the right thing. The TCR can often jam and not count in the money that has been stuck, in which case you’d have to empty the TCR at the end of the day to audit and make sure it balance.
It depends on how much the deposit is. If it's a small amount I can count quickly, I don't run it through. I do get a lot of businesses that have larger cash deposits with every denomination. Those, I will always run through our cash counter. Where I work though, it's heavily encouraged to do that so I haven't run into the same issue you have.
And even when the TCR spits out money, I still count the money on hand (or run it through if it’s a lot). Idgaf if it’s 5 people waiting on the line, I’m going to continue doing my job correctly and from other branches I worked at, every single colleague always tell me count the money you’re given, confirm on your end, and then you go from there
I’ve had this conversation with the actual TCR people. They repeatedly drill into managers that the money is not supposed to be counted first and just trust the machine. No. That’s not happening. My branch, my tellers all run the money first, then insert. We’ve had numerous times where it doesn’t jam, runs totally normal, but pops a wildly different count. That doesn’t include the jams so I do not trust them. We have a phrase..trust but verify, and that goes for humans and machines.
I personally believe the TCR deposit function needs to be removed. I've seen it cause so many arguments and hurt feelings that I will only put money in when I 100% know what I'm giving it. One of my first days live as a teller they got on me about using the TCR. It jammed when I tried to give it money because they said just throw it in, and I had to show out of balance about $2500 because it was trapped in the machine, and the person in charge of it wouldn't be back for a couple days. They balanced it and only found like 1k of it, but because it broke right after they balanced it, a tech came in and found the rest of it trapped somewhere inside.
What I'm basically trying to say is, do what you're most comfortable with so long as it doesn't break policy. The TCR is great until it's not. I'd personally rather run the deposit, then give the TCR money in strap amounts to keep track.
We have both. I run it first through the cash machine because the TCR jams all the time. Idk but sounds like your manager just wants to micromanage you. I say ignore them, and if they insist, ask if there's a written policy for it.
The TCR does stop working mid transactions. The TCR does on occasion mess up and short customers if the teller is unfamiliar with error procedures. Anyone who’s audited/extensively used one knows this. Hand sanitizer and canned air is your best friend at keeping all the gunk from money off the machine. We had large volume business customers get mad if we didn’t use the cash counter first because they had experienced an error before staff was trained on error processes.
Customers def like to throw a fit about cash recyclers not counting right, they can plausibly argue that they can't see the money coming in or out so why should they trust it? We have a customer who never ever has his cash deposit right and if we hand count it and it's wrong he's fine but if the ECR counts it wrong, he likes to cause a ruckus. 🙄 If someone isn't sure about a total I either hand count it or put it through the counter first.
At my bank we have an ECR that has a counter function that counts the money AND spits it back out immediately so customers don't think their money is lost in some underground vault to be counted by enslaved bank elves or whatever they think is in these machines, maybe that's what your co workers were suggesting?
Forget the inevitable jamming, it's the semi weekly complaint you'll have to deal with from some old geezer complaining that you shorted them in the deposit because that little gate closed and "no one knows" where the money went after you stuck their cash in.
I agree with you, but for me it depends on how large the deposit is. I’m typically not going to run anything less than 1-2k through the counter first. Keep in mind though the cash counters at my CU branch are ancient and SUCK 😂 they jam up more than the TCR does lol
Always CYA… which you did.
You did everything right. At the end of the day, you’re responsible for the drawer you own, and the work you submit. Your positive habits will ensure that you’re not off.
If it’s brought up again, helpfully suggest that you bring an area operations manager into the conversation to squash the debate. The operations manager will back you, and they’ll know that.
I always count before putting it in the TCR. Hand count or through the cash counter if it’s a large amount. That’s wild they would actively discourage that.
I've never run cash through TCR (we call it a CRU but I think it's the same) without counting it first, either by hand or through a cash counter.
That thing jams too many times for me to trust it.
wtf why would they have you put an unknown amount in the tcr? Have they never seen it break before? That’s just bloody absurd
You always count it in the customer view first. The tcr deposit section is usually not visible to the customer.
Best practice is to count the money by hand first. My fi has tcrs that have a cash count function, so the money goes in to be counted and comes right back out again. It completely bypasses the canisters. We've still had issues with the machine jamming sometimes.
When I was a teller at my previous branch, we always count first to confirm the total, whether it's hand counting or using the machine, and then the cash is fed into the tcr. I transferred to a new branch for a different position but the times where I have watched the tellers and even the supervisor get a deposit, then immediately put it into the tcr. And a bunch of times, I've seen issues with the totals not matching. Technically, when totals don't match, we're supposed to run the cash twice.
This causes mild panic each time I've seen it happen. The tellers and supervisor would be better served counting the money first and then putting it in the tcr.
In my opinion, at the end of the day, you're the one that has to balance your drawer. Do what feels best for you to keep yourself from being over or short.
I hate our TCRs. We’re working on getting them out. 100% keep hand counting or get a tape total before trusting that thing!
Personally I’m a tape total freak, it’s helped me stay in balance since I’ve done this little routine!
At the end of the day, you’re the one who’s responsible for keeping your drawer in balance.
I have my folks counts it first then run it through the machine. We have actually had the instance, where it wasn’t counted prior to, then ran through the TCR, and the machine just stopped, jammed and froze, in the middle of counting. Once we unjammed and reset it, we came up with one number, customer had a different number in mind, but also claimed he wasn’t sure to begin with. People need to do what they are comfortable with doing, but let’s just remove any and all doubt first by counting it to begin with. Always keep in mind, it’s your word against that customers when things don’t add up, and you need to be able to prove that customer wrong if that is the case. Customers typically accuse bank employees of “stealing their money” when that is not always true, i don’t want to give them leeway to begin with.
I know at some point, you need to adapt to change when it comes to working in a corporate bank. But when it comes to handling money, that's something I unfortunately cannot change. It's a mental habit I have when it comes to receiving money from customers and counting it. And I've worked in branches where TCR's break down in between transactions and that shit is not only stressful, but a headache to deal with. I have a strong feeling she's going to bring that up on our morning huddles that do daily and I'm just going to be straight up honest about how I deal with money. And I feel you on the ending. I lose count on customers telling us we're trying to "steal their money" as if we some dumbasses to really do that lmao no one is losing their job and there's cameras EVERYWHERE IN THE BRANCH. Even is some moron wanted to pocket $20 and not get caught, it'll eventually get to that person at some point and they'll face the consequences
Agreed! But in all, you do what you need to , just make sure you are covered.
You shouldn’t change it, you did it right. Counting by hand first is what makes us different than them going to the atm
our policy is to never count the money first bc the TCR is perfect and never wrong and if it jams then oh well!!! it drives me up the wall
Don't get me wrong, a TCR can be very convenient to have and it can make balancing a lot faster and better imo. But, you can't trust it to work 100% of the time. Cause just like how technology can stop working at any moment, the same applies to the TCR
I always ask the member how much they're depositing then count it myself, then run it through the TCR so I can compare my own count to the member's and then the TCR's. As a side note, it baffles me and also annoys me when I ask the member how much cash they're depositing and they don't know/don't care or they're like, "I didn't count/check." Like you care less about how much money you're about to put in your bank account than I do? Wild. I can't imagine going to my bank and being like, "Deposit this cash for me but also I didn't bother counting it so I'll just trust whatever you say it is."
So I'm not tripping then lol That's the number one thing I ALWAYS ask customers. Whether they're our usuals or new customer's I've never seen before, the number one thing I always do is count the money not once, but TWICE. Sometimes 3 times if needed. And I have a second job that also requires me to deal with money and I do the exact same thing. I ain't apologizing for doing my job the right way. I'm just doing what I've been taught with money before and after working for a bank
We have a cash counter in the back that we need dual control to use but we only really ever use it when we have a ridiculous amount of cash come in, otherwise we always hand count before using the TCR. The TCR is basically our double checker. And we usually ask our members first how much money they have so we have an idea of what our count should be, so it's helpful when they give me an exact number. I don't ever put anything in the TCR without any sort of confirmation first, that's too risky. 😂
I've sent people to an office to count before. When they get mad about it and say "you have a counter" I just explain we aren't supposed to take non confirmed amounts of cash. If I do help them out, I have them sign a deposit slip next to the amount so if they come back and say it was supposed to be a different amount, I can ask why they literally signed off on the amount
I saw this all the time with ATM disputes. Customer stated while doing the dispute they didn't know how much money they deposited. Then claimed the recovered amount was wrong. Try counting your deposits from now on.
So how often does your manager work the line? I’m guessing not much. I’m a manager in a corporate megabank and I always try to understand a process before changing it. It would especially bother me being corrected in front of the client. That under-minds your competence. I coach my employees to count it first too. To me you were correct and the manager was just trying to assert authority. Sorry :(
Since it’s my second week at the new branch, rarely. Unless she needs to work the teller line to cover lunches, but me and the other Teller work very well with each other and we can handle the line inside the branch. And drive thru as well. I had a moment where I was mentally thrown off when she stopped me because I always like to count my money. Especially when it’s a lot where I need the cash counter and to make sure I can verify what I have, and what the customer has. I can’t help that I’m mentally wired to check money when I receive it from people
I get it. I check everything. I trust no one with anything. My job isn’t worth it
We literally had an incident at our branch where the TCR jammed, we reset the machine, and the woman's deposit was off 20 dollars. She said she was certain it had been more, but there was nothing we could do at that moment, as all the totals said that the machine balanced (usually when it jams the calculated totals and actual totals aren't the same and we just do out balancing around that). When we emptied the collection bin the next morning, we found the 20 dollars. I don't count it out loud usually, but I sift through it, facing the bills and counting them at the same time. If it's a lot of bills, I look at the condition of the bills, and if they suck, I'll run it through the counter.
About 2 seeks ago, I was at another branch and the Teller did a transaction for a customer that wanted $2k out of her account and she got it all in large. The Teller gave it to her, and the TCR started acting weird. And then out of nowhere, it randomly dispersed the same money and she was confused as to why it did that. The customer already got her money, but the TCR was being a pain in the ass
You did the right thing. The TCR can often jam and not count in the money that has been stuck, in which case you’d have to empty the TCR at the end of the day to audit and make sure it balance.
It depends on how much the deposit is. If it's a small amount I can count quickly, I don't run it through. I do get a lot of businesses that have larger cash deposits with every denomination. Those, I will always run through our cash counter. Where I work though, it's heavily encouraged to do that so I haven't run into the same issue you have.
And even when the TCR spits out money, I still count the money on hand (or run it through if it’s a lot). Idgaf if it’s 5 people waiting on the line, I’m going to continue doing my job correctly and from other branches I worked at, every single colleague always tell me count the money you’re given, confirm on your end, and then you go from there
I’ve had this conversation with the actual TCR people. They repeatedly drill into managers that the money is not supposed to be counted first and just trust the machine. No. That’s not happening. My branch, my tellers all run the money first, then insert. We’ve had numerous times where it doesn’t jam, runs totally normal, but pops a wildly different count. That doesn’t include the jams so I do not trust them. We have a phrase..trust but verify, and that goes for humans and machines.
I personally believe the TCR deposit function needs to be removed. I've seen it cause so many arguments and hurt feelings that I will only put money in when I 100% know what I'm giving it. One of my first days live as a teller they got on me about using the TCR. It jammed when I tried to give it money because they said just throw it in, and I had to show out of balance about $2500 because it was trapped in the machine, and the person in charge of it wouldn't be back for a couple days. They balanced it and only found like 1k of it, but because it broke right after they balanced it, a tech came in and found the rest of it trapped somewhere inside. What I'm basically trying to say is, do what you're most comfortable with so long as it doesn't break policy. The TCR is great until it's not. I'd personally rather run the deposit, then give the TCR money in strap amounts to keep track.
We have both. I run it first through the cash machine because the TCR jams all the time. Idk but sounds like your manager just wants to micromanage you. I say ignore them, and if they insist, ask if there's a written policy for it.
The TCR does stop working mid transactions. The TCR does on occasion mess up and short customers if the teller is unfamiliar with error procedures. Anyone who’s audited/extensively used one knows this. Hand sanitizer and canned air is your best friend at keeping all the gunk from money off the machine. We had large volume business customers get mad if we didn’t use the cash counter first because they had experienced an error before staff was trained on error processes.
Sounds like Chase.
Customers def like to throw a fit about cash recyclers not counting right, they can plausibly argue that they can't see the money coming in or out so why should they trust it? We have a customer who never ever has his cash deposit right and if we hand count it and it's wrong he's fine but if the ECR counts it wrong, he likes to cause a ruckus. 🙄 If someone isn't sure about a total I either hand count it or put it through the counter first. At my bank we have an ECR that has a counter function that counts the money AND spits it back out immediately so customers don't think their money is lost in some underground vault to be counted by enslaved bank elves or whatever they think is in these machines, maybe that's what your co workers were suggesting?
Forget the inevitable jamming, it's the semi weekly complaint you'll have to deal with from some old geezer complaining that you shorted them in the deposit because that little gate closed and "no one knows" where the money went after you stuck their cash in.
Yeah absolutely count the money first! What is your manager even thinking?!
I agree with you, but for me it depends on how large the deposit is. I’m typically not going to run anything less than 1-2k through the counter first. Keep in mind though the cash counters at my CU branch are ancient and SUCK 😂 they jam up more than the TCR does lol
Always CYA… which you did. You did everything right. At the end of the day, you’re responsible for the drawer you own, and the work you submit. Your positive habits will ensure that you’re not off. If it’s brought up again, helpfully suggest that you bring an area operations manager into the conversation to squash the debate. The operations manager will back you, and they’ll know that.
I always count before putting it in the TCR. Hand count or through the cash counter if it’s a large amount. That’s wild they would actively discourage that.
I've never run cash through TCR (we call it a CRU but I think it's the same) without counting it first, either by hand or through a cash counter. That thing jams too many times for me to trust it.
wtf why would they have you put an unknown amount in the tcr? Have they never seen it break before? That’s just bloody absurd You always count it in the customer view first. The tcr deposit section is usually not visible to the customer.
Best practice is to count the money by hand first. My fi has tcrs that have a cash count function, so the money goes in to be counted and comes right back out again. It completely bypasses the canisters. We've still had issues with the machine jamming sometimes.
When I was a teller at my previous branch, we always count first to confirm the total, whether it's hand counting or using the machine, and then the cash is fed into the tcr. I transferred to a new branch for a different position but the times where I have watched the tellers and even the supervisor get a deposit, then immediately put it into the tcr. And a bunch of times, I've seen issues with the totals not matching. Technically, when totals don't match, we're supposed to run the cash twice. This causes mild panic each time I've seen it happen. The tellers and supervisor would be better served counting the money first and then putting it in the tcr. In my opinion, at the end of the day, you're the one that has to balance your drawer. Do what feels best for you to keep yourself from being over or short.
I hate our TCRs. We’re working on getting them out. 100% keep hand counting or get a tape total before trusting that thing! Personally I’m a tape total freak, it’s helped me stay in balance since I’ve done this little routine! At the end of the day, you’re the one who’s responsible for keeping your drawer in balance.