A Guide to Buying a Cash Drawer for Your Business

Though there are plenty of people stating that cash is dying and will soon be completely replaced by cards and other electronic forms of payment, the fact is that cash isn’t dead yet and probably won’t be for some time to come. Regardless of whether cash is eventually phased out of use or not, it’s important that you continue to accept cash payments in your business.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, cash payments are still very common, with 40 percent of consumer transactions being made with cash. Debit cards sit at 25 percent, credit cards at 17 percent, electronic payments and checks both reside at seven percent while other payment types are used less than five percent. However, these numbers are based on average number of transactions a consumer makes. If you look at the monetary value of these transactions, electronic payments come out on top with 27 percent, followed by checks at 19 percent, debit cards at 18 percent, credit cards at 16 percent, cash at 14 percent, and other payments encompassing the remaining five percent.

What these numbers mean for your business is simple, while your business is likely to get the majority of its gross income via methods other than cash, most individual transactions are likely to be paid for by cash. Because of this, you need to make sure that your business is capable of accepting cash payments. To do this, you’ll need a quality cash drawer to store and organize all your bills and coins.

Cost

While you may be tempted to believe that all cash drawers are the same, this assumption is false. There is a wide variety of brands and builds for cash drawers out there, and a wide range of costs to go along with that. According to Point of Sale News, cash drawers can range in cost anywhere from about $100 up to $400. However, you don’t want to base your decision on price alone, as your business may benefit from getting a more expensive, but more durable drawer.

Durability

Before picking the drawer you want for your business, you need to think about what sort of potential abuse it might take. According to POS Guys, cash drawers are often labeled as either heavy duty or medium duty depending on the type and thickness of the metal used in its construction. Heavy duty drawers will be more expensive, but they will also be much more resistant to dings, dents, drops, and any other abuse it might get. Medium duty drawers, obviously, will be cheaper but more vulnerable to tampering and damage. The durability of your cash drawer is important not just because of the inevitable drops and dents it will have to deal with, but also as a deterrent for potential thieves. A cash drawer that is well made using quality steel is more resistant to tampering and forced attempts to open it. Getting a durable cash drawer might just make the difference between a crook cracking it open and stealing your cash or failing and saving you financial losses.

Interface

According to eBay, there are three main types of cash drawer interfaces: printer driven, serial driven, and manually driven. Printer driven drawers plug directly into a receipt printer that will tell the drawer when to open while serial driven drawers are directly connected to your business’s POS system. As its name suggests, manually driven drawers are not connected to anything, so they require the cashier to manually open the drawer.

Another factor you need to consider when choosing the cash drawer interface you wish to use is compatibility with your POS system. This entire issue can be avoided if you buy all your equipment from a single vendor such as Shopify, which only offers equipment and services that can automatically integrate with each other. But if you have purchased your POS equipment piecemeal from various sources, you’ll have to consider whether the particular drawer you want is compatible with your other systems and equipment.

Space

While it’s important that you take counter space into consideration when picking your cash drawer, it is rather minor compared to the other factors you need to think about. Even so, you shouldn’t ignore it entirely as that can lead to you buying a cash drawer and then discovering you don’t have sufficient space to place it with your other POS equipment. However, if you have any sort of shelving underneath your counter, that space can work as a perfect location for your cash drawer. Not only is it hidden from the sight of customers, making it harder for potential thieves to reach, it also allows you to stick more merchandise on your counter-top to display to customers.

There are a few other minor factors you should look into as well, such as warranty, internal storage space, and mechanical reliability. But those issues are rather minor compared to the main factors you need to think about. However, you shouldn’t ignore any factors when hunting for the right factor. Take your time and think about what your business needs, and then find the drawer that’s right for those requirements.

Contributed by Simon Davis, a full-time business writer for the last 4 years who has had the privilege of attending some of the most renowned business conclaves held across the world. When not traveling for business, he loves spending time with his girlfriend and doing adventure sports. “