Otter POS: Drawers App (Cash Management)

Overview

Cash management is an important part of a POS offering. The Drawers App for Otter POS helps empower restaurant owners and operators to manage and track cash inflows and outflows across multiple tills to get an accurate picture of the daily transactions in a restaurant.

Drawers Key Features

The new Drawers feature has a new app and new workflows to allow users to start, end, and then close (reconcile) a cash till. Review the following workflows for this feature:

Till Management via the Drawers App

This allows a user with the appropriate privileges to open the drawer app and manage the till lifecycle:

Otter App Page	What does it do?	Photo
Home page Drawers App	Click on the Drawers app, on the Home page, to access cash drawer details.	Drawers app on the Otter Home Screen
Current	Ability to start a new drawer. Overview of the current drawer assigned to the till. Tracks the following information - name of drawer, started date time stamp, starting user, pay-ins and payouts, starting cash amount, and POS device the drawer was started on. Ability to end and/or close out a drawer.	Current tab in the Drawers app
History	Ability to review recent drawers that have either ended or closed and view the following details: Name of the drawer, started date time stamp, starting user, started on POS device, ended date time stamp, ended user, ended on POS device, closed date and time stamp, closed user, closed on POS device, pay-ins and payouts, starting cash amount, balance entered on closed cash amount & pay-in/payout log. Ability to close out a drawer that is no longer in use. Ability to print till close report.	History tab in the Drawers app Detailed Drawer History

Cash Drawer Missing Warning

Once cash management is enabled for a location, there will be a red warning in the check out flow, on the cash option, if there is no cash drawer in place. Tapping the warning will allow the user to immediately kick off the open cash drawer flow without loosing their current transaction.

"No drawer" error message

You must start a drawer to use cash

Cash Drawer Hardware

The Volcora 13" Cash Register Drawer for Point of Sale (POS) System needs to be installed before you can complete cash transactions through the Otter POS terminal. 

Cash Drawer Setup

Follow the instructions below to connect a cash box to the POS Terminal. Once connected, cash boxes can be enabled by toggling on the “Cash” feature in the [POS App] within Otter Dashboard.

 

Step	Process	Image
1	Connect your cashbox using a RJ-12 or RJ-11 cable (Standard phone jack).
2	Plug the other end of the cable into the bottom of the connected printer.
3	Go to Otter Dashboard.
4	Select [POS] from the App drop-down.
5	Under Cash Management, toggle on [Use cash drawers].

If you are struggling with connecting a Star Micronics CD4 cash drawer, which is the larger size cash drawer, it is most likely because the cable is one directional. Please follow the steps below to swap the cable.

Step	Process	Image
1	Turn off the printer.
2	Swap the direction of the cable.
3	Make sure the cable is plugged into the right port in the printer and the cash drawer.
4	Turn the printer back on.

Additional Cash Management Articles

• Otter POS: Connect your cash drawer
• Otter POS: Assign a Cash Drawer to a User
• Otter POS: Opening and Closing a Cash Drawer
• Otter POS: Cash Drawers Troubleshooting
• Otter POS: Cash Discounts

Frequently Asked Questions 

Need help? Our support team is available via the following channels:

• Chat - Our live agents are available 24/7 to help you through your Otter device. Tap the chat button on the top right corner of your POS device. 
• Telephone or SMS/text - Call or text us anytime at 1-727-268-8471 for prompt service from our Otter POS support experts.
• Email - Send us an email at otterpossupport@tryotter.com and get a response within 24 hours