Follow the Money

Tracking store deposits for multiple locations can be a complicated and time-consuming process, but new programs like Dunbar Armored’s D-Trak bar code scanning system can speed detection of missing or inaccurate deposits, giving loss prevention personnel notice while the trail is still hot.

“The main functionality is being able to see, online, where deposits are located and all deposit information, including which stores made deposits, the amount and everything about the movement of deposits,” says Alfredo Parra, senior accountant for CompUSA parent company Systemax. CompUSA operates more than 30 stores in Florida, Delaware, North Carolina, Illinois and Texas.

Vital to the D-Trak process is the hand-held computer/scanner that Dunbar personnel carry to record deliveries. It is “comparable to systems in the package delivery industry, but with a lot more data features,” says Dunbar Armored senior vice president Ed Walsh.

The first step in the deposit verification process occurs when the hopper — the guard who rides in the cargo area — scans a bar code on the truck and then a location card within the business to show that the truck is at the customer’s location. The next step in the process, Dunbar’s Red Book, has been used for years. The customer fills out one-half of the receipt in the red book and the hopper fills out the other half, thereby acknowledging receipt of the customer’s deposit.

While the red book process is being completed, the guard inputs the deposit he is picking up into the hand-held device. The guard then shows the information on the hand-held to the customer for verification and, if correct, the customer acknowledges with a signature. An authorization card is then scanned, the guard exits the location with the deposit and the truck bar code is scanned again to close the loop on the deposit.

Deposits are not counted at the store. “If the customer says there is $10,000 in the bag, this is the amount entered” into the said-to-contain field on the hand-held device, Walsh says. The deposit is brought to the customer’s financial institution or Dunbar’s cash vault for processing; any deposit errors are handled between the customer and its financial institution.

Details on demand
Advantages of the D-Trak system, according to Walsh, include the ability to see details of what transpired at each stop, including the length of the stop. If a location did not have a deposit, Dunbar can show the customer proof using the location card.

Completed deposits can be viewed the next day on Dunbar’s password-protected website; available information includes each location serviced, how long Dunbar was at each location, whether or not a change order was delivered and the said-to-contain or cash-in-transit amount of the deposit.

“For retailers with hundreds of locations as well as hundreds of bank relationships and bank statements, D-Trak’s timely information is helpful,” Walsh says. Without it, it might take weeks to discover that a deposit wasn’t credited. Using D-Trak, “a missing deposit can be detected the next day. Also, if a store does not have expected deposits, this can alert the retailer’s loss prevention staff to a possible problem.”