Cash handling costs are the combined labour, discrepancy, banking, transport and equipment costs involved in accepting, moving, counting, storing, reconciling and depositing cash.

For most pubs and clubs, the cost is spread across multiple employees, shifts and expense categories. This makes the total easy to underestimate.

A practical annual estimate can be calculated using:

Annual cash handling cost = weekly labour costs + error investigation costs + unresolved discrepancies + other direct costs, multiplied by operating weeks per year.

Cash remains operationally important in Australia. The Reserve Bank of Australia found that approximately 15% of payments were made using cash in 2025, while around half of Australians used cash during a typical week. Cash use has stabilised rather than disappeared. Reserve Bank of Australia – Cash Use in Australia.

For pubs and clubs, the more useful question is therefore not whether cash will disappear, but how efficiently and securely it can be managed.

Use the calculator below to estimate what cash handling may currently be costing your venue.

What Are Cash Handling Costs?

Cash handling costs include more than the time an employee spends counting notes.

They can arise at every point in the venue’s cash cycle, from preparing opening floats and processing payouts to investigating discrepancies and preparing deposits for collection or banking.

Labour spent handling cash

Managers, cashiers and frontline employees may spend time on:

• Counting and balancing safes.
• Preparing and verifying floats.
• Processing cash-outs, refunds and payouts.
• Counting returned floats.
• Completing daily and shift-end reconciliation.
• Preparing bank deposits.
• Completing cash audits.
• Checking cash levels throughout the venue.

The most accurate calculation uses the employee’s loaded hourly employment cost, not only their base wage.

Depending on the employee and the venue, loaded cost may include superannuation, leave, allowances, penalty rates, payroll tax and other employment expenses.

Use your payroll records wherever possible. If you need to confirm applicable minimum rates, awards, penalties or allowances, refer to the Fair Work Ombudsman Pay and Conditions Tool.

Error investigation and unresolved discrepancies

A cash discrepancy can create two separate costs:

1. The labour required to investigate and correct the problem.
2. Any cash that remains unaccounted for after the investigation.

For example, a $50 discrepancy that requires a manager to spend one hour investigating does not cost only $50. The manager’s employment cost must also be considered.

The calculator therefore records investigation time and unresolved discrepancies separately.

Banking, transport and equipment costs

Other direct cash-handling costs may include:

• Cash collection or armoured transport.
• Bank cash-processing and deposit fees.
• Cash-counting equipment.
• Maintenance and servicing.
• Deposit bags, till rolls and other consumables.
• Travel time associated with banking.
• Insurance or security costs directly connected with cash management.

Only include costs directly related to handling cash. This keeps the result understandable and makes it easier to compare current processes with a proposed alternative.

The opportunity cost of manual cash handling

There is also an opportunity cost when experienced employees spend time on repetitive cash-management tasks.

A manager counting cash or investigating a discrepancy cannot use that same time for employee supervision, customer experience, financial analysis, compliance, auditing or business development.

Because the value of these activities varies considerably between venues, the calculator reports the measurable labour cost rather than attempting to assign an arbitrary value to lost opportunities.

However, opportunity cost should still be considered when evaluating a process change.

How to Calculate the Cost of Handling Cash

The calculator uses four principal cost categories.

Weekly labour cost

Weekly labour cost = manager hours × manager hourly employment cost + cashier hours × cashier hourly employment cost + error investigation hours × investigator hourly employment cost

Weekly direct cost

Weekly direct cost =
cash transport
+
bank and processing fees
+
equipment and consumables
+
other direct cash-handling expenses

Annual cash handling cost

Annual cash handling cost =
weekly labour cost
+
weekly discrepancy cost
+
weekly direct cost
×
operating weeks per year

In practice, the weekly categories are added together before multiplying by the number of operating weeks.

For the most reliable result, collect data over at least two to four representative weeks. Avoid basing an annual business case on one unusually quiet or busy trading period.

Cash Handling Cost Example

Consider an illustrative venue with the following weekly costs:

Cost category	Assumption	Weekly cost
Manager cash-handling labour	10 hours × $55	$550
Cashier cash-handling labour	18 hours × $38	$684
Error investigation	2 errors × 30 minutes × $55	$55
Unresolved discrepancies	Recorded weekly average	$100
Transport, fees and consumables	Combined weekly cost	$250
Total		$1,639

Across 52 operating weeks: $1,639 × 52 = $85,228 per year

The venue also spends approximately 1,508 employee hours per year on the activities included in the calculation.

This example is illustrative only. It is not a Banktech savings promise or a benchmark that should be applied to every venue.

If this venue expected a proposed process to reduce:

• Cash-handling labour time by 35%.
• Unresolved discrepancies by 40%.
• Other direct costs by 10%.

Its modelled annual saving would be approximately $26,840 before accounting for the purchase, rental, implementation and ongoing costs of the new system.

The calculator allows each venue to enter its own assumptions rather than relying on a universal savings percentage.

Why Small Weekly Costs Become Significant

Cash-handling inefficiencies are often difficult to recognise because they occur in relatively small amounts across different departments.

Five hours of manager time, several hours of cashier time, a few discrepancies and recurring banking fees may not appear substantial when considered individually.

Once combined and annualised, however, they can represent a material operating cost.

Creating a complete baseline helps management:

• Understand where employee time is being used.
• Identify the most repetitive cash-handling activities.
• Compare the cost of manual and automated processes.
• Investigate recurring discrepancies.
• Prepare a more accurate investment proposal.
• Measure results after a new process is introduced.

It also prevents technology decisions from being based solely on the price of a machine. The relevant comparison is between the total cost of the current process and the total cost and expected benefits of the proposed process.

How Cash Automation Can Reduce Manual Handling

Cash automation does not remove every cash-related task. It can, however, change how frequently employees need to count, move, check and reconcile cash.

A Banktech Cash Recycler accepts mixed notes, validates and counts them, separates denominations, stores the processed cash securely and makes authorised notes available for reuse.

Unlike a standard cash counter, a cash recycler can support the complete cash cycle by storing and dispensing cash as well as counting it.

Automated counting and float preparation

Cash recyclers can reduce repeated manual counting when employees deposit takings, prepare floats or reconcile cash.

Notes deposited into the machine can be counted and recorded automatically. Approved notes can then be dispensed in the denominations required for floats and other authorised operating requirements.

The amount of labour saved will depend on the venue’s cash volumes, number of floats, current procedures and system configuration.

Improved reconciliation and accountability

Automated transaction records can provide clearer information about deposits, withdrawals and user activity.

This can help finance teams:

• Match recorded transactions with physical cash.
• Identify exceptions sooner.
• Investigate discrepancies more efficiently.
• Maintain clearer audit records.
• Understand which authorised user performed an action.

Technology should support properly documented procedures and segregation of duties. It does not replace effective financial controls.

Secure storage and controlled access

A cash recycler stores processed notes inside the machine and limits actions to authorised users.

Reducing unnecessary cash exposure and repeated access to a central safe can help create a more controlled cash-management process.

The appropriate security arrangements will still depend on the venue, machine configuration and its wider policies and procedures.

Centralised cash visibility

Connected reporting can reduce reliance on employees physically checking individual machines or maintaining separate spreadsheets.

Banktech Cash Recyclers can connect with Omni VISION, allowing authorised users to monitor supported devices, cash levels and operational information through a central reporting platform.

What West HQ Achieved with Cash Recyclers

West HQ provides a useful example of the wider costs associated with a labour-intensive cash-management process.

Before automation, its process involved significant manual counting, regular safe access and discrepancies that were difficult to trace.

Following its implementation of Banktech Cash Recyclers, West HQ reported:

• The elimination of recorded cash shrinkage.
• The removal of 1.5 full-time-equivalent positions from its safe-team roster, with some employee capacity redirected to auditing.
• More efficient and accurate reconciliation.
• Stronger cash visibility through integration with Omni VISION.
• A smoother and more controlled cash-management process.

Read the complete West HQ Cash Recycler case study.

These are customer-reported results from a particular implementation. They should not be presented as guaranteed outcomes for every pub or club. Results will vary according to cash volumes, existing controls, configuration, employee adoption and operating requirements.

FAQs

Take the Next Step Towards More Efficient Cash Handling

Once you understand your venue’s current cash-handling cost, Banktech can help you assess where automation may provide the greatest operational benefit.

Banktech works with pubs and clubs to review cash volumes, floats, reconciliation processes, existing systems and security requirements before recommending an appropriate Cash Recycler configuration.

Cash handling is a necessary part of doing business, with cash payments unlikely to disappear completely anytime soon. However, your cash management systems could be costing you a significant portion of your income in the form of labour costs and shrinkage.

Having an accurate picture of how much you are paying for cash management is essential for taking the next step to improve processes and reduce shrinkage. At the end of this article, you’ll find a formula for estimating how much you are spending on cash handling. But first, let’s identify the areas where waste is occurring.

THE LABOUR COST

Traditional cash handling is a largely manual process that is highly labour-intensive. In fact, Australian businesses spend an average of 216 hours per year handling, counting and banking cash.

And the labour cost is not only based on wages. Those are 216 hours that you and your employees could be spending on more important tasks to effectively grow and manage your venue, such as business development and customer experience.

SHRINKAGE

Cash handling can also cost you money in the form of shrinkage, which refers to the loss of inventory and profits due to reasons such as theft, fraud, lost or damaged goods, and administrative errors or “paper shrink”.

While all aspects of shrinkage should be addressed, traditional cash management systems particularly lend themselves to administrative errors.

Calculating the cost of administrative errors in cash management is a bit tricky. Not only does this include any lost money from the mistake itself, but there is also the cost of fixing it, often calculated in payroll hours as managers chase down the source of the discrepancy. But to put things in perspective, administrative errors, in general, cost Australian businesses a combined total of $7.8 billion per year.

When interviewed, Daniel, CFO of West HQ agreed that cash shrinkage, overall, can probably add up to around 1% of cash takings when cash handling processes are manual.

‘Before we automated cash counting, cash shrinkage accounted for a small amount every week. However, there was one occasion when a material amount of cash went missing, and it was not traceable, due to the manual nature of our process. This significantly increased the average – and that, plus the exposure of cash in the safe and our wage bills made it necessary to invest in a cash recycling solution,” says Daniel.

While accidental in nature, there’s no reason administrative errors can’t be prevented by establishing more efficient and effective cash management systems in your venue. And as an added bonus, effective solutions are likely to reduce other forms of shrinkage related to poor security.

HOW TO REDUCE YOUR CASH HANDLING COSTS

Hospitality venues that establish the following best practice cash management systems will likely see a decrease in their cash handling costs.

• Tight processes and procedures
• Staff training in cash handling
• Modern equipment and technology
• Increased visibility and tracking

In particular, cash recyclers are changing the face of the hospitality industry by providing secure and accurate automation of cash management processes. This includes functions such as accepting and dispensing cash, sorting and counting coins and notes, authenticating currency, and providing real-time reconciliation, tracking and reporting on venue cash flow.

CALCULATING THE COST OF CASH HANDLING

You can do a rough calculation on the cost of handling cash in your venue, using the tables below.

Manager’s cash handling activities:

On average, how many hours do managers spend on the following each week?

Task	Hours	Hourly Wage	Cost (hours x wage)
safe counting and balancing
Float prep
Cash-out
Reconciliation of floats at shift end x number of shifts
Discrepancy investigation
Bank reconciliation
Cash audits
Daily reconciliation
Banking
Total

Cashier’s cash handling activities:

On average, how many hours do cashiers spend on the following each week?

Task	Hours	Hourly Wage	Cost (hours x wage)
Float verification
Gaming pay-outs
Refunds
Reconciliation of floats
Total

Administrative errors:

Type	Number
Average number of administrative errors in cash handling per week
Cost of fixing administrative errors (time spent x worker’s wage)
Total cost of error (average number x cost of fixing)
Discrepancies even after errors
Total cost of administrative errors (total cost of error + discrepancies after errors)

Then, assuming you’re accounting for even a 1% shrinkage, calculate 1% shrinkage on your cash takings and add this to your calculations. Does the overall yearly result surprise you?

If you’re interested in talking to us about cash recycling solutions, contact us today.