What is a Z counter on a cash register?

When you use a cash register in your business it has tools built into it to keep your money secure, many people don't know this. The cash register was invented to stop pilfering from happening by a bar owner in Ohio who suspected he was being stolen from by employees.

A couple simple and overlooked tools a cash register provides for support are as follows: The Non-Resettable Grand Totals and the Z counters. These are both very much like an odometer in a car. They simple count how much was ever sold through this cash register and how many Z reports have been taken. Why are these items important you might ask? That is an excellent question.

First you must have a strict rule that receipts must be given for a sale, the cash drawer should be closed in order to make a sale, and remove the no sale key feature from the register. All of this make it much more difficult for a cashier to fake ringing up a sale and pocketing the money. If you make it easier for a cashier to help themselves to money chances are those tempted are going to.

After you have made it more difficult to fake ringing up a sale pay attention to the Z counter on your end of day Z reports. They should only count by 1 for each Z taken. For an example lets say the z counter has been counting by two instead of one. This is an indication that the register has been Z'd out without your knowledge and you never received the report. OK so you may be thinking yah so what just more paperwork for me and my employees would never steal right, they are like family. Well a Z counter counting by two means that they are running part of their shift, Z'ing out the register and keeping all of the money. Then they operate like normal for the rest of the day.

I have seen this happen dozens of times with my own eyes while helping clients figure out where their money has been going, why their sales have been dropping etc.

If you are lucky enough to stay in the retail or restaurant business long enough it is not a matter of if but rather when you are stolen from.

If you need help selecting the right cash register to keep your business more secure then please call us at 1-800-863-2274