So before you go spend a ton of money on a PC based POS system you may want to check out the SAM4s SPS-500 series or the Sharp UP-800 series cash registers. You may find everything you need at a fraction of the cost!

You can click the following to check out the new Hybrid Cash Registers

• A commercial grade cash register with a serial (rs232 port) available
• A polling package like PC POLL
• A source for your UPC codes

The set up to accomplish this is not cheap but is is not out of sight either. A decent machine to do this with at least 2500 UPC codes will cost you about $600.00 plus a scanner etc. The software will cost about $660.00, plus all the needed cables etc.

PC Poll is the only package I have found that will import and export UPC codes in a csv or excel file. The packages from SAM do not import. Don’t know why, but they don’t!

However there are some major problems that often occur when the power fails. Cash Registers come with rechargeable batteries that store your program and sales data when power fails. That is a great feature, as long as the battery is good. Register batteries are often only good for 3 to 5 years (some less) so when you have a brief power failure you will loose everything in the register. If you have a bad battery it will do you no good to re-program the register until the battery is replaced. Most cash register batteries, are not the typical AA battery, but rather soldered in units. You could expect a charge of $200.00 to $500.00 for a battery replacment depending on your make and model and if you take the machine in or have a tech travel to you.

If you do have a power failure, unplug your cash register and do not plug ity back in until the power has been restored. This will keep the register from being damaged due to a spike in power (yes, I have seen them blown up).

And to wrap this up, when you store a cash register for more then a couple nights it should be plugged into power. It does not need to be turned on, just plugged in. We get calls every summer from people that say “It worked when we stored it last winter”, well now you know why it no longer works!

TCRG

One of the best places to start to figure your “Z” report out is to look in your manual for help. The manual in most cases will show you what every single line means. Here are some other tips

• Look at your “Z” counter. Is it counting by one? If not you have a theft problem (or you lost the last report). They always count by one.
• Make sure your tape reads “Z” on it, quite often people call me and report that the “Z” reports are adding together. Everytime it is because they are “X’ing” not “Z’ing”
• Make sure you are comparing daily reports to daily reports, not daily to monthly. Most monthly or “period to date” reports are known as “Z2″ where daily reports are known as “Z1″ reports. Most machines have both.
• Do not try to over complicate a “Z” report, you must balance to them, not make them balance to what you have in the drawer.
• IF YOU ARE SHORT IN THE TILL ON A REGULAR BASIS YOU ARE BEING STOLEN FROM!!!! IT IS NOT THE REGISTER ADDING WRONG!!!! Sorry to be harsh, but it is a huge problem. And so often it is from the employee that is “Like Family” “Been with us forever” etc etc.

TCRG

The “Z” report is a report you request from the cash register when ever you want. Most users do this once a day, or maybe once per shift. The right “Z” tape will print your sales, taxes, cash, check, charge, discounts, voids, returns, and sometimes sales departments or groups. Take is the main report for knowing:

• How much cash and other media total you should have
• How much was taxable and how much was not
• How many voids, no-sale, discounts.

Now the reason for being called a “Z” report is simple. It is a Z for ZERO, which means it prints and then “Zero’s” that report. You can take two “Z” report back to back and the 2nd one will be all zeros (except for no-resettable total and counters).

Again there are most registers have many reports available that can all be “Z’d” but choose the one that makes the most sense for your needs. The average cash registers hourly report, or PLU report is useless when trying to close a day’s books and be accountable.

TCRG