It’s an unusual time for holiday makers across the world, and I was no different. Being from Scotland, the idea of a staycation in summer wasn’t the most attractive of propositions. But we asked around and had heard that the north of Scotland was ideal for camping. After much discussion and pleading from my 5-year-old son, I relented and agreed to camp for two nights, with the provision that we stay in a hotel for two nights.  

Over the course of four nights and five days, I saw different perspectives on the use of cash, it’s importance and the need for efficiency in handling it. 

When we arrived at the campsite, the word “remote” does not quite describe how far removed from city life we were. There was one shop for us to buy food, which wasn’t ideal. What really wasn’t ideal was that I thought I would be clever and just take my cards for payments. Well, that was my first mistake (after forgetting the midge spray). The shop only accepted cash. I soon returned to the store, with cash from the tent, to buy the bits and pieces that I did need. 

After striking up conversation with the store owner, who was also the campsite owner, I asked why their policy was cash only. The answer he said, was straight forward enough. It is far cheaper for him to accept and deal with cash than it is for card transactions. He added that the remoteness of the site was another factor, and that the connections to internet weren’t always stable. As a result, he made the choice to set customer expectations immediately and keep the stress of his customers strictly to outside the doors of the store. 

The shop keeper and I continued to talk a bit more in the evenings that we were on the campsite. He said, “The fees are too high for a small place like this we don’t have the margins to cope with price rises.” While I was inclined to think much of this was telling me what I might want to hear after telling him what I did for work, I reminded myself, those from the north of Scotland are nothing if not honest. 

This wasn’t the only occasion that I found myself needing to pay with cash while camping. Sandwich shops and ice cream vendors were another two smaller business that were accepting cash only. The reasons were the same. It was too expensive for these small businesses and their low value transactions to allow customers to use cards.  

Customers and small businesses rely on cash to control their costs or spending. 

While checking-in to the hotel, behind the front desk I was excited to show my little boy what they were using. They had Glory cash recycling devices. It’s one thing to see our products in demo centres or at trade shows. It’s an entirely different thing to see these incredible beasts in the wild. Though I think a 5-year-old would rather have seen an animal that could be described as a beast. None the less, I did what I would normally do if I saw something that interests me. I asked questions.  

The staff said that they were still handling a lot of cash, even in post-pandemic times. Why were they using the device? They asked me how long I had to wait at check-in. It wasn’t a lengthy wait. I discovered that over half of the staff had left the business just weeks before I had arrived. The reason that my wait wasn’t long, Glory devices. The staff were able to focus on keeping guests (me) happy and the check-in process moving quickly. 

The perspectives that I was looking at cash and the cash handling processes from were not through Glory tinted glasses. Instead, I was there purely as a consumer. Seeing how cash and using it can benefit small businesses and ensure that my experiences in store don’t leave me frustrated. The same was true for the cash handling devices. My experience as a consumer was positively affected by the availability of cash management devices at the hotel. 

When staff availability is limited, it is vital that the staff you do have can help customers. When connections are unreliable, customers expect their payments to be processed and accepted without delay. Find out more about how Glory solutions can help deliver an excellent customer experience across your business from freeing up staff, to accepting cash.