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Platforming Cash Productivity - Brink's US
Platforming Cash Productivity: How DSW stepped up its bank deposit efficiency
June, 2026
DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse)
Introduction
Can a large retailer reduce the time managers spend away from their stores on weekly bank deposits? With Brink’s as a cash handling partner, the answer is yes.
Established in 1991 in Dublin, Ohio, DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse) offers brand-name and designer dress, casual, and athletic footwear and accessories. The retailer operates almost 500 stores in 45 states.
DSW’s parent company, Designer Brands, is one of North America’s largest designers, producers, and retailers of footwear and accessories. The company is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.
DSW hoped to find a solution for unproductive, time-consuming bank runs for its U.S. stores.
The Challenge
The majority of DSW’s stores were making weekly cash bank deposits where employees would leave the store and walk or drive to a nearby bank. Before the pandemic, these were quick, routine tasks. After the pandemic, banks began changing their processes and causing significant delays.
“We saw banks that were closing their outside deposits and that would cause our leaders to go into the bank and wait in line, said Timothy Mottershead, DSW’s director of asset protection. “So we saw incremental time being built up that it would take for these things to happen.”
In addition, many banks were closing branches, which required employees to travel further away. This turned what were once 30-minute bank runs into one-hour trips away from the store.
There was another factor that made cash deposits difficult: available personnel. With many stores staffed by minor employees, the responsibility increasingly fell to store leaders, compounding the labor impact across the business.
The Solution
To help eliminate bank runs that were both costly and unsafe, DSW chose Brink’s Complete Enterprise. Every DSW location now has a Brink’s tech-enabled CompuSafe device that fully digitizes cash processes.
Cash handling is automated from the moment a customer pays until the cash is deposited. No employee needs to leave the store or wait in long bank lines.
“We get provisional credit on all these funds from 500 plus stores in as little as 12 hours versus waiting 7 to 10 days for it to get deposited into our account. So that gives us a seven-day head start on interest earnings,” said Mottershead.
Another plus is that stores can order change for their tills and track delivery directly through the Brink’s 24SEVEN portal.
“Stores really love the portal. They love that they can go into 24SEVEN, enter change orders and follow up. Previously, they were at the mercy of an armored car or bank. So being able to follow up themselves and track their orders has been a huge win for them,” said Mottershead.
The Results
Key benefits
Brink’s Complete Enterprise was created with large retailers in mind. Users benefit from:
- Expanded device options and integrated credit help meet the needs of multilocation businesses.
- Cash operations can be viewed digitally across networks for up-to-the-minute detailed insights.
- A monthly subscription combines Brink’s hardware, software, and transit services.
- Standard cash operations are expedited across all locations.
Implementation
Brink’s team was able to get all DSW’s nearly 500 smart safes installed in under two weeks. “We were able to roll out pretty succinctly to our stores with minimal friction. We were able to mark out in the office where the devices would go. Then the installation teams showed up and got our managers set up as users in the devices, so it was seamless,” said Mottershead.
Timing was everything as this project took place immediately before the holiday season rush.
“My concern was that we were being a little bit ambitious as we were rolling into the holidays, which could have caused some friction,” said Mottershead.
But Brink’s project management team left a great impression. “She was probably the best project manager I've ever worked with, and I've worked with a bunch on different other projects. She had our timing down.”
The results
Brink’s has helped DSW get back the time and costs it was expending on physical bank visits. And store managers have noticed the change.
“I would say this solution eliminates the drain on labor. Hours are hard to come by in retail stores these days. This solution gives back at least two hours a week, and that's on the low side because managers no longer have to sit in the back and do deposit activities. They're able to be out on the floor working with the team,” said Mottershead.
The sales audit and asset protection teams have also benefited. “In the past it would be 7 to 10 days before they’d get the reconciliation. Now we're getting that back within 12 hours. So, they're able to reconcile on an almost daily basis.
“On the asset protection side, most of our cash issues were deposit thefts, and we wouldn’t know until 10 to 15 days later. Now with the smart safes we don't have deposit theft at all anymore. It's reduced our cash handling risk to the point now where we're pretty confident when we do have cash shortages arise that they're coming from the till on the sales floor.”
Conclusion
DSW hoped to make store teams happier about cash handling, and Mottershead says Brink’s helped them achieve that goal.
“They love it. I would say if there's any transformational thing that we did in stores this year for them, this is the one thing that they all found value in. And I hear on every store visit I go to, they talk to me about it and they love it; the speed of which they can kind of just feed those bills in at the end of the night.
“When Brink’s shows up, they just let the driver in to empty the safe and they're on their way. It's a 10-minute thing rather than having to leave the store and go to the bank. They're all in on it.”
Time savings. Efficiency. Safety. That’s what Brink’s brought to DSW.
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