Okay—so having read the first three installments of this four-part series of blogs posts, you now understand why you should strongly consider deploying an integrated fuel pump and point of sale system, as well as some of the basic and not-so-basic capabilities such a system should offer. However, there are still two more desirable features to look for.

The first of these features is the option to integrate a security camera and DVR system to record in-store activity. Why is this important? Employee theft—caused by a combination of theft of cash and inventory along with the granting of unwarranted discounts by employees (a practice known as “sweethearting”) is one of the leading causes of retail shrink. With an integrated security camera and DVR, you can introduce a new level of accountability by tagging your security record every time a key function is registered on the POS system.

Equally desirable in an integrated fuel pump and point of sale system are advanced cash control features. These features play a major role in reducing retail shrink by allowing cash discrepancies to be identified not only down to the shift, but to the cashier. Employee access to the point of sale system—and accordingly, to transaction processing commands as well as the cash in the cash drawer, can be restricted by using employee IDs or logins.

Retailers in the petroleum business can also benefit greatly from an age verification component to protect them from the stiff fines and penalties they will almost certainly face should they accidentally sell age-restricted products like alcohol or tobacco to patrons who are underage.  An age verification system doesn’t just restrict the sale of  alcohol, tobacco and similar items that cannot be lawfully purchased by to minors; it also reduces merchants’ liability and insurance costs. Even better, the same barcode scanner used for customer checkout can be engaged to scan a driver’s license to verify a customer’s age.

pcAmerica’s Cash Register Express-Fuel Edition offers all these features, and many others. Visit www.pcamerica.com to find out more.