What is a Cash Drawer?
Cash Drawer is a section under the Cash Register or Point of Sales Device (POS) that holds credit card receipts, cash from transactions, and other paperwork. The Drawer has a detachable Cash Tray used for storing cash. Cash Drawer is popularly used in retail activities, especially in the POS system.
Cash Drawer Classification
Manual Cash Drawer
A Manual Cash Drawer is simply an enhanced box with a key. This is a low-cost and safe choice for managing cash flow. The key will lock the cash drawer and a mechanical push-button will automatically unlock it only for business purposes.
Printer Driven Cash Drawer
This type of Cash Drawer is the most popular used. The Cash Drawer will plug into a receipt printer. After a receipt has been printed following the information from the POS system and the required payment is made in cash, the Cash Drawer will automatically open.
USB Cash Drawer
If using an extra USB port on the POS terminal, the POS vendor should be able to support the USB-driven cash drawer. The USB drawers also need supplementary electronics to work well with other POS applications.
Serial (RS232) Cash Drawer
RS232 is a communication protocol commonly operated by a 9-pin serial connection to PCs. This is a traditional method that has been out-of-date and quickly altered by numerous other available technologies.
Advantages of Cash Drawer
There are several benefits that retail businesses may gain from implementing Cash Drawer into transactions, such as:
- Managing cash flow: Retailers with a high-volume sales system can integrate cash drawers to track the amount of money in every single real-time transaction.
- Reducing risks of money fraud: Since the cash drawers will only open for business purposes, no one can easily break into them.
- Increasing cash accountability: If Cashiers open cash drawers without reasonable purposes, the system will immediately notice and report on it.
