To say Carrie Fields is always on the go would be an understatement. As the front end operations specialist for Reasor’s, an 18-store grocery chain based in Oklahoma, she’s in stores every day to observe, coach employees and generally handle any problems that arise.

Deposit tracking sounds simple, right? Your stores send deposits to the bank, and the funds show up in your account. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of ways your deposit process can go awry.

When I talk to retailers about their challenges, the cost of accepting cash doesn’t usually top their list of concerns.  Typically, it’s for one of two reasons: either they don’t realize how the cost snowballs based on a wide variety of factors, or they’ve simply decided that there’s nothing they can do about it. Most retailers I speak with aren’t even sure what their cost of cash is in the first place. But in some retail verticals, the cost of cash is higher than the cost of accepting credit.

It’s well established that engaged employees perform better. In retail, the impact of an employee who’s invested in their work is easy to see – it results in greater productivity, more customer satisfaction and a better bottom line.

If you know anything as a retailer, it’s that shoppers want what they want when they want it. We want to shop from our couches at 11 p.m., or we want to drop into a store and have an experience; we want to get things delivered, or we want to pick them up the same day. We want every option so we can create the experience we want and need in the moment.

If you grew up in the ’80s like I did, you’ve seen some great movies. While some of them might fall into the “so bad they’re good” category, most ’80s movies seemed to carry with them an important life lesson, many of which translate to the retail industry. So find your scrunchie, pop that collar and reminisce!

Dear Experts:

My company implemented self-checkouts a few years ago. Customers seem to love them, but they’re a challenge to properly manage. Any tips?

— Director, Store Operations

An excerpt from Bad Stores and How to Fix Them

Lack of compliance with currency management procedures is a natural consequence of the industry’s high turnover — if staff is always changing, procedures get sloppy. But even without an ever-changing team, procedures and the ability to govern how and when they’re executed can suffer without the proper tools.

To say retail scheduling is a headache is an understatement. In my retail days, we had a fairly sophisticated system for scheduling that took into account stocking time, previous months sales trends, previous year same week trends, holiday lift, week of the month, average sales per customer, customer count trend, time to transition to or from holidays, and much, much more. But in the end it’s at best 90 percent science — the rest is instinct, a little bit of luck, and looking for opportunities in unexpected places.

Not long ago, my first-grader wanted to make slime. Not just any slime, but ice slime, which requires clear glue – so off we went to a local store. We couldn’t find the glue we needed, and unfortunately, I had been to this store many times and knew I probably wouldn’t find anyone to help us. Instead of trudging around looking for someone, I opened the store’s app on my phone, used the wayfinder, and found the aisle I needed immediately.

Is this a customer experience success or failure? Depends on how you look at it.