Finding the right cash register for your business

OK still going into more detail regarding the top ten questions you need to answer when you buy a new cash register. Today I'm addressing question #2 "How many departments do I need?"

I often find many people I'm speaking to about buying a cash register have no idea what a department is much less how many they need. So first I think we should talk about what a department is and how are they used.

The primary function of the department is sales reporting. Also we need to look at groups and for the sake of this blog Departments and Groups are the same thing. There are cases where they are not but in this case they are! Sharp cash registers still use the term Department however SAM4s refers to them as groups. Department is the older cash register term and is still used in our shop.

On smaller cash registers where the cashier enters the amount of the item and presses a button on the register to make that sale that is entering the sale directly into the department. All cash registers have to have at least 1 department period! So on the smaller cash register we normally have the department buttons on the keyboard and cashiers make sales directly into them. Lets look at a small c-store that does not use bar code scanning and their departments may be as simple as the following

1. Taxable Grocery
2. Non Taxable Grocery
3. Cigs
4. Milk
5. Beer
6. Wine
7. Candy
8. Deli
9. Lotto
10. Misc

That is an example we see all the time. The cashier enters the amount of each item and presses one of the buttons to register the sale. That is selling directly into what is known as "Open Departments" Most cash registers can have 10 to 20 departments and some are capable of 99. Not all departments need to be physical buttons on the keyboard but we will cover that in bit. Departments almost always can be programmed with the following:

• Taxable or Non Taxable
• Open, Pre-set or both
• Name
• Sale or non sale item (means counts towards toward sales not ON SALE.)
• several other items not often used.

We also can use departments in more complex method which we normally run into when people are bar code scanning or a restaurant register with lots of pre-set menu items on the keyboard. Most people using their cash registers in any of these methods on a daily basis want to know their total sales per day, not that they sold 5 cheese burgers, 15 double cheese burgers etc etc. or for retail sold 25 snickers, 35 butter fingers etc etc what they want to see is how much Candy did they sell today, or how much in burgers did they sell. So in this case you will have menu items on the keyboard or PLU list or UPC's in the case of retail. Remember earlier I said every cash register must have at least one department? Here is where this all ties together. Every UPC or Menu item must be linked to a department. Yes even if you don't care about departments nor want them 99.9% of all cash registers require a department be linked to every UPC or menu item (PLU). In this case more often than not the department IS NOT ON THE KEYBOARD.

If we look a a fast food restaurant as an example. Lets say they have 120 menu items including burgers, sandwiches, drinks, ice cream etc. Lets say they have 12 different burgers but at the end of the day they don't want a report of 120 items. Each Burger PLU is linked to a department so in this example you may have the following departments

1. Burgers
2. Sandwiches
3. Sides
4. Drinks
5. Desert
6. Misc.

So every burger PLU is linked to the burger department and every time one is sold the burger department sales increase by that amount and quantity. Example today we sold 55 Hamburgers at $2.00 each,  75 cheese burgers for $3.00 each, 50 double cheese burgers for $4.00 each. Our sales report at the end of the day for burgers would be Quantity of 180 sales for $535.00 So see how that works? That is not to say you can't find out how many individual menu items were sold as you can but that is a different report and most places want that info once a week or month and some never!

So that is what a department is and yes you must have one. Sometimes people tell me I don't need any departments I only need a taxable button and a non-taxable button! What they need is two departments one taxable open, one non-taxable open!

Hope that helps!

Help Selecting a Cash Register

Yesterday I blogged about ten important questions you need to answer in selecting a cash register for your business. Now we are going to go deeper into the questions and answers starting with question number one. Do I need a cash register with a receipt and journal?

Many people buying a cash register today have no idea what the journal is so lets address that. Back in the day all cash registers came with a two station printer or could use two ply paper. The two stations are made up by the receipt and the journal printers. The receipt of course is printed and fed to the exterior or the register for you to tear off and give to the customer. The journal is the second tape that also prints all the details of the sale but is rolled up inside the cash register and must be removed and stored time to time. Why does it do that you may be asking? Well a Journal Tape is also known as an audit tape allowing the owner/manager to audit the transactions one at a time if needed. That is not the same thing as a sales report. A sales report (X or Z) are totals for the entire day NOT a transaction by transaction audit of sales. The journal/audit tape does not really have anything to do with sales reporting but all about auditing. Why is that important you may be asking now? Well for a couple reasons is can be nice to have an audit tape. Let's say as the manager you are closing the register for the day, you take an X report and notice the report indicated you have about a thousand dollars more than normal in sales and you know that can't be the case. With the audit tape you could begin to investigate what happened at the register sale by sale until maybe you find a cashier made a sale for 100 items @ 10.00 each when they meant to be 10 @ $1.00 and rather than fix the mistake they just cashed out and started another transaction. With the audit tape you can find that and make the changes on your register before  "Z'ing" out! That is just one example of a journal tape use but I'm sure you can now see the possibilities. In my opinon I would always buy a machine with a journal printer in most cases. A journal or audit tape may seldom be used however when you do need one they are worth their weight in gold! They help you run your business with more security, make it faster to correct mistakes and possible to rebuild records after a catastrophic failure.

Modern machines will either have a receipt and journal or they will have a receipt and Electronic Journal (E/J) which is a topic for another day. An E/J is a very close substitute for a real journal but falls a little short in some cases.

In my 20+ years experience I have never come across a city or state law requiring you to have a journal, receipt yes journal no but always check your local laws and regs!

Help me select a cash register

When looking for a cash register there are a a minimum of ten important questions you should answer before beginning your search.

1. Do I need a receipt and journal?
2. How many departments do I need?
3. How many sales tax rates to I need to charge/track?
4. Do I want to use a bar code scanner?
5. What style keyboard do I want? Restaurant style flat or retail style raised?
6. Do I need one register or multiple?
7. Do I need integrated credit card / gift card?
8. Do I want to program on my own or have it done?
9. Do I need a commercial grade cash register or a consumer grade register?
10. Do I want to track inventory or just sales?

There are of course many more questions but answering the above will get you started in selecting the correct type of register. We will try to address each of these questions over the next couple weeks on the blog.

Who makes the best cash register?

Are you looking for a cash register? Wondering who makes the best one? There are really only two good cash register makes in the United States now in the commercial grade category. They are the following

1. SAM4s Cash Registers
2. Sharp Cash Registers

Sharp can be a bit confusing because they offer both commercial grade registers and consumer grade models. I'm only talking about the commercial grade so please don't mistake my endorsement as favoring the XE models that Sharp makes. And consumer grade machine should be avoided unless you are a tiny store with very little volume and always owner operated!

Both SAM4s and Sharp make models that interface to credit card payments and gift cards. Both make bar code scanning machines and models with kitchen printers and touch screens.

Right now for the entry level cash register I think Sharp has a clear advantage with the ER-A247 and the ER-A347 models. Both have a unique PC interface as well as an interface tool to Quick Books that is included in the price.

Sharp ER-A320 Cash Registers

Rumor has it the Sharp ER-A320 Cash Register will soon be gone! Epson stopped making the printer the popular cash register used. The A320 has been one of the best selling cash registers we have seen over the years. If you are a fan buy some now because in a few months they could be gone forever!

So far the replacement model is the ER-A247 or the ER-A347 which are both great registers but quite a bit different then the A320



Sharp ER-A347 Cash Register

Cash Register Credit Card Interface

Interfacing your credit card payments and your cash register is a hot topic however for some a confusing topic. The idea is simple and in fact the practice is simple. A few things to take into account is as of 2012 there is only one major player in making interfaces between cash registers and credit card payments. Please note I'm saying cash register payments NOT credit card terminals. This is one of the most often encountered stumbling blocks. With the exception of two models of registers the rest CAN NOT interface to traditional credit card terminals, however most modern models do interface to payments. Most modern commercial  grade registers use a device called a Datacap Twin Tran to basically turn the cash register into a credit card terminal. After the Datacap is installed all of the credit card task are done at the register, the swiping, the draft printing and the settlement. The process works great and it is fast and efficient.

Most people that contact us wish to connect their existing register to their existing standalone credit card terminal which in 99.9999% of the time is impossible. Having said that there are two cash registers from Sharp that do interface to a Hypercom Terminal breaking creating the first register to standalone terminal interface. This interface uses both units and passes the sales amount to the terminal and does require the user to use both machines to complete a transaction.

There are pros and cons with both methods however I think the Datacap has more pros. Here is a list as I see it.

Datacap Twin Tran

• Ease of use and fewest keystrokes = PRO eliminates double entry.
• Cost = CON The Datacap does cost more than a standalone terminal however often can be shared across many registers reducing the cost per register.
• Speed of transaction = PRO
• Scalable = PRO (not in every case but most)
• Secure = PRO

Standalone Terminal

• Ease of use and fewest keystrokes = CON requires using both machines
• Cost = PRO standalone terminal is less expensive.
• Speed of transaction = CON I think slower that the alternative.
• Scalable = CON (one to one in every case)
• Secure = PRO

Once you interface credit card payments with your cash register you will be kicking yourself for not doing it sooner. You will save time, have fewer errors and greatly reduce fraud. The Cash Register Guys are the Nation's experts at integrated payments call them at 1-800-863-2274 to see what your options are.

Sharp Cash Register Support

There are several sites with free Cash Register help but sometimes you do need to face facts and reach out to the pros that can help you within a matter of minutes. Yes it is going to cost you a few bucks but also save you a lot of time and like most people I'm sure your time is valuable. One of the best places to call is the Cash Register Guys at 1-800-8633-2744 they have sold and supported cash registers all over the world.