Are you doing everything you can to manage your business’ finances responsibly? If you aren’t using a quality, secure cash drawer for your transactions, you may be exposing your business to a lack of accountability at best and employee theft at worst.
It is easy to think of today’s business world as a cashless environment, but cash still has a vital role in POS-level transactions for most businesses. A secure, well-managed cash drawer is the simplest way to track the money coming in and out of your business. But how can you make sure you’re choosing the best cash drawer?
This post will cover some of the best-value cash drawers currently on the market. By the time you finish this post, you should have all the tools you need to select the best cash drawer for your business confidently.
Finding the Best Cash Drawer in 2022
What do we mean when we discuss the “best” cash drawer? While certain features should be in every drawer, sometimes “best” is subjective, depending on the needs and expectations of your business. Before deciding what cash drawer is right for your business, you first need to determine whether you should be looking into a heavy-duty, standard-duty, or light-duty drawer.
A cash drawer may seem like one of the simplest parts of setting up your point of sale system, and in many ways, it is. But finding the right cash drawer for your growing retail business is essential. Cash drawers vary in size, style, and security. When you get knee-deep in your search, it can start to feel a little overwhelming. If you take a step back, the decision process boils down to one question:
How durable do I need my cash drawer to be?
Cash drawers come in three main categories: Heavy-duty, standard-duty, and light-duty. POS Nation has years of experience supplying hardware and software for retail point of sale systems across industries. In this post, we will go over the specific businesses that may benefit from each type and recommend a quality cash drawer in each category. For more information, check out our buyers' guide.
Heavy-Duty
Heavy-duty cash drawers are generally made from durable materials like steel. They tend to be the most secure cash drawers, and they are also usually higher on the pricing scale than less durable models.
Businesses should consider a heavy-duty cash drawer if their store is incredibly high traffic. The average heavy-duty drawer survives up to 4 million cycles. A “cycle” is defined as a cash register being opened and closed. In other words, if you know your business does a lot of cash transactions, you may want to consider a heavy-duty cash drawer.
Our Recommendation:
POS-X’s heavy-duty drawer.
Size: 16 inches
Pricing: $179
Reviews: There are limited reviews available online for this drawer, but the ones we’ve found have been glowing. Users give the product 5 stars, praising its sturdy construction.
Standard-Duty
Standard-duty cash drawers are the middle ground when it comes to cash drawer durability. They can be made safer with additional features like locks that secure the drawer to the counter, but are not entirely as safe as heavy-duty drawers, in general.
Many modern businesses may be able to use a standard-duty cash drawer successfully. With many transactions moving to paperless methods such as credit cards, ApplePay, and more, your business might not be putting its cash drawer through as many cycles as it was 10 or 15 years ago. The average standard-duty drawer withstands up to 1 million cycles.
Our Recommendation:
POS-X’s standard drawer.
Size: 16 inches
Pricing: $150
Reviews: The standard-duty drawer from POS-X also has positive reviews, averaging around 4 / 5 stars online. Reviewers praise this product as being an excellent value for its price.
Light-Duty
Light-duty cash drawers are not appropriate for most high-volume businesses. They are often made of less durable materials and are not high on the chart when it comes to security.
In general, light-duty cash drawers are most appropriate for very low-volume settings. Schools, clubs, and churches will often employ light-duty drawers for the limited transactions they need to make in their environments. If your business has adopted a cashless model and does a majority of paperless transactions, you may also be able to explore a light-duty cash drawer. Generally speaking, light-duty drawers survive only a few hundred thousand cycles.
Our Recommendation:
Star Micronics light-duty drawer.
Size: 16 inches
Pricing: $124
Reviews: Online, this product averages 4.6 / 5 stars. The chief complaints from reviewers seem to be regarding the layout of the drawer, with some users finding the positioning of the various slots in the drawer inconvenient for their use case.
Choosing the Best Cash Drawer in 2022
When considering what kind of cash drawer you need for your business, consider how many cash transactions you perform daily. You want to make sure you are choosing a drawer that will be appropriate, secure, and effective in your POS setup. The brands and models discussed in this post are our recommendations, but they are just the beginning of the cash drawers currently available on the market.
Remember to invest in a cash drawer that will fit the needs and specifications of your POS hardware as a whole. If you need more advice regarding the right POS setup for your business, check out the POS Nation buyers' guide today.
