Handling the Bank's Money Department The first duty of the paying teller on arriving in the morning is to open the vaults and take out and arrange the various kinds of money needed for the day's use. Method is necessary in this work if accuracy is to be assured. For convenience and safe handling the cash is placed in various drawers and racks according to its character and denominations; large notes, such as soos, ,000s, 5,000s and ro,000s, are generally kept out of too easy reach in order to reduce to a minimum the danger of paying them out for notes of smaller denominations. The gold coins are sorted on trays according to the various denominations, in stacks of twenty coins each. The silver and minor coins are likewise sorted on trays in uniform stacks according to denominations. Silver and minor coins are also run through a coin-counting machine, which counts and wraps at the same time. Halves and quarters wrapped in rolls of $ro each and dimes in rolls of $5 each are made up in boxes containing $roo. Nickels in $2 rolls are put up in boxes containing $20, and pennies in 50-cent rolls in boxes con taining $10.
This arrangement of bills and coins greatly facilitates both the proving of the cash at night and its paying out during the day. A "vault book," containing an accurate record of the entry and issue of cash is kept, sometimes going into such detail as the actual amount of each denomination. Since the Amendment of June 21, 1917, to the Federal Reserve Act, designating the federal reserve bank as custodian of all the legal reserves, the volume of money kept in the bank's vaults has been greatly reduced and the vault records simplified.
The cash from the receiving teller and note teller, as well as all other money received into the bank through various channels, is charged to the paying teller and turned over to the money de partment to be proved and sorted. The money department is a specialized section performing certain operations common to several departments having to do with cash and providing an independent and disinterested check on the counting of moneys received a nd issued. The packages of money from out-of-town accounts are turned over by the paying teller to the money department, which opens them and sees whether the money inside agrees with the marks on the outside. The money is then par celed out for counting and sorting according to kinds and denomi nations. The mutilated money is made up into packages, keep ing the kinds and denominations separate; all national banknotes are sent to the Comptroller of the Currency at Washington and the other mutilated money to the Treasury or federal reserve bank. The good money is made up into standard packages,
varying with the kinds and denominations, and is put into the vaults for current use.
The money department receives from various departments money charged to the paying teller, the money teller receipts for it and is responsible for it while in his custody, and at the end of the day makes a proof of receipts and disbursements.
Payments and Receipts by Mail and Express That part of the bank's mail relating to payments of cash is turned over to the paying teller. This comes from all parts of the country and includes requests for payments to be made on account of the 5 pei cent redemption fund, transfer of funds, and interest on public deposits, letters of advice from out-of town correspondents relative to shipments of currency forwarded for their credit, and letters from correspondents containing signa tures of indorsers of checks, sent for the purpose of identification. In banks where the signature department is not specialized, the paying teller also receives the letters containing stop-payments on lost or stolen checks.
All these letters are read and initialed. Letters of identifica tion are acknowledged and then filed alphabetically in a special book for ready reference. Requests for the payment of money are passed to the bookkeeper's department and signature department, for verification of balances and signatures respectively. On their return a charge ticket against the account and a letter of advice are prepared. In shipments of currency one advice is enclosed with the package of money and another is sent by separate mail. All charge tickets and advices, together with the original letters, are returned to the paying teller, and if found correct in every particular, are dated, stamped, and initialed by him. The charge tickets are then sent for official signature to the bank officer who has charge of the business coming from the particular area con cerned, and on their return the cash is either paid out or shipped against them.
If the volume of the work warrants, all shipments of money may he performed by a specialized shipping divided into sections for handling registered mail shipments and express shipments. Money made up for shipment is turned over to a special messenger, who delivers the package to the express com pany or post-office, and the signed receipt for it is returned to the teller for his initial. An affidavit covering every shipment of currency is filled in and signed by the messenger and his assistants who handled it.