Monday, January 24, 2011

Sharp Cash Registers and Electronic Journal

The Electronic Journal (EJ) have replaced traditional journal or audit tape found in traditional cash registers. The way the EJ works is that it stores the transactions in memory instead of printing them on the internal audit tape like older Sharp Cash Registers.

This has nothing to to with your sales report. The old journal tapes and now EJ's are an AUDIT tape or record not a sales report. Even if you new cash register has an EJ you will still get your traditional X and Z reports (sales reports)

With the old school audit tapes when you had a balancing issue or massive over ring to resolve you would open the printer cover and start going through the printed audit tape or journal tape (same thing) until you spotted the problem. The EJ works in a similar way other then it prints to memory as you go rather then paper. So when you need to look into the audit tape to resolve an issue you have to print out the EJ and look at it. After it is printed it it exactly like the traditional audit/journal tape. Some registers allow you to print portions of the EJ to the screen of the register (if it has a screen) instead of printing it out.

There is one HUGE difference between between an old school physical audit tape and an EJ. A physical tape is limited by the size of the roll but when at and end the register in most cases prompts the user to change the paper. We the EJ has limits by the amount of memory in the cash register and it adjusted by programming in most cases. An EJ is sized by number of lines. So for an example a single item sale is about 7 lines (depending on the make and model of the cash register) you would have a line for date and time a line for register # Transaction # Cashier#, a line for the item and price, line for subtotal, line for sales tax, line for total, maybe a line for amount tendered and another for change. So a 2 item sale would be about 8 lines. So most registers when the EJ limit is reached the machine will start overwriting the oldest entries of the EJ. Some machines can be prompted to warn the cashier and prompt if the EJ should be printed, some machines have an option of stopping the cashier and forcing the cashier to print the EJ.

I recommend taking your Z every end of day and if the Z is good ignore your EJ and let it overwrite! But think about it before you start using your register. With some registers once you allocate that memory you may not be able to alter it without making changes you may not want to make in the rest of you program.

No one think I can tell you for sure is no one can tell you how long an EJ will last etc cause it all depends on the amount of items, number of sales etc! Every business is different. Your Sharp Cash Register Expert can help you more

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Sharp Cash Registers In Seattle

If you need a cash register in Seattle then there is not better place to go then National Business Systems, Inc. In Kent, WA a suburb of Seattle. National Business Systems, Inc. has been in business since 1972 and still going strong. They sell Sharp Cash Registers, SAM4s Cash Registers, Digital Dining, Keystroke POS, POSiflex Terminals and supplies and service

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Sharp ER-A320 and Credit Card Interface

Sorry as great a machine as the A320 and the A330 both are either one can have interfaced credit card. These two machines do not have serial ports nor do they have alpha-numeric printers. If you need a hard working commercial grade register you can't go wrong but if you need more advanced features you have to move up the model ladder!

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

New Sharp Cash Registers?

well with the first month of 2011 half way over we have not seen any new releases of Sharp Cash Registers. It has been awhile now sine we have seen a new model from them on the commercial model side of the business? Come on Sharp lets get busy.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Sharp Cash Register Manuals and programming help

There is a free resource on the web that has posted many Sharp cash register manuals and programming guides including the Sharp XE lines and the ER and UP lines. Give them a try

Sharp Cash Register Manuals and Programming Guides

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Sharp ER-A320 vs. ER-A330

Here is what Sharp says is the differance between the A3320 and the A330

                                                   A320                                  A330
Drawer Compartments (Bill)  5 bill, 5 coin                       5 bill, 5 coin

Customer Display (pop-up)      7 Digits / 7 Segments           7 Digits / 7 Segments

Display Type                             L.E.D. Green Display          L.E.D. Green Display
Operator Display                      1 Line / 10 Digit Numeric    1 Line/10 Digit numeric
Optional Compartment          No 2nd Drawer option       Optional  2nd Drawer

Printer Type                                Drum 2-Posititon Print         Wheel Selective Type
Printing Digits Receipt:                 10 / Journal: 10 Receipt:      10 / Journal: 10
Speed                                         2.5 lines per second            2.6 lines per second
Department                                 2 Digits                               2 Digits

Grand Total Capacity                  13 Digits                             13 Digits
Recommended Temperature        32 to 104º F (0 to 40º C)   32 to 104º F (0 to 40º C)
Repeat                                        1 Digit                                1 Digit
Total Capacity                             9 Digits                              9 Digits
Stamp                                                                                   Color Purple
Additional FunctionsReceipt / Journal  Independent Feeding, On / Off Receipt Key, Stamp Function, 2-Ply Single Line Validation, Built-in Rechargeable BatteryReceipt / Journal Independent Feeding, On / Off Receipt Key, Stamp Function, 2-Ply Single Line Validation, Journal Near End Paper Sensor


Dimensions   16.5" x 16.7" x 12.0" (420 x 423 x 304 mm)     16.5" x 16.7" x 12.0" (420 x 423 x 304 mm)


Weight           32 lbs (12.5 kg)                                               30 lbs (13.7 kg)

I know all techie and does not seem to be a big help. Big point was the A330 can have the 2nd drawer the A320 can not. The chart says the A320 does not have a logo stamp but I think it does.

The A320 and the A330 both use the IR-90/91 ink roller and 44mm bond paper NOT THERMAL. These machines are numeric only no alpha printing. Both have good metal drawers with hard plastic removeable tills. Both machines are heavy duty and taken care of I see them last 5+ years all the time no reason to not be able to get 10 years out of some of them in the right location and well taken care of.


Sharp ER-A320


 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

XE Cash Registers vs. Commercial Grade Sharp Cash Register

Many people don't know nor probably never cared to know but Sharp markets two lines of Cash Registers. However I wish more people knew and would take this into mind before buying a Sharp XE piece of junk!

Sharp makes a line of consumer grade Cash Registers that all the model numbers start with the letters XE. The XE line is sold via mass merchandisers like Office Depot, Costco, Staples etc. NOT CASH REGISTER DEALERS. Please keep in mind you get what you pay for. When you pay $125.00 for a Cash Register why would you expect the employees there to know anything about it? They don't care however in most cases they will allow you to return it!

Then Sharp makes a commercial Grade of cash registers and those models numbers start with ER, or UP and these registers are only sold through Cash Register Dealers and will cost more however we dealers can help you with the registers, program the registers and repair them if needed. YES you will pay more for educated professional cash register people and companies!

I don't think Sharp ever had any intention of having people fix a XE cash register. They sell for $100.00 to $300.00 MSRP and even though I can buy parts for them every time I look up a price for a XE owner I ended up getting yelled at for trying to rip them off! SORRY WE RUN A BUSINESS HERE not a charity to fix crap for free. Here is the problem take for example someone wants an insert for their XE cash register and I look up the part and it is $110.00 MY COST sometimes as much as the silly machine cost in the first place. So I mark it up and tell the consumer the cost and they bite my head off! So needless to say I don't even bother to cost out parts for the XE lines any longer!!!!! Please keep in mind I have never sold an XE and we don't sell them!!!!! If you want your XE fixed then call Sharp! However I warn you after hearing form hundreds of angry XE owners your will get no where calling Sharp! But I guess Sharp makes enough to make it worth the while and the hard feeling cause they don't seem to be slowing down at all!

Buy a Commercial Grade Sharp Register not an XE. If you do buy an XE then now you know what you are getting into and if the XE does not last 2 years you have been warned but also you did not pay much to begin with!

Thanks and I hope your till rings alot in 2011

Monday, January 10, 2011

The work horse of the Sharp line up the A320 still chugging along

The Sharp ER-A320 has been the work horse of the Sharp Commercial grade cash register line for quite awhile and it does not look like anything will be changing for 2011. Sure hope not because we sell a lot of the Sharp ERA-320 registers.

The two places with the best prices for this model are:
Both sites offer a 1 year warranty on most every model but check each one if unsure. Both site also offer support and supplies.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Programming Sales Tax in Sharp Cash Registers

It is that time of year again when sales taxes across the country are often raised! Here are a couple SELF HELP resources for Sharp Cash Registers. These sites have a limited amount of manuals posted and even a few tips on programming sales tax
These sites offer some free items as well as they might be able to help over the phone for a fee. (don't expect them to help you for free unless maybe you bought your cash register from them and even then it may not be free)

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Data Credit Card Interfaces with Sharp Cash Registers

Many Sharp Cash Registers can in fact interface to Credit Card and Gift Card Payments using the Datacap Twintran, or Datacap IPTran.

Interfacing your cash register with credit card payment make sense in so many ways. Interfacing speeds up customer throughput, reduces error, reduces fraud all of which makes you more money!

Here is a great place to get your Datacap Credit Card Modem for your Sharp Cash Register anlong with some great value added services like Gift Card and more.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Commercial Grade Sharp Cash Registers

Sharp makes two lines of cash registers each with many model numbers. Even though both lines come from Sharp they are apples to oranges from one another.

The first line is the "XE" model line which are consumer grade and marketed through big box stores with little to no support. Some XE registers have some great features but for the most part they are disposiable

The next line is the Commercial Grade models which all begin with "ER" or "UP". These registers cost more but are far more robust with more features in most cases. There are two great places to buy these online from places that can offer support too.

If you already bought an XE model register when you need another one this time buy a commercial grade register.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Website offers free support with purchase of Sharp Cash Register

http://www.posandcashregisters.com/ now offers free support to endusers who buy their Sharp Cash Registers from them. They also offer complete turn key programming and pay as needed support as well for training or for people who did not buy their cash register from them.

Monday, January 3, 2011

IR-90/91 Ink Rollers for the Sharp ER-A320 and other models

The IR-90/91 ink roller works in many Sharp cash registers and is still available through several on-line retailers. These ink roller is the work horse of the heavy duty drum sytle printers. The ink roller should be changed often and before it reaches a point where you can not read the print. Never ever try and re-ink a roller as you will in most cases destroy the cash register all to save about $5.00 or so! So here are some sources for the rollers


IR-90/91 Ink Roller