Cash register

A cash register is a device used to calculate financial transactions. People rely on cash registers to keep track of money coming into and going out of their businesses. Cash registers were first invented to prevent employees from stealing. The machines have undergone many changes to keep pace with technological advances. In addition to tallying orders and making change, they can handle various functions such as processing credit/debit cards, verifying personal checks, and keeping track of inventory.

Brief History

During the nineteenth century, as businesses grew and cash and credit replaced the barter system, people had to develop ways to protect their money. Business owners used handwritten records of transactions along with safes and locked boxes to keep their money secure. However, it was difficult to prevent employees from taking some of the cash received for transactions.

Bar owner James Jacob Ritty invented the first cash register. Ritty was annoyed that his bartenders kept stealing money from the till at his Dayton, Ohio, bar. During a boat trip in 1878, Ritty noticed a device that counted the revolutions of the ship's propeller and came up with an idea. He surmised that if a device existed to count these turns, then a machine could be developed to keep track of money. He wanted to invent a machine that tallied the income he made at his business. It took a few attempts, but Ritty and his brother, John Ritty, built a mechanical tabulation device.

The machine had a row of numbered keys to enter the amount, and it displayed the total. It also recorded the total sales, but it relied on the person running the machine to actually enter the transaction and take the money. It did not have a place where money could be stored safely. Ritty received a patent for his cash register, which he called Ritty's Incorruptible Cashier, in 1879. Ritty began to produce the machine but had a hard time running both his bar and his cash register business, so he sold the rights to his invention to Jacob H. Eckert in 1881. Eckert added a cash drawer to the device and redesigned the bell to alert business owners when the cash register opened. The bell gave rise to the famed phrase "cha-ching" associated with the sound of cash registers and making a purchase.

In 1884, John H. Patterson, who ran a coal business, purchased the patent from Eckert for $6,500. He created the National Cash Register Company and began mass production on mechanical cash registers. In the next few years, the devices became popular in all types of businesses, and several other competing companies began to emerge.

Inventor Charles Kettering designed the first electric cash register in 1906. By the next decade, cash registers could be found in nearly every business. In 1915, more than 1.5 million cash registers had been sold. In the years that followed, cash register designs improved. They were encased in metal, brass, cast iron, or wood and had fancy designs. Features such as printed receipts, rotating cash drawers, and automatic change were added.

After the advent of electronic calculators in the 1960s, electronic cash registers became favored over manual ones. The following decade, new technology helped to advance the cash register. Tracking equipment and lasers were added to the devices. The National Cash Register Company debuted the first computerized cash register, and the first bar code scanning system was introduced in 1974. That same year, National Cash Register Company changed its name to NCR Corporation.

AT&T purchased NCR Corporation in 1991, and the company changed its name to AT&T GIS by late 1994. The following year, the company changed its name back to NCR Corporation in preparation of becoming an independent, publicly traded company in 1997. The first self-checkout system debuted at a grocery store in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1998. After some tweaking, these machines became mainstream fixtures in numerous retail stores through the twenty-first century.

Topic Today

Other technological advances continued to impact cash registers throughout the 2010s. NCR Corporation worked with Apple Inc. to develop software to turn iPads into mobile checkout devices, or mobile point-of-sale (POS) devices. The software was then made available to other mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. These devices began to replace standard cash registers at many retailers. They allowed sales associates to remain on the floor of the store, interact with customers, and handle transactions rather than wait behind a cash register.

With mobile POS devices, sales associates could focus on customers and even encourage them to purchase more items, while consumers could avoid waiting in line. Long lines are a source of contention for both retailers and customers. Customers hate waiting in lines, and lines can actually deter people from shopping altogether. Retailers hate lines because consumers typically think about the purchase they are about to make while they are waiting. This can lead them to put down some items or abandon their entire potential purchase, which translates to lost money for the business.

Streamlining the transaction end of shopping can help traditional brick-and-mortar stores attract more customers and lure them away from online vendors. In addition, this personalized and more private service can make shoppers feel special and encourage them to visit these stores again. Some devices even allow businesses to track a consumer's spending habits and purchasing history at their establishments, so sales associates can use this information to help customers and make recommendations.

Many retailers favor eliminating cash registers. Some, such as high-end boutiques and luxury stores, have purposely kept them out of sight and in isolated areas because business owners thought they were eyesores in their shops. Eliminating cash registers frees up space to display more merchandise. However, mobile POS devices usually cannot handle every transaction; many are only equipped to take credit or debit cards and cannot make change for cash purchases. Also, some businesses only take cash, which requires a cash register. For these reasons, cash registers—in one form or another—will continue to be a mainstay.

Bibliography

Abell, John C. "Nov. 4, 1879: Ka-Ching! The World's First Cash Register." Wired, 4 Nov. 2009, www.wired.com/2009/11/1104ritty-cash-register. Accessed 8 Nov. 2016.

Associated Press. "Smartphones and Tablets May Spell the Death of the Cash Register." FOX News, 22 Mar. 2013, www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/22/smartphone-and-tablet-tech-may-spell-death-cash-register.html. Accessed 8 Nov. 2016.

Bellis, Mary. "The First Cash Register—James Ritty." AboutMoney, inventors.about.com/od/famousinventors/fl/The-First-Cash-Register-James-Ritty.htm. Accessed 8 Nov. 2016.

"Cash and Credit Registers." Smithsonian National Museum of American History, americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/cash-and-credit-registers. Accessed 8 Nov. 2016.

Clay, Kelly. "Nordstrom Sees Sales Boost from Mobile POS Devices." Forbes, 6 Apr. 2012, www.forbes.com/sites/kellyclay/2012/04/06/nordstrom-sees-15-3-increase-in-retail-sales-following-introduction-of-mobile-pos-devices/#275b258a703c. Accessed 8 Nov. 2016.

Crowson, Charley. "The Long History of Cash Registers." ABC 2 News, 22 Mar. 2013, www.abc2news.com/lifestyle/the-long-history-of-cash-registers. Accessed 8 Nov. 2016.

Rowsell, Vaughan. "How the Cash Register Evolved from Abacus to iPad." Recode, 12 Dec. 2014, www.recode.net/2014/12/12/11633760/how-the-cash-register-evolved-from-abacus-to-ipad. Accessed 8 Nov. 2016.

Smith, Ray A. "Find the Missing Cash Register." Wall Street Journal, 8 Mar. 2016, www.wsj.com/articles/find-the-missing-cash-register-1457472672. Accessed 8 Nov. 2016.