How to Program a Cash Register
In order to ensure all point-of-sale transactions run smoothly, it’s important to have a reliably programmed cash register at your business. Not only does this machine calculate all of your business transactions, it also prints out receipts and stores the cash for your business. When programming your cash register, be sure to consult the model’s manual before you get started.
Many cash registers come with some level of preprogramming. However, you may need to customize your cash register for your business. Doing so helps you run more systematically, ensuring there are no issues for your customers during point-of-sale transactions.
There are many different ways you can program your cash register. You can customize the date and time, enter your local tax percentage, specify how and when you want receipts printed and indicate what functions you want specific keys on the keyboard to carry out. The level of programming you’re able to perform on your cash register will depend on the make and model.
There are a number of different kinds of commercial cash registers on the market, including Sharp and Casio. In addition to a traditional cash register, you can also purchase a full point-of-sale system that tracks inventory, simplifies the accounting process and provides advanced tracking functionality.
One of the most important functions to customize on your cash register is the product and price programming. In order to make your point-of-sale transactions quicker, more accurate and more efficient, you can program your cash register with information about how much each product costs.
Depending on the kind of cash register you have, you can assign each product a specific code and also assign that code a retail price. When a customer wants to purchase the product, you don’t need to figure out the price. When you enter the code into the cash register, the price will already be programmed, and the register will be ready to follow through with the transaction.
In order to program the price of products, you will need to consult the manual for your cash register. The steps to program this functionality may vary by make and model. For example, on a Sharp XEA213, programming for product and price follows these steps:
- Turn the key to PGM.
- Decide on a PLU number for your product from 1 through 70.
- Press the PLU key number on which you have decided. For example, press 1 if you want to assign 1 as the PLU number.
- Press 00 and then enter the name of the product using the alpha keyboard.
- Press ST and enter the price of the product. Do not put in decimal points. Enter $5.25 as 525, for example.
- Press TL to lock in the price.
If you have any issues, be sure to contact the Sharp cash register support.
Another critical element you will need to customize for your business is the tax rate you will charge on the goods you sell. This will depend on the tax rate in your state. You will need to read through your cash register instructions to learn how to program the specific make and model of your cash register. These instructions may vary depending on the kind of cash register you have.
To program the tax rate on a Casio cash register for various models, follow these steps:
- Turn the key to PGM.
- Press 3 and Subtotal.
- Press 1 (for tax table 1) or 2 (for tax table 2) or 3 (for tax table 3).
- Press TAX PGM.
- Enter the tax rate with a decimal point, such as 7.25 for 7.25 percent.
- Press CA/AMT TEND.
- Press 5002 and then CA/AMT TEND.
- Press Subtotal.