It’s the law: Neither retailers nor restaurateurs can sell or serve age-restricted items, including tobacco, liquor and gambling products, without first verifying the customers’ age. Those that disobey the law, intentionally or otherwise, face stiff fines if caught—and even put themselves at risk of seeing their businesses shut down. Think traditional methods of performing age verification—in other words, manually inspecting patrons’ drivers’ licenses or other “official” forms of identification, like military IDs—are sufficient to stay out of trouble? Think again. Integrating an age verification solution into the point of sale system is a much better antidote.

Why? For one thing, store associates and wait staff can forget—accidentally or on purpose–to perform age verification procedures. For another, not all associates can or will take the time to subtract customers’ birth year from the current year to determine whether they are of age to make certain purchases, let alone deal with transactions that involve multiple calculations to reflect different age restrictions for different products. But integrated age verification solutions consistently and accurately get the job done, using scanners that read bar codes on drivers’ licenses and similar government-issued documents. In retail stores, cashiers are automatically prompted on the monitor to initiate age verification whenever an age-restricted item is scanned. Some solutions even prevent items from being rung up if the attempted purchaser is shown to be underage. In restaurants, integrated age verification systems let operators continuously scan patrons’ identification as they attempt entry and, in the case of establishments where underage patrons are permitted, when they try to purchase age-restricted goods.

Beyond serving as an “insurance policy” against unlawful purchase of age-restricted goods, integrated age verification systems keep records of transactions involving age-restricted inventory. These records can serve as proof of compliance, should authorities request it.

Version 12.5 of pcAmerica’s Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express point of sale software has been integrated with EasyDL ™, an age verification software “plug-in” from Honeywell Scanning & Mobility Solutions. The software also features a utility that allows users to keep detailed logs of verified data, and much more. To learn more, visit www.pcamerica.com.