None of us relishes the thought of waiting in line to avail ourselves of cashiering services. This is all too true in the retail environment and banks these days, where shrinking margins and the drive for increased profits have pushed companies to provide less personal service. In the casino industry, one of the few ways one property can differentiate itself from the rest is through better customer service. That is why it is so surprising that in many casinos today the cashiering department is held in such low regard. The interaction with the cashiering department is an integral part of the customer’s overall casino experience. Unfortunately the needs of the department are routinely ignored in favor of the needs of the revenue generating departments of Slots and Table Games.

It is a fact that almost every customer is going to come into contact with the Cashiering department during their visit to the casino. Whether through a buy in or cash out transaction, check cashing, credit card advance, or indirectly through the slot or table games departments for jackpots, hopper fills, and table fills. The cashiering department will in some way influence the customer’s experience. While the customer may not relish the thought of standing in line at the cage or coin redemption, they will have to stand in line eventually.

With that in mind, it is easy to see why it is so important for casino management to focus attention on this critical service area. This are may be the last opportunity to make an impression on the customer. Casino operators must insure the customer does not actively hate the cashiering experience! There are a number of ways for casino management to improve service in the Cashiering department.

Anticipating customer needs in the casino planning process is critical in this regard. The cages, and coin handling areas need to be designed into the floor layout, not added later as an afterthought. The floor should be thought through and the cashiering areas placed strategically to minimize customer wait times while maximizing service. A buffer zone should be created between the slot machines and the cashiering areas, to make any time spent in line waiting as comfortable for the customer as possible. The jackpot and hopper fill handling areas should be ergonomically designed with conscious consideration given to maximum anticipated business volume.

The optimum placement of employee service windows is in a location away from customer service areas. It is never a good idea to have the customers stand in the same line as employees. The front windows should be designed with ergonomic principles in mind, and be numerous enough to handle peak business volume. The cages should be designed with storage needs in mind; the cage stores many different items, from cash and coin, to hopper bags, and currency straps. Storage takes space, and this space must be designed into the overall casino plan. Line management strategies must be considered in the design of cashiering areas. Will the windows be full service, or specialized? Will we use a bank style line, or McDonalds® style line? The answers to these and other customer service questions will affect the design of the space. Cashiering Management should be brought in on the design process as early as possible, to avoid costly rework and the design of non-functional space.

The training of cashiering personnel is critical to the success to the operation. Too often this is left to chance and the best is hoped for. A comprehensive, and ongoing training plan should be implemented with the involvement of the Human Resources training teams. The training should not only be technical in nature, but also have a heavy dose of customer service. Training should not stop after initial hire but should be an ongoing commitment to improving technical and service skills. As good as most cashiering managers are at running cashiering operations; they are generally not expert trainers. In setting up the cashiering staffing plan a place should be made for a full time trainer. The trainer must not only be a technical expert in cashiering operations, but also a skilled trainer. This individual should not be taken from the allocated FTE’s for cashiering supervisors, but should be an additional FTE dedicated to this task.

Cashiering Management must learn to get better at the hiring and promotion function. Many managers promote simply on technical skill ignoring the people skills needed to be an effective supervisor or manager. The best technical cashier may be the worst supervisory candidate. Cashiering Management must learn to recruit the best candidate for the job, regardless of previous cashiering background, technical skills can be taught, people skills are much harder to come by. In order to find and retain the best people, the salary and benefit levels of the cashiering department must be brought up to the level of their counterparts in gaming operations. The traditional argument has been that the gaming departments bring in the revenue, and should be rewarded for that fact is simply short sighted.

The compensation structure of the casino should reflect an emphasis on customer service. Salary and bonus should be tied to customer satisfaction, as well as revenue and profit goals. If the customer is happy revenues and profits will take care of themselves. The cashiering department is equally important to the overall success of the casino operation. The cashiering department carries most of the regulatory burden especially in newer jurisdictions. The cashiering department interacts with the most customers. The cashiering department handles the companies most liquid asset CASH. The cashiering department has the unique role of serving external and internal customers at the same time. The gaming operations departments cannot operate effectively with a poor cashiering department.

One of the critical things that a company can do to improve service in the cashiering area is to make it important to the cashiers and their managers. In most operations the most important thing a cashier does is balance. This is driven home in a variety of ways, including the variance or over short policy, training, and termination decisions. Very few cashiers and cashiering supervisors get terminated for poor or indifferent service. Many have been let go for poor balancing records, and non-compliance with regulations. I am not suggesting that management forgive or forget about balancing, and compliance, but service must be made equally important to those critical functions. Measurable service goals should be set for each activity of the cashiering department, and management should be held accountable for devising and implementing a plan to accomplish those goals. Cashiering Management should be equally focused on the customer experience at the counter as they are on the accountability of the bank.

Improved customer service in the cashiering department can be accomplished by designing the physical space to accommodate the job function, proper training, better recruitment, improved employee retention, and accountability of cashiering management for measurable service goals.