Cash Register Security in Spain
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Cashing Up at the End of the Day in Your Spanish Bar
When running your new English bar or restaurant in Spain you will need to be very diligent about securing your premises at night. I am only going to talk about one aspect of security today and that is your cash register.
After closing the windows at the end of day, switch-off most of the lights. By this I mean switch off all the exterior lighting and the entire interior lighting, leaving on only a light above your cash register. Make sure that you lock yourself in.
Next switch the cash register’s mode key to “Z” and push the enter key. This will give you a print out on the day’s takings and also zero out the till ready for the next day’s trading. When the till has finished the print out for the total day’s takings, roll the print out up, take all the notes out of the till and put both the print out and the banknotes into a small shoulder bag, which you can hide under your coat, as you are leaving your business.
Throughout this entire operation have your wits about you and be extremely vigilant. Be on the look-out particularly for any strange customer who may have been in your bar or restaurant watching the till, looking at your security system or acting in a suspicious manner towards the end of the evening. Also be on the look-out for people who may be lurking around outside the bar. If you feel that a person is acting suspiciously, have a night cap and wait a while and if the person has not left by then, simply call the police and they will come and stand by whilst you close up.
When you finally leave your bar with your takings in a small bag beneath your coat, always have a decoy bag with a little cash in it on your shoulder or in your hand. If you are robbed then hand over the decoy bag freely.
I have given you the wisest system for closing up, but if you can remove some of your cash from the till mid-afternoon, it means that you’ll be carrying far less cash when you close up at night.
Don’t forget that it is a condition of your insurance cover that you must leave the till draw both open and empty. If a thief is thinking about robbing your bar when it is closed he or she will see through the window that you have left the till empty and move on to look for a more promising prospect.
We have had our bar in West-Marbella on the Costa del Sol for 20 years, and touch wood, have never been robbed of the takings.
