cha-ching

morning merry money makers 💸 💶 💰 💳 💎

while everyone's obsessing over the latest payment tech, the smartest retailers are rethinking something much more basic….how they handle actual dollar bills.

turns out, cash isn't dead.

just like brick & mortar retail itself, cash has stubbornly refused to disappear despite countless obituaries. both have evolved rather than vanished & both require modern approaches to thrive in today's ecosystem.

which brings me to today’s topic: the retail tool you didn’t know you needed until now:

meet clip money.

our perfectly-timed merry partner!

after our recent reader survey, it was clear: you want more tool tips. so consider this the first in a shiny new series. so we’re starting strong — with a tool that solves one of the most annoying, under-discussed headaches in retail. the kind that quietly eats up your time, money, & mental energy.

before we dive in, checkout this week’s merry partner, clip money!

💰 cash isn’t cancelled

let's start with some eye-opening stats that shocked even this retail data nerd:

• cash remains the third most-used payment method in the u.s., holding steady at seven payments per month

• 78% of all purchases are in-person payments

• cash in circulation has risen +6.9% annually since 2016

• cash in-person payments for purchases under $25 have increased three years in a row (now 34% of such transactions)

even more interesting is that a growing number of states & cities actually require businesses to accept cash, including:

• massachusetts (statewide)

• rhode island (statewide)

• new jersey (statewide)

• washington d.c.

• san francisco

• new york city

• philadelphia

this cash comeback creates real operational challenges for retailers. as someone who once partnered closely with apple's loss prevention team, i can tell you firsthand: the time & money spent handling physical cash would blow your mind.

it's a very real cost center that even the most tech-forward companies can't escape.

🏦 the banking bottleneck

if you're handling cash in your stores with a local bank branch, you're likely familiar with this workflow nightmare:

1. count & reconcile cash at closing (after an exhausting day)

2. fill out deposit slips (hope you don't make a mistake!)

3. find a manager with keys to the safe

4. store overnight (cross fingers nothing happens)

5. drive to the bank during limited hours (competing with every other business doing the same)

6. wait in line (goodbye, productive morning)

7. hope nothing went wrong (& prepare to do it all again tomorrow)

that's assuming your local branch still exists. in case you missed it, banks closed over 3,000 branches in 2023 alone.

fewer locations + reduced hours = even bigger headaches for cash-handling.

🔐 your priciest pickup

when stores get too busy for bank runs, they typically hire armored trucks to pick up their cash. unfortunately, these old-school services come with serious headaches:

• long-term contracts with hefty minimums

• rigid pickup schedules (often inconvenient for store teams)

• surprise fees that mysteriously appear on your statements

• limited visibility into the process once cash leaves your store

• environmental impact of sending massive armored trucks to pick up what might be relatively small amounts of cash

the resource sink for both bank runs & armored trucks is real.

whether it’s paid employee hours or paid armored services, when you multiply the cost across the fleet, it can add up to a small fortune real fast.

💸 cash flow in 2025

this is where clip money comes in!

a very merry solution that's modernizing cash management for retailers of all sizes (& no, i'm not just saying that because they're sponsoring this newsletter; i genuinely think this is brilliant so much so i was telling friends about it all weekend).

here's what caught my attention about their approach:

• no more bank runs: instead of wasting hours at bank branches, store teams can deposit cash at secure, self-service locations (often in the same shopping center!)

• next-day fund access: deposits hit your account the next business day (vs. the 2-5 days many retailers experience from a bank)

• unified dashboard: their cleverly named CASHboard gives you real-time analytics & actionable insights across all locations (no more spreadsheet or pdf invoices nightmares)

• no long-term contracts or minimums: scaling up or down based on your actual needs & your size.

• flexible options: you to choose between clipdrops (smart safes) or clipatms depending on your needs. plus their systems are cardless, pinless, & work with any bank!

what i love most about this approach is how it bridges the gap between old-school cash handling & modern digital management. the cash itself still exists, but the process around it becomes dramatically more efficient.

some of retail's smartest operators are already using this approach — lids, pacsun, hot topic, miss a, & others have made the switch.

also for my real estate readers, there's a strategic property management angle here too. smart commercial real estate holders are offering this as a value-adding tenant perk, transforming an operational headache into a competitive advantage for their properties.

it's clearly working, as industry leaders like simon, brookfield, & tanger are already on board with clip money.

🤑 still cashin’

payment methods have changed. cash hasn’t. it’s still here. still inconvenient. still eating up more time, labor, & line items than anyone wants to admit.

clip money is the long-overdue (& much needed) upgrade.

finally, someone updated the cash systems to match the century we’re in.

i’ve watched cash management quietly drain teams for years. store managers making daily bank runs like it’s part of their job description. regional leaders sorting through discrepancies like detectives. finance departments decoding armored carrier invoices like they’re written in hieroglyphics.

& no, this isn’t just a big-box inconvenience.

for small biz owners, the soul of retail, it’s even worse. fewer hands. tighter margins. every minute matters more. modernizing cash isn’t a luxury. it’s survival.

run your numbers. calculate your savings.

then go do something better with your time. i suggest merrymaking….

p.s. the more merry go round referral program is back 🤩