Don’t Sweat the Small Bills

This article is brought to you by Cash Depot.

Small bills tend to leave a store through customer transactions. According to the NACS State of the Industry Report® of 2025 data, cash was used in 25.9% of transactions but only made up 17.5% of transacted sales, indicating that customers tend to use cash for smaller transactions. “That can lead to larger denominations building up in the register while tills run short on small bills,” said Doug Marquis, chief revenue officer for Cash Depot.

Retailers have to re-balance their registers’ cash with bank visits, bill orders and pickups or deliveries. “Most retailers assume this is unavoidable,” Marquis said. “But is it?”

Taking cash out of the building and getting cash back in the right denominations costs time and money, according to Marquis. Retailers have direct costs like bank, courier, and cash-ordering fees. They also have labor costs, including staff time spent counting cash, reconciling, and managing vendors.

“Imagine how managers could improve customer service if they aren’t in the back dealing with cash,” Marquis said. “They certainly can’t boost a customer’s experience if they’re driving to the bank for change.”

Less dependence on external cash sources also means not being limited by banking hours, he said, which can lead to more efficient operations.

“The toll of getting cash is an industry blind spot,” Marquis said. “Cash isn’t actually the problem.”

There are many solutions that focus on cash storage, he said, but only a few focus on circulation.

“The fastest way to identify an incomplete cash management solution is simple,” Marquis said. “If you still need to pick up or order bills, the system isn’t self-sustaining.”

He said Cash Depot’s BANK IN A BOX is what smart cash management looks like.

After cash enters Cash Depot’s BANK IN A BOX, it is reused throughout the day for register funding and replenishment as well as customer withdrawals and financial transactions, Marquis said.

“Cash exits naturally through customer activity,” Marquis said. “Using BANK IN A BOX, store employees can trade large bills for the smaller bills they need, balancing register funds without calls, bank runs or couriers.”

BANK IN A BOX can also help generate customer foot traffic with services such as multi-denomination ATM withdrawals, consumer deposits, bill pay, money orders, mobile top-ups and digital gift cards, Marquis said.

He added retailers shouldn’t be exploring how they manage their cash deposits. Instead, he said, they should be asking, “What is my store’s cash cycle?”

“The answer reveals whether they have a complete cash management solution or simply another cash device,” Marquis said.

This is the second article in a two-part series from Cash Depot. Read about integrated cash ecosystems in part one.

Cash management