# Did Anyone Ever Operate An Old Fashioned Cash Register? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 6, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933 "2015-02-06T01:45:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/21 "2015-02-07T13:30:59Z")
When I first got married my wife’s parents owned a small corner store and lived out back. When we stayed there I used to serve in the shop now and then just for fun. I was young and most of the customers were old and I would amuse them by carrying on like an idiot. My mother-in-law thought it was hysterical. They had an old cash register like that and as far as I recall I knew how to use it without being shown from having been a customer in shops. No taxes or GST in those days, so pretty straight forward. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/22 "2015-02-07T14:26:45Z")
I used a register much like that ca. 1962, in a large department store. It had many more buttons and a cash drawer for each clerk on the floor at the time; I think it had 6 drawers. But all calculations were done by the clerk before ringing up the sale, on a pad with carbons. I seem to recall a prominent chrome lever at the right side, front, that we had to wrestle into position to make a total, even though it wouldn’t add individual items. The strangest part of the transaction was figuring the state sales tax. After adding all items and manually computing a subtotal, we calculated the tax with a chart, wrote it on the pad, totaled everything, and took the money from the customer. We entered the subtotal to the register (so the display didn’t show the bottom line), then take the exact amount of the tax, to the penny, transfer it to one of the pockets in the drawer, then make the correct change, if any, to hand to the customer, along with two receipts. I don’t remember if we had to do the sales tax coin transfer for charges, and I think all charges were in-store accounts; I don’t remember ever accepting non-store credit cards. We were trained to always ask the customer if he wanted the goods delivered or would he take it with him – the house term was “ship” or a “take.” His answer would determine which sales pad I would use to write it up and which bin I would put the store copy in. It was common, in this up-scale department store, for wealthy shoppers to buy lots of stuff in one trip, but they didn’t want to be burdened by carrying anything, even small items, so they had everything they bought shipped home by department store trucks. After all, their chauffeur only had two hands. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/23 "2015-02-07T14:36:58Z")
Sales tax was annoying. I worked a register where you got a sub-total then hit a tax key to add the tax on, and another one where you had to get the total from the register and look it up on a chart then enter that amount and hit the tax key. I remember one grocery store where they had to hold the taxable items aside then after getting a sub-total they’d ring in all the taxable items to get a total to tax. The receipts would have the prices and a category number on them. Sometimes there would be a count of the items also. Corrections were done by writing on the tape in the little window as mentioned above. Some of them had a manager’s key which could be used to subtract or void items as needed. You also needed strong fingers. I had a register that an old store gave away, it was a pretty modern model, 50s or 60s, fully electric, but the keys were stiffer than old manual typewriters. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/24 "2015-02-07T14:59:01Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Now that I think of it, the register shown in the photo didn`t print out receipts. The were used in small businesses and receipts weren`t given for every sale back then (we also wouldn`t give out a bag if you bought a single item). Items had price stickers with the store name, so it was easy to verify a return, plus you knew your stock pretty well, so it was hard to fake one. > > For big-ticket items like TVs or refrgerators, you wrote up a paper recept (with carbons); you needed that anyway since you were usually delivering the item. > > Supermarkets had a different type of register that was part adding machine and did have a receipt. But the one in the photo usually only handled small orders (very often one item) so the total was all that was needed to be registered. > > Nearly verthiung we sold was taxable, so we didn`t differentiate. Sales Taxes were just calculated as a percentage of total sales. The only exception in our case were American flags, so we just made a note when we sold one. And, of course, you could designate one of the Roman number keys as nontaxable. On ours the “Manager’s tape” coiled itself up into a box just like that. On busy days it would get really long and fil up the box, thus making the little lid clap up and down annoyingly for several transactions until the tape roll got fat enough to just keep the thing open. The customer’s receipt spit out at the top where they could reach it. They often pulled them off themselves while we were bagging.\* Some folks got a little kid gleam in their eye when they got to rip it off. It was cute. \*Yes, kids, there was a time when the store employees bagged your purchases for you? LOL! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/25 "2015-02-07T16:01:49Z")
I worked as a cashier in my junior high lunchroom in grade 9. That would have been 1969-1970. Yep, I remember using one just like that. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/26 "2015-02-07T16:47:21Z")
Huh. I remember using a cash register similar to that in about 1987, but it wasn’t exactly the same - it was more curved. It still had a similar arrangement of numbers and couldn’t actually print receipts at all; we had to ask if the customer wanted a receipt so we could use the other register which could print one, which just had the truncated name of the item (very truncated) and a cost plus a total in very pale ink. I was 12, and this was at a tea bar at a market (in England; it was a Saturday job). That’s the type of business that, until recently (8 years or so ago, when chip and pin came in) were among the last to pick up on technical changes because neither they nor their customers wanted them. Some cafes here still use ancient cash registers like the one I used but have a separate chip and pin machine for card payments and the staff will use a hand calculator to work out the bill. I doubt they print receipts for cash payments now because the ink rolls would be hard to come by. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/27 "2015-02-07T19:00:14Z")
> [@Carryon](#): > > I mean like the one pictured here. > > [Cash Register](http://imageshack.com/a/img661/3696/ONenIF.jpg) I’m assuming the black bar on the right is for entering items, but how do you get the total and pop open the drawer? ---
**Author:** ![Carryon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Carryon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carryon)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/28 "2015-02-07T20:22:14Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > But all calculations were done by the clerk before ringing up the sale, on a pad with carbons. OK, this clears a lot of it up for me. Makes perfect sense now. I must saw grocery store cashiers must’ve had to have a lot on the ball to ring up that quick. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/29 "2015-02-08T01:52:37Z")
I used one like that in 1976-77 when I worked as a cashier in Yosemite. I had the tax table memorized as it was 6% or something like that. We also had to weigh vegetables and the scale had some sort pf sliding mechanism that was adusted for the price per pound. I was super fast and my cash reguster was almost always dead nuts at the end of the day. It infuriates me when I get a super slo-mo lackidaisical cashierthese days. You’re using a scanner for crying out loud. Also, you always stick the customers bills on the shelf above the drawer and then count back the change. That way there is no disputing what bill was tendered. I was at the Rite-Aid the other day and the Mexican girl actually counted back the change all old school and all. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/30 "2015-02-08T02:52:19Z")
> [@Carryon](#): > > > [@Musicat](#): > > > > … But all calculations were done by the clerk before ringing up the sale, on a pad with carbons. … > > OK, this clears a lot of it up for me. Makes perfect sense now. I must saw grocery store cashiers must’ve had to have a lot on the ball to ring up that quick. That was very much NOT how it was generally done. In 99% of stores, each item was keyed in separately and the black bar pushed to add it to the running total. After the last item was rung up,then a sub-total key would be pushed to display the total so far and the clerk would look that amount up in a printed table to determine the sales tax. That tax amount would then be keyed in under the tax category and the black bar pushed to add the tax resulting in a final total. The final total button would be pushed to display the complete total, reset the running count to zero in readiness for the next customer, and to spit out a half-inch or so of register tape so the operator could tear off the customer’s receipt. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/31 "2015-02-08T02:55:28Z")
> [@K364](#): > > I’m assuming the black bar on the right is for entering items, but how do you get the total and pop open the drawer? Can’t tell for sure from the pic, but either those red & blue buttons at lower left are sub-total and total OR there’s a small lever on the side of the machine that you move to tell it to open the drawer & reset the counts for the next customer. In either case, you’d push the big black bar to power the mechanism to do these things after pushing the button or moving the lever to set the appropriate mode. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/32 "2015-02-10T21:15:14Z")
My father has that exact same model in his basement, which we would play on as kids. The big black bar would total things up and open the drawer. Where did you find it? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/33 "2015-02-10T22:11:30Z")
Used one on my McJob. It was too slow and clunky to use it to add up the total so we had to learn how to do it all in our heads, including change. So it was just hit the total, hit enter, count out the change, put the money in. Now they just press the picture of the item. No Math or Reading.☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/34 "2015-02-10T22:15:48Z")
When I was a kid, the local grocery stores had one like the one on _The Price is Right_ [Grocery Game](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n5yVesYm2g) (fast forward to about the 27 minute mark). Except, of course, it didn’t have the green and red lights on the top. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/35 "2015-02-11T22:42:21Z")
I used one back in the '60s, in our university snack shop. In retrospect it seemed like a PITA, but at the time we didn’t know any better. Like using an abacus instead of a computer. It seems crude in comparison, but once you learn it, you can get really fast. The biggest challenge was not getting milkshake into the keys. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/36 "2015-02-12T03:28:16Z")
Use them? I used to [\*\*fix \*\*ones like this](http://www.picklesnet.com/burroughs/images/fullsize/burr0206.jpg). That’s a hand-cranked one but most had an electric motor to turn them over. They were actually just an adding machine with a till-drawer accessory. As adding machines they were in every branch of almost every bank here until, oh, the early 80s I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/37 "2015-02-12T04:28:47Z")
Used them and fixed them. The family owned a chain of drive-thru photo kiosks back in the days before digital and every hut had one of those cash registers, or a slightly more recent model. I must have serviced more than 50 of them during the years we were in operation. We usually had a laminated sheet with sales tax attached to the register so the sales girls could look it up easily. They issued a receipt for the customer and also kept a business copy for the boss. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/38 "2015-02-12T15:16:24Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Yeah, it’s similar (but a little less) than the register my dad had in his store. I learned to work it at age 10. It was electro - mechanical, not electronic. You’d enter a price, hit the big button on the side, and repeat until the last item. You’d hit the total button after that, the total price would pop up, a bell would ring, and the cash drawer would spring open. We lived in DE, so there was no sales tax. And there was no amount tendered button, so I had to learn how to count out change. > > It wasn’t hard to learn. I love this. Your description actually led me to “hear” the ding of the bell and the cash drawer popping open. My father had a little grocery store in upper appalachia and I was working it by age 10, too. And counting change was fun! ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933/39 "2015-02-12T22:36:50Z")
Used one working for Mr. Anderson of Anderson’s Pharmacy after high school hours and on weekends back in the 1970s. I got to be pretty fast on it. NCR (National Cash Register). The one he had had far more rows than the one in the linked picture: there were $100 ($200, $300, etc), and $1000 (etc), possibly even $10,000 He had the high denomination buttons covered up (using a built-in thingy included for that very purpose, if I recall correctly). But I could input up to $999.99. Customers _expected_ their change to be counted back to them. The first cashiers who relied on the machine to calculate the change and who said “Your change is $7.32 have a nice day” got glared at. You were bloody well _SUPPOSED TO_ start with the price of the item (e.g., $12.68) and count up from there to the amount tendered (e.g., $20) starting with the smallest units of currently you were handing them back: “$12.68, {pennies} 69, 70, {a nickel} 75, {a quarter} 13, {one dollar bills} 14, 15, {a fiver} 20, have a nice day”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-operate-an-old-fashioned-cash-register/711933.md?page=1)