Smart Safes Evolve To Solve Problems, Save Money

September 2012 Integrated Solutions For Retailers

By Ed Grondahl, EVP global sales, Tidel Engineering.

Next-gen smart safes provide savings for the retailer.

Smart safe technology is evolving at a record pace with solutions to cash/coin handling issues that have been a burden to retail businesses. New smart safe solutions are paying for themselves by providing real ROI for the retailer.

Armored car services are expensive, as are bank charges for daily deposits coming from each store. With a smart safe, deposit data from the safe is transmitted electronically to the bank for deposit, while the cash can stay in the store. There are savings in fewer armored car pickups and consolidated bank deposits. Many retail chains that could not afford armored car service in the past are now taking advantage of the daily bank credit and adding armored car pickup on a weekly or biweekly basis.

With daily bank credit, retailers are asking for higher-capacity note storage in the smart safe. The smart safe industry has responded by offering extra-long cassettes. The XL cassettes hold 2,250 notes each, and some smart safes allow for up to four note validators with XL cassettes, totaling 9,000 notes. Two such devices may be networked together, allowing for 18,000 validated notes in the safe before the cash must be deposited.