The Top 10 Reasons You Need A Computer Point of Sale System For Your Business

10. If you have employees, you need a point of sale system.

If you have employees you are open to theft, sweet-hearting and careless mistakes. You need a point of sale system to manage your employees, enforce your policies and insure that your money gets to you.

Of all distressing situations that can occur in a workplace, none is as likely to trigger emotions more consistently than an incident of theft, fraud or embezzlement. The 2003 National Retail Security Survey discovered that nearly half of all losses can be attributed to employee theft, adding up to billions of dollars annually. Some small business owners regard the pilfering of notepads, pens, paperclips, and even coworker lunches as minor incidents, unworthy of disciplinary action. Consequently, if an employee feels invincible, they may raise the stakes and steal something of greater value, believing they will not be threatened with termination or prosecution.

The best defense is careful supervision and security solutions that remove easy opportunities. Human resource experts recommend having more than one person doing inventory and bookkeeping so no single employee has too much authority. Shifting responsibilities from one person to another, i.e., rotating opening and closing, enables employees to check each other's work for accuracy and suspicious activities. It also makes collusion between employees, or between an employee and an outside source, such as a distributor, considerably less likely

Small business owners should emphasize that there is no such thing as an "acceptable amount" of employee crime, and that none at all will be tolerated. The Small Business Administration recommends that all violators be disciplined, regardless of how important the person or how small the infraction.

Though employee theft is a real threat, the National Federation of Independent Businesses advises against becoming hyper-vigilant - that may antagonize your honest employees and lower morale. Proper security measures and a set of common sense procedures are the best ways to protect your small business.

Examples of employee theft include:

Forging receipts: Salespersons can charge a customer one sum, ring up a receipt for less, and pocket the difference.

Hiding receipts: When bookkeeping has little supervision, employees can keep cash and receipts without raising an eyebrow.

Stealing merchandise: Purchased goods may never even make it to the shelves.

Fraud: Employees can declare themselves suppliers of nonexistent goods, and subsequently reimburse themselves handsomely.

9. To reduce or eliminate pricing and math errors, you need a point of sale system.

It is still amazing how many businesses still use a calculator and hand written tickets. According to studies done by various institutions you are open to math and pricing mistakes totaling in excess of 1% of your annual volume. In a business doing as little as $1,300 per day that would add up to $4,700 per year. To eliminate pricing and math errors you need a point of sale system.

8. If you want to control your payroll, you need a point of sale system.

Employee payroll is one of the most overlooked and most easily managed portions of your profit and loss statement. If you have 12 employees and each of them clocks in 5 minutes early a day, that equates to 1 hour per day of extra payroll. Even with minimum wage plus benefits this could add up to $6 - $8 per day or over $2,900 per year. This figure doesn't take into account the total man-hours it takes to compute time cards and then report on the hours worked for each employee. This is time that you could be spending elsewhere. If you have a few as 5 employees you need a point of sale system.

Most point of sale systems have a built in time clock feature. Some time clocks are specifically designed for specific industry needs. Features designed to control your employees and conform to the strict regulations imposed upon your business. For instance, restaurants have far more restrictions placed on them than a retail operation.

Managing employees and a time clock can be difficult with some systems. When looking at different point of sale systems make sure the one you chose has the features needed by your specific industry requirements.

Taking advantage of the built-in time clock feature can bring big results. Additional profits can quickly be the result of this easy to use feature.

7. If you want to reduce employee theft in your business, you need a point of sale system.

This is the original reason for the invention of the cash register back in the late 1800's. Even when most of the businesses were family owned and run there was a need for a cash register to reduce theft. In today's world of hiring employees to help staff and manage your store there is even greater need for this type of control. For years we have known about the tendencies of people with regard to theft. 10% of the people wouldn't steal if giving the opportunity. 10 % of the people are going to steal no matter what safeguards are in place. 80% of the people will steal if given the opportunity. Point of sale systems are put in place to guard against the 80% and make it more difficult for them to steal from you.

Frequently used schemes

Having an elementary understanding of the more common forms of employee theft can help business owners formulate a strategy for subverting them.

Pocketing loose change. Small sums of money, such as fees or petty cash, may not be missed at all.

Knowing how much an item is with tax and making change from an open drawer without ringing up the item.

Accepting coupons for items not rung up. This is known as coupon stuffing.

Fictitious payroll. Personnel managers authorize salary for fictitious workers, then keep it for themselves.

6. If you want to speed up service, you need a point of sale system.

In a restaurant there is only 1 thing we can think of that will drive customers away faster than bad food and that is slow service. When a customer places their order their own internal clock is running in overdrive. No matter how long they took to look over the menu and to place their order, once they have given your server or cashier their order their hunger clock is speeding along faster than a fan on high! You need a fast, reliable way to get orders into your system. This should mean a terminal that is fast, easy to understand and quick to respond to the touch of the server, cashier or bar tender. The system should also distribute the order properly to the kitchen prep station or bar. Your point of sale system should also measure your speed of service and report on how you are doing. Reducing the time it takes to get your customer's their food is critical and can even make up for less quality. For proof I give you some of the major fast food chains. Is their popularity based upon the best tasting, best dressed and best served burger or speed of service?

Speed of service is critical to every business, not just restaurants. If you want to speed up your customer service you need a point of sale system.

5. If you want to know more about your business through enhanced reporting, you need a point of sale system.

What is the use of having a computer and not taking advantage of the power? If all you need is to have a total amount of cash in the drawer that sometimes matches to the amount of sales shown you probably don't need a point of sale system. However, if you want more detail and information to help manage your operation and make it more profitable then you need a point of sale system. It used to be that having a good product was enough to get you by. Now it takes a lot more information in order to compete with all the other restaurants in your market that are all looking for the same customer you have seated in your restaurant. You need to understand the buying habits of your customers. What are they ordering? When are they ordering it? What is your most profitable item? How many of it did you sell? What items on your menu are not selling? If you cannot answer all of these questions with total confidence in your answers then you need a point of sale system. If you hesitate to correctly answer (without guessing) any of these questions you need a point of sale system.

4. If you want to share data with other software systems, you need a point of sale system.

Even most small businesses today have some form of electronic accounting in place either in their operation or through an accounting service. In addition, most businesses have an electronic payroll service or software that creates payroll. Point of sale systems capture critical data for you and then export this data in formats that automatically put this information into accounting and payroll packages, eliminating hours of tedious manual input that often leads to mistakes and human error. If you have an electronic accounting or payroll service/software or even if you want to track your sales in Excel, you need a point of sale system.

3. If you want to securely take credit/debit cards as forms of payment you need a point of sale system.

If you are not currently taking credit cards as a form of payment you need to start today. Never mind the fees. The loss of business that you are suffering in today's plastic minded economy will more than compensate for the fees charged. If you are currently taking credit cards through a stand-alone terminal you could be being charged exorbitant fees for the terminal when you could be processing through your point of sale system. In some cases, the elimination of the terminal rental will pay for the credit card interface in less than a year. With integrated credit card processing you are assured that the amount of the sale will match the amount charged on the credit card, eliminating the need to go back and match individual sales when the credit card batch does not match credit card sales. When high-speed Internet connections are used to process credit cards we receive approvals in less than 2 seconds. No longer is slower speed of service an excuse not to take credit cards. If you want to quickly, accurately and smoothly process credit cards you need a point of sale system.

2. If you want to better and more competitively market your business you need a point of sale system.

Frequent Diner Modules. Who are your customers? What do they buy? How often do they visit? Of your frequent visitors, who hasn't been in to see you during the past month? Of your frequent visitors, who has a special day coming up this month? These are questions that you should have the answer to. All the major chains and all of your competitors are after the people who come to your restaurant. They want to take them for themselves. How are you going to compete with the billions of dollars being spent to draw your customer away? By marketing your operation and your menu. Your point of sale system should be able to manage your customer base, keep up with their buying habits, how often they visit, when was their last visit and what special occasions they have coming up. Your point of sale system then should be able to sort these into groups that should be sent mailers, coupons, invitations to special events or simply told that they are appreciated and asked to visit you again. If you have competition you need a point of sale system.

Gift cards have become the norm for so many businesses today. An entire industry has been formed around the old concept of giving a paper gift certificate. Today, you will find gift cards at most major checkout lines. A point of sale system should be able to sell, redeem and control balances for your own gift card program. No longer do you need a book of certificates that are kept in the safe. Today, all you need is a stack of blank plastic cards with your colorful logo on them. These cards carry no balance and have no cash value until sold and a balance placed on account. As an owner you should keep a few of these cards with you. Each of these cards might have a small balance on them for you to hand out to pull customers to your restaurant or to give in case of a poor experience to help bring someone back. Think of these cards as your personal marketing tool. When the customer looks in their purse or wallet and sees your logo they will be reminded to come visit you. If you use gift certificates or gift cards you need a point of sale system.

1. Since you don't need any more 'Partners', you need a point of sale system.

Sure you need gift cards. Yes you need to better understand your customer's buying habits. You absolutely need to have credit cards integrated with your point of sale system. You need enhanced reporting and export of these reports to electronic accounting and payroll services. You need to eliminate errors, reduce mistakes and keep track of your payroll. But more than any of these you don't need any more partners. Especially the ones that take their portion of the profits before you get yours. We are talking about the servers, waitresses, bartenders and cashiers who:

Undercharge customers in order to enhance their own tips. Show a $5 tab and a $50 tip. (Yes, I have seen this!)

Deliberately void or delete an item after it has been paid for.

Stuff coupons into the cash drawer in exchange for cash.

Don't charge customers for soft beverages to enhance their tips.

Ring up a lower priced item (well brand) and serve a higher priced item (premium brand)

Give discounts to their friends.

In a buffet line, ring up a buffet and a tea. Reprint this ticket 10 times and sell and collect for themselves these reprinted receipts instead of ringing up new customers.

If you want to stay in business, you need a point of sale system.
Jerry D. Wilson Mr. Wilson has over 25 years experience consulting businesses and installing point of sale systems. He has been a guest speaker at various conventions, industry functions and has served on the Dealer Advisory Board for Panasonic. Currently, he is the Director of Internet Sales for BMI-POS. For additional information please visit www.directouchpos.com and www.directretailpos.com.

Increase Your Profits with a Point of Sale (POS) System

Whether you operate a chain of restaurants, a mom-and-pop convenience store, or a medium-sized retail shop, you are in business to make money. And, one of the most critical aspects to your profit and loss is your ability to track information… you need to know which products are making you money, what items need to be re-ordered, who your customers are, and so on. This is where today’s point of sale (POS) systems play such a valuable role.

In the not too distant past, retailers used mechanical cash registers to record sales onto a paper tape which then had to be manually transcribed into the company’s accounting ledger. Later, electronic versions of cash registers were introduced which allowed business owners to track more of the data pertaining to each transaction (for example, management was able to track all sales and refunds by each cashier). Today, cash registers have evolved into modern computer-based point of sale systems, which let you track more information than previously imaginable.

Some of the ways that a point of sale system can help you increase your profits include analyzing your product margin, tracking sales, increasing the accuracy of your pricing, and maintaining customer contact.

As a business owner, you know how important it is to keep a close watch on the margin of each product since you want to focus on selling the things that make you the greatest profit. A point of sale system can help you quickly identify your greatest money-makers and make decisions about how much of each item you want to stock. (If you have a limited storage area, it doesn’t make sense to fill it up with low-profit items).

A point of sale system also allows you to know, practically at the push of a button, how much cash you have in the till (and how much of it is profit!), the type and amount of each product sold that day, and how many items are still on the shelf. You can even set it up to automatically notify you when reaching the re-order point on any item.

With the advent of barcodes and barcode scanners, retailers now enjoy greater accuracy in the pricing of their products that ever before. If you need to increase the price of a “widget”, you simply make the change in your point of sale system and all widgets immediately reflect the new price. Plus, your cashier or sales clerk doesn’t have to guess what any product costs (which might cause you to lose money)… they just scan it and the correct price is automatically applied.

Marketing 101 tells us that an existing customer is worth a lot of money to a business owner because they are likely to buy from you again and again in the future (this is known as the “residual value”). Because of this, you should make selling to your existing customer base part of your marketing plan. A point of sale system lets you keep track of customer names, addresses, and purchase history… just imagine how you could use that information to generate more sales!

Hopefully by now it is clear that a point of sale system can help you track the information that is critical to your business success. This includes analyzing your margin, tracking each day’s sales, increasing the accuracy of your pricing, and maintaining contact with your customers. Armed with this information, you can make informed decisions and take actions that are sure to increase your profits.

Brian Cook is a freelance writer whose articles on point of sale (POS) systems have appeared on many websites. You can find more of these at http://www.pos-free-software.com

Opening a Dollar Store - Cash Register Organization

Are you opening a dollar store? Then remember that checkout areas are the last thing that your shoppers will see when they make purchases in your store. The appearance of the cash register area is what those same customers will remember about your store after they leave. In fact, the appearance of that area may well determine whether shoppers return to your store in the future.

Leave a favorable impression on every shopper by getting organized. If you are opening a dollar store don’t allow clutter to accumulate around the check stands. Create designated areas for the tools and supplies that cashiers need to effectively serve store customers.

When opening a dollar store it is easy to allow clutter to build in the cash register area. Cashiers and other employees get busy and place items around the cash register while handling other tasks. Don’t allow that practice to occur. Adopt the philosophy that there must be a location for every item in the checkout area. Stand behind that philosophy by ensuring that every item is kept in its designated location and that other items are never allowed to accumulate.

Never allow other items to gather at the check stands when you are opening a dollar store. If customers change their minds about a purchase during checkout then designate a place for those items to be placed. Of greater importance is to establish a process and the expectation for employees to quickly return those items to their designated location on the sales floor.

Are you opening a dollar store? Make a lasting, positive impression on every person who enters your store. Leave a long lasting and positive impression on your shoppers who make purchases. Create a checkout area that is well-organized and clutter-free. While it takes some effort and discipline, the results are worth the effort.

To Your Dollar Store Success!

Do you want to own your own Dollar Store? Visit www.openingadollarstore.com for more information. http://www.onlineauctionsmadesimple.net

POSA (Point Of Sale Activation) at a glance

From : intelecard.com.

POSA is a generic term that describes the many different types of transactions and services available at the point of sale that support the sale of stored value products. Thus, POSA is not only about activation, it also refers to balance inquiries, refunds, voids; refresh, report printing and can even include services, such as real-time web-based queries.

1. All offline POSA solutions are some type of PIN-printing solution.

2. Offline POSA solutions cannot provide as many features as complete online solutions.

3. Large national retail chains require online solutions because they demand a full suite of POSA features, often including in-store refresh and other custom transactions. Most of these solutions are host-to-host.

4. Payment card emulation solutions, often referred to as Visa emulation or debit card emulation, are online solutions, but because of their underlying technology, can provide only limited features.

5. PIN-printing devices eliminate the need to produce cards with individual encoding thereby reducing the cost of the card stock or eliminating it all together.

6. Some PIN-printing devices connect online to an intermediate computer system and thus are hybrid systems because they can provide real-time web-based transaction reporting but not true online functionality, such as in-store refresh or balance inquiry.

7. PIN printing almost always requires the retailer to own a special PIN-printing POSA terminal.

8. Online POSA can be integrated into existing POS software or loaded onto existing POS equipment.

9. POSA is complicated. All of these rules are generalizations.

Restaurant Employee Tip Tracking Easier Through A Point Of Sale System

Restaurant Employee Tip Handling

The History Of Restaurant Employee Tip Handling

No one knows when tipping began. But we do know that in the 1980's the IRS levied new regulations on restaurant owners to track the tips received by the employees of the restaurant.

The magic number of 8% became the benchmark for servers and waiters to declare as their tipped earned. Not because it was accurate. Rather, because it was the minimum amount allowed by the IRS.

The trick is this. Tipped employees in restaurants are generally not paid minimum wage. The amount varies from state to state but it runs between $2.15 to $3.15 per hour. The IRS assumes that the tips received will make up the difference between this low hourly amount and the true minimum wage that is currently $5.15 per hour. If this is not the case, then it is up to the restaurant owner to make up the difference between what the tipped employee earned + declared tips and minimum wage. This makes accurate tip declaration, tracking and reporting a vital aspect of running a restaurant.

The Need For Restaurant Employee Tip Handling

You need a employee time clock system that recognizes tipped employees, tracks their individual sales, any charge tips collected and requires them to declare cash tips at the end of their shift.

You also need a employee time clock system that can handle tip sharing, tip pooling and tip out to bus help, bartenders and other servers.

You need a employee time clock system that will track the hours worked and tips collected and recognize problems with employees not declaring enough tips to meet the minimum wage requirements.

The Solution Of Restaurant Employee Tip Handling

Some point of sale software products have tip tracking built into their time in attendance module. Once you set an employee as a tipped employee the system will require tip declaration prior to clock out.

Servers and waiters who ring sales will have their total sales tracked. Tips collected through credit card sales are tracked and shown on the server closeout report. Prior to clock out the server/waiter will be shown their total sales, the charge tips collected and then asked to declare their cash tips.

Some point of sale products do allow for programming flexibility with this feature:

* You may change the minimum declaration from the default of 8%.
* You may change the requirement to declare tips at clock out.
* You may opt to have the system print a chit with their tips shown.
* You may opt to not show charge tips on the declaration screen.

The Benefit Of Restaurant Employee Tip Handling To You

How do you measure the amount of relief a person can have knowing that your point of sale system is enforcing tip regulations levied by the IRS? Not to mention the mass amount of time savings in tracking declared tips, charge tips and hour worked for every tipped employee.

This is one headache you don't want to have to deal with. If you have tipped employees you need a good point of sale system with tip tracking and time and attendance.: Jerry D. Wilson is Director of Internet Sales for DirecTouch Restaurant Point of Sale. With over 25 years of hospitality point of sale experience, he has written several articles explaining the benefits of touch screen and retail point of sale software. Please visit http://www.directouchpos.com or http://www.directretailpos.com for more information.

How Good Is Open Source POS Software?

Before I go into explaining to you how good an open source POS software is I would like to tell you why it’s so important to have a POS software in your company. POS software is going to one of the most important pieces of software that you have in your business, because it can actually increase your profits. Sounds crazy, but it’s true. Using a POS software will help reduce pricing errors, reduce employee theft, keep inventory cost down and it will even print out reports on demand for all of the listed items.

Now that you can see why it’s so important to implement a POS software system into your business, no matter what type of business you have, I want to talk to you about using an open source POS software. Open source POS software will not cost you a single penny or it will be extremely cheap, so it’s very tempting to want to download it. But stop right there, often times you get what you pay for.

Open source POS software doesn’t always have every feature in it that your company may need. It’s those functions that you are going to need to purchase in order to even use the open source POS software. This can end up costing much more then you ever expected. It just doesn’t make any sense to me.

Your business is at stake here. If you are planning on using an open source pos software system you will quickly find that they are extremely limited. They are basic pieces of software that will do no more then keep track of your cash transactions. But what about everything else that they are suppose to do, like keep track of your inventory trends so you don’t overstock, and record employee theft.

POS software is important and this is not an area to skimp out on. Your POS software system needs to be effective so that it can help to increase your profits. Remember you are investing in your business and it’s worth spending a couple of hundred dollars to have the opportunity to save yourself from overstocking of your stock room or prevent your employees for stealing your merchandise. And let me not forget to mention that if you use an open source pos software you will not have any type of customer support, so you will be completely on your own when using the software.

P Abbey owns and operates http://www.possoftwarefacts.com/opensourcepossoftware.html Open Source Pos Software