POS systems and cash registers

Hand Held Mobile POS Systems for the iPad

National Business Systems Inc. is one of the oldest POS dealers and cash register dealers in the Northwest. Our office is near the Sea Tac Airport centrally located between Seattle and Tacoma

If you are looking for a restaurant POS system in Seattle then we have a great system for you. Digital Dining offers a robust full featured system for all types of restaurants big or small. Our staff have been installing restaurant point of sale systems for over twenty years and can help you implement a system in a way to maximize the results.

One of our newest products is the iPad POS solution Silver from NCR. With Silver you can operate any where you would like with any iOS product like an iPhone, iPad, or iPod. Because Silver is cloud based the start up cost are much lower and you have access to your sales and data anywhere in the world. Silver also does a fantastic job of tracking and rewarding your customers bring them back time and again.

So if you are in the market for a cash register or POS system in Seattle then give us a call at 253-839-9636 or 1-800-863-2274

How to buy the right cash register

Cash Register

When you go to buy a cash register make sure you get what you need. Your best chance at ensuring a successful purchase that will serve you well is to visit or call a cash register dealer.

There are many cash registers on the market however there are two major divisions in most register companies. Often they will offer a consumer grade line via the mass merchandise markets like Office Depot, or Costco and then they will offer a commercial grade line through independent cash register dealers.

The consumer grade lines are typically smaller less heavy duty machines often with great features. They have their place in the world of course. The problem is in most cases they won't handle a  store that receives a lot of volume and lack security features. when you require support of programming changes you are at the mercy of a large corporations 800 number to a support abyss. Believe me we hear from people all the time telling us they were on hold for 30 minutes and received no help at all.

The commercial grade machines are sold by independent dealers like our company. The machines are heavy duty and lean to security and reporting features. You also will have access to people that know how to train you on them and program them. That training and programming may or may not be included in the price, you may have to pay for the support however it will be available.

So be careful and call around. Make sure the company you buy from knows what they are talking about. Do they know cash registers? Do they know how they work? Or are they just selling everything under the sun?

Need help picking out a cash register? Call us at 1-800-863-2274

Most Sharp cash registers use thermal receipt paper

All of the newer Sharp cash registers use thermal paper. Every since they retired the Sharp ER-A320 register which used 44mm bond paper all of their registers use thermal paper.

There are two primary sizes of thermal paper for the Sharp registers. Most use the 2.25" thermal 200 foot roll. A few examples are The Sharp ER-A520 paper rolls are 2.25" thermal as well as the ER-530 paper rolls.

The other size which is less popular is 44mm Thermal. A very popular register that uses it is the Sharp ER-A420 paper rolls.

Of course if your cash register uses thermal paper it will not require an ink roller or ribbon!

Does the Sharp ER-A320 have anything in common with the SAM4s ER-650

What do the Sharp ER-A320 and the SAM4s ER-650 have in common? They were both the best selling cash registers for their brand and they have both been retired.

In the case of the SAM4s ER-650 it has been replaced by the SPS-300 series which is made up of the following

The SAM4s SPS-320 cash register with large flat keyboard and single station printer. Capable of credit card interface with Datacap Twin Tran

 

 

The SAM4s SPS-340 also features large flat keyboard with the addition of a receipt and journal printer. Also the ability to integrate credit card payments with a Datacap device

The SAM4s SPS-345 is the retail version of the SPS-300 series with a raised keyboard and receipt and journal (not picture shown is with the expanded keyboard not the standard 21) this register works great for liquor stores, hardware, gift stores, C-Stores and more. You can add value added options such as scanning and credit card interface.


Now returning back the Sharp ER-A320 cash register which we miss dearly, there really is no replacement. yes there are new models but not a comparable replacement. The problem is the A320 used bond paper and was capable of validating . Sharp currently DOES NOT make a cash register that can validate or used bond paper rolls instead of thermal. If you don't need to validate then the closest choice to replace in the Sharp line is:

The Sharp ER-A347 featuring a large 8 line LCD display, receipt and journal printers. This is a great machine and I think easy to program because of the 8 line LCD display however some find it cumbersome. I think you will need to be the judge on that!

If you need help selecting a register give us a call at 1-800-863-2274

Sharp cash register service key

Sometimes you will need a service key for specific programming of your commercial grade Sharp cash register. The service key is a dealer only tool that is not included with your purchase of a Sharp cash register. Even as a dealer we are not given keys and must buy them separately from the cash registers.

Every now and then a cash register will become locked up for sometimes unknown reasons or perhaps a error you can't recover from and will need a service reset. A service reset is akin to a reboot of a computer, it restarts and clears the state the register was stuck in (in most cases) and does no harm to the register or programming. The service key allows you to perform a service reset. In the worst case you cash register becomes corrupt from power or other problem and you are forced to perform a master reset you would also need the service key.

There are other reasons for a service key with Sharp cash registers. In many cases the way a cash register works is determined by the service programming dome with the service key.

If you require a Sharp cash register service key you can find one for sale by following the link.

Sharp cash register supplies including the IR-90/91 ink roller

It seems like cash register supplies are getting harder to find and I only noticed this because my company is shipping more 44mm bond paper rolls and IR-90/1 ink rollers all over the country.

We also sell keyboard covers for all the SAM4s cash registers and most of the Sharp register models too. 

Another type of paper we have been selling more of is 44mm thermal which is used in a few of the Sharp cash register models. Feel free to give us a call and see if we have supplies for your cash register, chances are good that if your register is commercial grade we do. 1-800-863-2274

This is way you should interface your cash register directly with credit card payments

I read a great article this morning about a customer being over charged by $1600.00 at a breakfast house restaurant. Of course the error was found and fixed after several days and with a lot of bad publicity.

If this restaurant would have had their cash register interfaced to the credit card machine this error probably would have never happened. When you integrate the two you eliminate the need to re-enter the sale into the credit card machine where so many errors occur.

Now in this case the error was found quickly because it was so large. Also when a customer is overcharged they are more likely to point it out maybe even days or weeks later when they receive their statements. What happens when they are undercharged? Most say nothing at all and you lose money! Don't let this happen any longer, interface your cash register to credit card payments!

There are two lines of cash registers that are also credit card machines and they are SAM4s and Sharp both making a wide variety of machines for every type of business.

Here is the story in the news, you should check it out yourself http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/waffle-house-charges-man-over--1600-for-breakfast-194502721.html?soc_src=copy