Process of and system for facilitating cash collections deposits and deposit tracking

• US 9,495,705 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2014
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brink's Network, Inc. (The Brink's Company)
• Original Assignee: Brink's Network, Inc. (The Brink's Company)
• Inventors: Blachowicz, Paul, Baker, Aaron, Purches, Frederick
• Primary Examiner(s): Savusdiphol, Paultep
• Application Number:
  US14/495,317
• Publication Number:
  US 20150228013A1
• Time in Patent Office: 783 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/379, 235/419, 235/425, 235/462.01, 235/487, 235/492
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0832 Special goods or special handling procedures, e.g. handling of hazardous or fragile goods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/12 electronically operated digital data processing aspects G06Q20/00

Abstract

A process of facilitating cash collection deposits and deposit tracking includes identifying by a retailer an amount of cash collected by that retailer, including respective amounts of currency by denomination of the collected cash, creating a deposit ticket containing at least a unique identification code associated therewith, depositing the created deposit ticket and the collected cash into a deposit bag, transporting the deposit bag to a cash processing facility, and counting at the cash processing facility the collected cash contained in the transported deposit bag to verify that the amount previously identified by the retailer corresponds to the counted amount. Particularly additional novel features include at least the following: the manner in which the retailer identifies the amount of collected cash; the manner in which the deposit bag may be scheduled for pickup; providing advance credit to the retailer for the cash deposits during various stages of cash handling/processing; and the particular manner of tracking the status of each of the deposit bags of a retailer'"'"'s multiple stores.

Claims

1. A process of facilitating cash collection deposits, comprising the steps of:

receiving from a retailer an identified amount of cash collected by the retailer;

creating at the retailer a deposit ticket, the deposit ticket having a unique identification code associated therewith, the unique identification code being associated with the identified amount of collected cash;

arranging transport to a cash processing facility of a deposit bag containing the deposit ticket and the collected cash;

ascertaining the identified amount of collected cash associated with the unique identification code associated with the deposit ticket contained in the transported deposit bag;

counting, at the cash processing facility, the collected cash contained in the transported deposit bag to produce a counted amount of cash;

verifying, by the cash processing facility, that the ascertained identified amount of collected cash corresponds to the counted amount of collected cash; and

arranging, by the cash processing facility, for the retailer to be provided, when the deposit ticket is created, with a credit by a financial institute in an amount corresponding to the amount of the collected cash.

2. The process of claim 1, comprising depositing the counted collected cash into the financial institute.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving from a retailer comprises receiving by an electronic device, via a manual entry by a user of the electronic device, respective amounts of currency by denomination of the collected cash;

and transmitting from the electronic device to the cash processing facility data corresponding to information manually entered into the electronic device.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein receiving from a retailer comprises receiving, via manual entry in a predetermined webpage of the cash processing facility, respective amounts of currency by denomination of the collected cash.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein the identified amount includes respective amounts of at least $100 bills, $50 bills and $20 bills of the collected cash.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of creating at the retailer a deposit ticket comprises printing the deposit ticket on a standard size piece of paper.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving from a retailer comprises receiving, via a telephone connection, manual entry of respective amounts of currency by denomination of the collected cash;

and the step of creating at the retailer comprises sending, after receiving manual entry of the respective amounts of currency by denomination of the collected cash, a facsimile communication corresponding to the deposit ticket to the retailer and providing a printout at the retailer of the deposit ticket in accordance with the facsimile communication.

8. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of creating at the retailer a deposit ticket comprises including on the deposit ticket a bar code representing the unique identification code.

9. The process of claim 1, wherein the step of creating at the retailer a deposit ticket comprises including on the deposit ticket respective amounts of currency by denomination of the collected cash.

10. The process of claim 1, wherein the deposit bag is a tamper-evident type bag.

11. The process of claim 1, wherein the deposit bag includes an RFID chip that uniquely identifies the deposit bag.

12. The process of claim 1, comprising automatically scheduling a pickup of the deposit bag from the retailer in accordance with a time when the deposit ticket is created.

13. The process of claim 1, comprising tracking a status of the deposit bag, the status of the deposit bag being a function of at least a location of the deposit bag and whether the verifying step has been carried out for the respective deposit bag.

14. The process of claim 1, wherein the cash processing facility is an entity distinct from the financial institute, the process further comprising the step of communicating, by the cash processing facility to the financial institute, information regarding either an overage or shortage in the collected cash counted by the cash processing facility to enable the financial institute to correct the amount of the credit provided by the financial institute to the retailer.

15. A process of facilitating cash collection deposits, comprising the steps of:

receiving by an electronic safe disposed at a location of a retailer cash collected by the retailer;

identifying by the electronic safe an amount of the collected cash;

creating at the retailer a deposit ticket, the deposit ticket having a unique identification code associated therewith, the unique identification code being associated with the identified amount of collected cash;

arranging, by a cash processing facility, for the retailer to be provided with a credit by a financial institute when the deposit ticket is created in an amount corresponding to the amount of the collected cash;

arranging transport to the cash processing facility of a deposit bag containing the deposit ticket and the collected cash;

ascertaining the identified amount of collected cash associated with the unique identification code associated with the deposit ticket contained in the transported deposit bag;

counting, at the cash processing facility, the collected cash contained in the transported deposit bag to produce a counted amount of cash; and

verifying, by the cash processing facility, that the ascertained identified amount of collected cash corresponds to the counted amount of collected cash.

16. The process of claim 15, comprising automatically scheduling a pickup of the deposit bag from the retailer in accordance with a time when the deposit ticket is created.

17. The process of claim 15, comprising tracking a status of the deposit bag, the status of the deposit bag being a function of a location of the deposit bag and whether the verifying step has been carried out for the respective deposit bag.

18. The process of claim 15, comprising communicating from the electronic safe to the cash processing facility the amount of the collected cash;

and wherein the step of creating at the retailer a deposit ticket includes accessing a predetermined webpage of the cash processing facility by the retailer using a computer disposed at the retailer and printing the deposit ticket in response to a print command on the computer while accessing the predetermined webpage, the deposit ticket being printed at the retailer.

19. A process of facilitating cash collection deposits at a plurality of stores of a retailer, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at each of the stores of the retailer, from a manager at the respective store an identified amount of cash collected at the respective store;

creating, at each of the stores of the retailer, a deposit ticket having a unique identification code associated therewith, the unique identification code being associated with the identified amount of collected cash at the respective store;

arranging, by the cash processing facility, for the retailer to be provided with a credit by a financial institute in an amount corresponding to each of the amounts of the collected cash, the credit being carried out for a respective amount of collected cash when one of the deposit tickets is created for a respective store of the retailer;

arranging transport of each of a plurality of deposit bags to a cash processing facility, each of the deposit bags containing the respective deposit ticket and the respective collected cash;

ascertaining, for each of the transported deposit bags, the respective identified amount of collected cash associated with the unique identification code associated with the respective deposit ticket contained in the respective transported deposit bag;

counting, at the cash processing facility, the collected cash contained in each of the transported deposit bags to produce respective counted amounts of cash; and

verifying, by the cash processing facility, that each of the ascertained identified amounts of collected cash correspond to the respective counted amount of collected cash.

20. The process of claim 19, comprising providing the retailer with a credit corresponding to a total of all of the amounts of the collected cash of all of the stores of the retailer.

21. The process of claim 19, comprising tracking statuses of all of the deposit bags, a status of a respective deposit bag being at least a function of a location of the deposit bag.

22. The process of claim 21, wherein the status of each of the deposit bags includes identifying if a deposit ticket was created for the respective deposit bag but the respective deposit bag is still located at the respective store of the retailer.

23. The process of claim 21, wherein the status of each of the deposit bags also is a function of whether the verifying step has been carried out for the respective deposit bag.

24. The process of claim 19, wherein the receiving step comprises receiving, via manual entry in a predetermined webpage of the cash processing facility, respective amounts of cash collected at each of the stores.

25. The process of claim 24, wherein both the receiving and creating steps are carried out on respective electronic devices disposed at the stores without specialized software installed on the respective electronic devices designed to implement the receiving and creating steps.

26. A system for facilitating cash collection deposits, comprising:

an electronic safe disposed at a retailer location for receiving cash collected by the retailer, the electronic safe identifying an amount of the collected cash;

an electronic device disposed at a retailer location for receiving information identifying the amount of cash received by the electronic safe, the electronic device creating a deposit ticket having a unique identification code associated therewith, the unique identification code being associated with the identified amount of collected cash;

a deposit bag for receiving the deposit ticket and the collected cash; and

a cash processing facility for receiving the deposit bag and for ascertaining the identified amount of collected cash associated with the unique identification code associated with the deposit ticket contained in the deposit bag, the cash processing facility counting the collected cash contained in the deposit bag to produce a counted amount of cash, and verifying that the ascertained identified amount of collected cash corresponds to the counted amount of collected cash, the cash processing facility arranging for the retailer to be provided with a credit by a financial institute when the deposit ticket is created by the electronic device in an amount corresponding to the amount of the collected cash.

27. A process of facilitating cash collection deposits, comprising the steps of:

receiving from a retailer, via manual entry by a user of an electronic device, an amount of cash collected by the retailer;

transmitting, from the electronic device to a cash processing facility, data identifying the amount of cash collected by the retailer as manually entered into the electronic device;

creating at the retailer a deposit ticket, the deposit ticket having a unique identification code associated therewith, the unique identification code being associated with the identified amount of collected cash;

arranging transport to the cash processing facility of a deposit bag containing the collected cash along with the deposit ticket;

ascertaining the identified amount of collected cash associated with the unique identification code associated with the deposit ticket transported with the deposit bag;

counting, at the cash processing facility, the collected cash contained in the transported deposit bag to produce a counted amount of cash;

verifying, by the cash processing facility, that the ascertained identified amount of collected cash corresponds to the counted amount of collected cash; and

arranging, by the cash processing facility, for the retailer to be provided, when the deposit ticket is created, with a credit by a financial institute in an amount corresponding to the amount of the collected cash.

28. The process of claim 27, wherein the step of arranging for the retailer to be provided with a credit comprises arranging, by the cash processing facility, for the retailer to be provided with the credit in accordance with a time the deposit ticket is created and in an amount based on the identified amount of collected cash as identified in the data transmitted from the electronic device to the cash processing facility.

29. A process of facilitating cash collection deposits, comprising the steps of:

receiving from a retailer, via manual entry in a predetermined webpage of a cash processing facility, an amount of cash collected by the retailer;

creating, while the retailer is accessing the predetermined webpage, a deposit ticket at the retailer, the deposit ticket having a unique identification code associated therewith, the unique identification code being associated with the amount of collected cash corresponding to the manual entry by the retailer in the predetermined webpage;

arranging transport to the cash processing facility of a deposit bag containing the collected cash along with the deposit ticket;

ascertaining the identified amount of collected cash associated with the unique identification code associated with the deposit ticket transported with the deposit bag;

counting, at the cash processing facility, the collected cash contained in the transported deposit bag to produce a counted amount of cash;

verifying, by the cash processing facility, that the ascertained identified amount of collected cash corresponds to the counted amount of collected cash; and

arranging, by the cash processing facility, for the retailer to be provided, when the deposit ticket is created, with a credit by a financial institute in an amount corresponding to the amount of the collected cash.

30. The process of claim 29, wherein the step of arranging for the retailer to be provided with a credit comprises arranging, by the cash processing facility, for the retailer to be provided with the credit in accordance with a time the deposit ticket is created and in an amount based on information manually entered by the retailer in the predetermined webpage.

31. A process of facilitating cash collection deposits, comprising the steps of:

receiving from a retailer, via manual entry during a telephone communication between the retailer and a cash processing facility, an amount of cash collected by the retailer;

sending a facsimile communication to the retailer in response to the telephone communication between the retailer and the cash processing facility, the facsimile communication causing a deposit ticket to be printed at the retailer, the deposit ticket having a unique identification code associated therewith, the unique identification code being associated with the amount of collected cash corresponding to the manual entry of information made during the telephone communication between the retailer and the cash processing facility;

arranging transport to the cash processing facility of a deposit bag containing the collected cash along with the deposit ticket;

ascertaining the identified amount of collected cash associated with the unique identification code associated with the deposit ticket transported with the deposit bag;

counting, at the cash processing facility, the collected cash contained in the transported deposit bag to produce a counted amount of cash;

verifying, by the cash processing facility, that the ascertained identified amount of collected cash corresponds to the counted amount of collected cash; and

arranging, by the cash processing facility, for the retailer to be provided, when the deposit ticket is created, with a credit by a financial institute in an amount corresponding to the amount of the collected cash.

32. The process of claim 31, wherein the step of arranging for the retailer to be provided with a credit comprises arranging, by the cash processing facility, for the retailer to be provided with the credit in accordance with a time the deposit ticket is printed and in an amount based on the manually entered information made during the telephone communication between the retailer and the cash processing facility.

33. A process of facilitating cash collection deposits, comprising the steps of:

receiving from a retailer an amount of cash collected by the retailer;

creating at the retailer a deposit ticket, the deposit ticket having a unique identification code associated therewith, the unique identification code being associated with the identified amount of collected cash;

automatically scheduling a pickup from the retailer of a deposit bag containing the collected cash along with the deposit ticket in accordance with when the deposit ticket is created;

arranging, in accordance with the scheduled pickup, transport to the cash processing facility of the deposit bag containing the collected cash along with the deposit ticket;

ascertaining the identified amount of collected cash associated with the unique identification code associated with the deposit ticket transported with the deposit bag;

counting, at the cash processing facility, the collected cash contained in the transported deposit bag to produce a counted amount of cash;

verifying, by the cash processing facility, that the ascertained identified amount of collected cash corresponds to the counted amount of collected cash; and

arranging, by the cash processing facility, for the retailer to be provided, when the deposit ticket is created, with a credit by a financial institute in an amount corresponding to the amount of the collected cash.