How to Count Back Change

How did cashiers know how much change to give back before computers? They counted it back by hand. This tutorial makes it easy to give back the right amount of change.

Peg owned an antique store and a hair salon and worked in a variety of retail settings before moving into a corporate role.

Yes, I’m one of those people who gives the cashier the exact change for a purchase. I can hear the groans at cash registers everywhere as I dig into the depths of my purse while people in line behind me narrow their eyes and glare. While they’re checking their watches, I ask the cashier, “Is it too late to give you the seven pennies?” The crowd groans. I have actually been told, “Yes, it's too late.”

It's likely that these cashiers were never trained to count back change to a customer. When I ask cashiers if they got any training from their employers like how to bag groceries or what to do if the customer wants to give you the pennies, I'm shocked when they tell me, they didn't.

Here's the way we were taught back in the days before registers told you how much money to give back.

Suppose your customer bought forty-eight dollars and thirty-seven cents ($48.37) worth of groceries. After you've already hit the cash out button, they hand you a one hundred dollar bill ($100.00).

If the cashier entered the amount of the purchase as exact cash received, the register won't tell them how much change to give from the hundred.

How do you figure out how much to give them? You count it back. 

For Example, the Customer's purchase is $48.37.

1. First, you're trying to round up to a zero or an even dollar amount.
2. Starting with the smallest denomination of coins, pull out one penny at a time and count to yourself, “Forty-eight dollars and thirty-eight cents (48.38)."
3. Take another penny and say, "Forty-eight thirty-nine, (48.39)."
4. Another and it's "Forty-eight forty (48.40)." You've reached an amount with a zero at the end.
5. You could move on to the nickel bin, but that's not the largest denomination of coin needed. Nobody wants a pocketful of nickels.
6. Go to the dime bin and pull out one dime. Whisper to yourself, "Forty-eight fifty (48.50)."
7. Next, go to the quarter bin and pull out one quarter. Count to yourself, “Forty-eight seventy-five" (48.75).
8. With the second quarter, say to yourself, "That makes forty-nine dollars" (49.00).

That's a full dollar amount and it ends in zero.

Move on to the paper currency.

• Pull a one dollar bill out of the drawer and tell yourself, "And one dollar makes fifty."
• Pull a 10-dollar bill from the drawer and say to yourself, "Plus ten makes sixty." You could also use two fives, but most customers want the highest denomination possible and not a lot of loose bills.

Still holding the change in your hand you move on past the tens.

Rather than giving them four more tens (forty dollars) for the rest, move on to the next higher denomination, which is twenty dollar bills. 

• 60 dollars plus a 20-dollar bill equals 80 dollars.
• Add one more 20, and you’ve got the correct change for 100.
• Now, you count it back to the customer just like you counted it to yourself. There's a reason to do this. It double-checks your math.

Why Should Anyone Learn How To Count Back Change?

When I turned 16, I started working retail at a dime store. Within the first week, the manager put me on the register. The first thing we were taught about operating that antique brass National Cash Register was that when the drawer flew open after ringing the merchandise, we counted back the change into our hand and then counted it audibly as we handed it to the customer. This is a lost art in today's world of computers and calculators.

Sometimes, it is necessary to know the art of counting change, like when we have a garage sale or work as a vendor in places that don't have automated registers like the flea market or the school carnival.

And, of course, there's the occasional customer like myself who likes to give the odd change to the cashier in order to receive back fewer one-dollar bills or coins. I'll admit, I do it sometimes to keep my math abilities fresh. This seems to have a negative effect on the register operators that can't make change without the machine telling them how much.

Giving Back Small Bills When Larger Ones Are Best

This week, I was shopping at the Ross store that recently opened in our area. I waited in the maze of roped-off lines, Disney World style, to approach the cashier. I gave her a $100 bill for a $48.23 purchase. I don’t usually have 100-dollar bills, but I sold some furniture at a garage sale, and they paid me in cash.

The cashier seemed taken aback that I would even think of using cash. He gave me five $10 bills and $1.72 in change. That was the right amount, but most people don't want a load of small bills in their wallets.

I asked, “Don’t you have any twenties? This is a lot of tens.” After marking the currency with his special pen to make sure the large bill was not counterfeit, he announced over the public address system, “I need twenties, here.” People in the line turned to stare at me.

It seems as if stores are not expecting anyone to use cash, and they don't supply their registers with the appropriate currency to make change.

Counting The Change Back To The Customer

Now, to count it back to the customer whose sweaty little hand is stretched toward you.

Repeat the dollar amount of the purchase to them. “That’s forty-eight dollars and thirty-seven cents, Ma’am," being sure to emphasize the word to let people know that the customer is an old codger.

Next, calmly and firmly, count out the pennies. "Thirty-eight, thirty-nine and forty."

Now, hand them the dime. “And ten cents makes forty-eight fifty.”

Next, count back the quarters. The progression is from the smallest coin to the largest. "That's forty-eight seventy-five (after the first quarter) and forty-nine dollars (after the second quarter.)

Carefully placing the dollar bill in their hand, continue. “And one dollar makes fifty.”

Moving along to the 10-dollar bill, “Sixty.”

We're up to the twenties now. After the first twenty, say, “Eighty,” and handing them the last twenty, simply say, “And that makes one hundred dollars.”

Okay, maybe it is just too hard. When all else fails, tell the customer not to bring cash anymore and go on your well-deserved break.

Three Reasons Why You Should Count Back Change - from YouTube

Credit cards represent around 78 percent of all sales, but there will still be those people, like me, who like to use cash. You need to be able to make change for these people.

Then there are those oddballs who want to give you the change after you've already rung up the amount tendered.

"Can I give you the seven cents?" The next lesson will cover what to do when the old bat gives you the small change.