Money drop safes, or cash drop safes, serve the purpose of keeping the majority of amounts tendered in an inaccessable environment. The observed problem is the following:

1. Manual "dropping of cash" (operator error)
2. Dropped cash is inaccessable to the till user (requiring larger floats ie more cash in change)
3. Time consumption. (operator time)
4. Annoying alarms that the till operater ignores due to familiarity.

Most till registers have the cash tray underneath the keypad/touchpad transaction recording device.Drop safes are likewise postioned under the counter. Gravity is working against this mechanism.

The solution proposed entails a drop safe positioned *above* the transaction recording device. Equally inaccessable to staff, to mitigate the "gun to forehead scenario", this till accepts the transaction on the usual interface. The tender is then accepted into the provided slots above the register (notes and coins as per parking garage pay-points). Change is dispensed accordingly. A default float is kept in the *under*tray to allow for technical error. The default float will never exceed the largest denomination minus the smallest amount to be tendered. No point in gas station hold-ups anymore.
-- 4whom, Oct 15 2007

The hardware of the system http://www.armorsaf...roducts/cs7000.html
althought this is not the proposed idea, it similarities serve as a reminder to google before posting. [4whom, Oct 16 2007]

//as per parking garage pay-points//

A bit slow when there's a queue of people at the checkout?
-- pertinax, Oct 16 2007


VERY slow. When I'm shopping at the store, I hate it when the cashier takes forever.
-- punk_punker, Oct 16 2007


// Gravity is working against this mechanism //

I know what you mean, I feel like Gravity is working again my mechanism too.
-- Brett-Blob, Oct 16 2007


Can I also say that this is not my understanding of the term 'the Money Shot'. Perhaps I watch too much of a certain type of movie.
-- Brett-Blob, Oct 16 2007


Is this anything like the historically very well baked pneumatic chash tube that large stores used to use?
-- Murdoch, Oct 16 2007


No, this is a dispensing drop safe. The similarity to a garage pay-point is only the general input output mechanisms. It will not have to rigorously scan the notes as these would have been vetted by the human operator. There can be mulitple dispensing buckets to speed the proccess up. The objective is to eliminate even the floats carried in the tills as a target for criminal activity. Securely archiving large denominations was the first step. A dispensing drop safe will be the next. The target market for the device is less the major chain stores, who trade in normal business hours and have the resources for high security, and more for the corner store, all night store, and gas stations.
-- 4whom, Oct 16 2007


If it can dispense money, the thief would just have to be patient while you rang up chewing gum paid for with a $50 a few times.
-- marklar, Oct 16 2007


O K idea, ruined by a tasteless title
-- evilpenguin, Oct 16 2007


[marklar], that's more rediculous than this idea.
-- 4whom, Oct 16 2007


Spent 20 min researching the term "the money shot". 30 sec google, 15 min scrubbing my eyes with luke warm soapy water. 4 min 30 sec drafting e-mail to IT department with explanation. Title changed.
-- 4whom, Oct 17 2007


Pictured it as more of a sporting term, the winning putt, the winning pool shot, etc. Further illucidation of my ignorance withheld, temporarily.
-- 4whom, Oct 17 2007


There exist drop safe's that can provide change, usually in the form of precounted sets of bills. These are used by the cashier to recieve a quantity of small bills when they run out in the float. They also have a time delay such that the cashier cannout pull out an excessive quantity of cash in to short a time. This time delay is the critical feature. It forces a robber to either accept a single dispense or take the risk of waiting around for an extended period to recieve multiple. with the proposed system, no significant time delay would be possible, so marklar's scenario becomes a major problem.
-- MechE, Oct 17 2007


Patience AND benevolence! How *is* life in Nottingham Forest.

The cash dispensed is the *change* from the transaction. Wealthy armed robbers will still need to take 4 grand in tender to walk away with 3999.00.
-- 4whom, Oct 22 2007



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