A Simple Keyboard
When working out point of sale solutions for a particular event, one of the first things we do is layout the keyboard. Finding a logical and organized method for adding item buttons to the register can make a vast difference in transaction speed. Below you will find a sample keyboard used at a concession even as well as the basis we use for laying out a keyboard.
1. Use preset prices when you can. One of the easiest ways to increase transaction speed is to use preset prices. Pressing just one button to ring in a $2.50 bottle of water is 3 times faster than pressing [2] [5] [0] [WATER]. You also eliminate the risk of entering an incorrect price, thereby saving the time it takes to either void items or cancel and start the sale over.
2. Print prices on the buttons. It may seem like a simple thing, but having prices on the item buttons can be very helpfult for customer and cashiers. When a customer asks "How much for a brownie?" the cashier has the answer right in front of them. No need to turn around and find it on the menu board.
This can also help speed things along when Customer A is searching for their money, the cashier can let Customer B know that their Chips and Soda will be $5.50. This helps keep the line moving.
3. Group similar items. Keeping similar items near eachother makes sense. We will ask to see a sample menu board and arrange buttons based on what category they fall under on the menu. In addition to proximity, color coding can also help. In the case of our sample keyboard, we used the breakdown of Entrees, Snacks, Breakfast, Beverages, and Liquor. (These groupings are not only handy on the keyboard but also for reporting purposes.)
4. Further organization. With as easy as our equipment is to learn, the most time consuming part of the process is remembering where each item is on the keyboard. Beyond grouping and color coding items to easily identify their general location, finding a logical order also beneficial. The most common methods for arranging buttons within groups would be to list them either alphabetically or by price. In some cases, cashiers are trained ahead of time off the menu board. In these instances, mimicing the menu board layout is also valid.
Following these simple steps in keyboard creation will enable your cashiers to work at peak effeciency. This keeps lines moving quickly and keeps customers happy, ultimately providing you with a successful business.
After a busy day of sales, multi-tasking during closing proceedures is a common practice for most businesses. There is usually plenty of work to do around the shop that can be preformed while waiting for reports to print from the cash register. So when it comes time to start on the closing paperwork, there can be a sudden sense of dread to realize something went wrong when printing the end of day report. Whether the paper ran out part way through printing, or some type of paper jam occurred, what are the options to access the important information you just reset?
The first line of defense against data loss is to plan ahead. Here are a few methods to take to ensure you won't run into issues.
- Check paper levels before running reports. It never hurts to open up the printer cover and verify that there will be enough paper to run the entire report. Most receipt paper will have a colored stripe that will appear when nearing the end of the roll.
- Run an X report before running the Z report. Running reports with the key in the X position will let you eXamine the total without resetting it. If a paper jam occurs during this process, you can always run the report again and the numbers will still be there. Just be sure to run the Z report to Zero the totals when you have a full copy.
Upgrade registers. Newer registers have a failsafe that stops operations when paper runs out. A warning message will be displayed and the current task is held in memory until a new roll is loaded. Printing will resume where it left off.- Skip the paper report and go digital. Using either a reporting software on your computer to connect directly to the cash register, or saving reports to an SD or USB drive from the register allows you to ignore the uncertainty of paper reports. This can also save time by importing data into your sales database rather than entering numbers manually.
Of course, those suggestions are all best case scenario where you're not already in the middle of a reporting catashrophe. If you happen to find yourself in a situation where the printer ate your only copy of your data, what do you do then?
- Check the journal. Regular transactions as well as reports are saved on the journal. If your register doesn't have the second printer that serves as a hard copy journal, you may have a model that uses an electronic journal. In many Sam4s models, this is accomplished by turning the key to the X position and pressing 3 0 0 SUBTOTAL.
- Run the weekly/period report. If you run a period report at the end of each week and have the totals from each day since the last time you can do a little math. Run the period report in the X position and subtract out the previous daily numbers to get the current totals.
- Run a Daily Sales report. Often times the end of day procedures call for resetting the Financial, PLU and maybe Group reports. There are a handful of other reports that will remain intact including the Daily Sales Report. Purely a breakdown of sales totals over the last 30 days, this report will at the very minimum, allow you to balance the drawer.
For help determining the capabilities of your specific model of cash register, enabling or using electronic journal or for information on reporting software, contact us with the button below.
Have you ever noticed that no matter how much room there is around, everyone always seems to congregate in the kitchen? The simple explanation for this is that people go where the food is. This principle holds true in homes all over the world and is carried over to the masses in the form of the food festival. People go where the food is. When challenged with feeding people that can number in the 10-100,000s, a specific set of challenges arises. Here are a few of the questions we have witnessed within the food festival market.
I’m used to working out of a cash box. Won’t a cash register slow me down?
For people used to performing calculations in their head, it may seem like learning a new system would be cumbersome. Getting a pre-programmed, easy-to-use cash register that can be learned in under 5 minutes can actually make transactions faster.
Some features that speed up transaction times include:
- Add and display totals on screen. For orders consisting of multiple items, totals are easily tracked and displayed. The time taken to commit the order to memory and add the prices together is eliminated along with potential for mathematical error.
- Use preset tender amounts. Streamlining payment options down to one button makes completing a sale and providing change quicker.
How can I track sales data securely and accurately .
Whether you’re a vendor or a festival organizer, accumulating accurate sales data measures profitability. One of the greatest benefits of a cash register is that it ensures all transactions are recorded. Find out which items are the biggest sellers, calculate taxes owed, and reconcile funds collected against recorded totals. This provides a reliable method to verify you are receiving everything for which you are entitled.
How do I handle End of Day data collection efficiently?
If you are trying to coordinate sales data processing among potentially dozens of vendors, finding a means to keep track of all those numbers can be daunting. Often times, data needs to be collected either by physically going to each stand, or waiting for vendors to deliver their own information after they close up for the night. This may be on hand written notes or receipt style paper reports. Either way, someone has to manually enter this information into a database.
For a more efficient method of gathering and saving reports:
- Collect reports on SD card or USB drive. Providing each vendor with a way to digitally capture reports can save a significant amount of time by importing sales figures directly into database software.
- Send reports online with Sterling Bridge. This is particularly useful when settling with vendors at the end of the night. Reports are sent to a secure, online portal where the finance department can access sales data while stand operators finish their closing procedures. By the time the nightly reconciliation rolls around, both parties have the information they need to finish out their business.
How can a cash register help during a cashless event?
For environments that use a ticket system as a means of payment, all the basic functions of a cash register still apply. Instead of programming prices for items, they would use number of tickets per item. Receipts can even be programmed to use a “Tk” in place of a “$” in these cases. Item counts and sales figures are then broken down into tickets instead of dollars. A cash register can also be used in its full capacity to sell the tickets themselves.
For more insights based on our experience with festivals, or for information on how American Metro can help with your upcoming fireworks point of sale needs, contact us any time.
Nothing says “celebration” quite like the explosive sound of fireworks. There is a growing number of temporary fireworks stands that pop up for Independence Day. To help stand owners and operators share in the festive vibe, American Metro has been looking for ways to meet the point of sale needs specific to the fireworks industry. They often set up multiple locations throughout an entire state in roadside pavilions. This brings about some unique demands from this industry. Here are some of the needs that have arisen from within the fireworks distribution community.
How can I efficiently gather sales data from my multiple stands?
Keeping accurate totals on inventory gets to be a challenge when overseeing multiple locations. Gathering sales reports can also be tricky without the right tools. Now getting this information can be done with the push of a button through a few different methods.
SD/USB Backup – Reports can be saved from the register onto an SD card or USB stick. From there, they can be transferred to a computer and emailed to the central headquarters.- PC Poll Software – Reporting software is available that provides remote access to reporting functions. It also provides a means to make item and price changes. This is done with either an Ethernet or wireless connection.
- Sterling Bridge™ Technology – Reports can be sent from the register to a secure on-line portal through a wireless modem.
Will I be able to accept credit cards in remote locations?
Not since the days of the old knuckle busters have credit card payments been so mobile. But finding a solution that is mobile, affordable and reliable is real challenge.
SixNet Wireless Modem – Dubbed the “Magic Box” this military grade wireless modem is as reliable as they come. It transmits through the Verizon network, so you can have the peace of mind that comes with one of the nations leading wireless providers.- POS Integration – Credit cards are processed using the credit card swiper on the register for complete integration. This saves time at the end of the night when only one report needs to be run.
- Stand Beside Terminals – The Exadigm XD2000 is a great alternative to a full point of sale system. In the event that no cash register is needed, this easy to operate credit card device can provide processing solutions.
Will the equipment withstand the varying climates of open air stands?
Finding equipment that will endure everything from dusty summer days in Arizona to the frigid Minnesota winters is a major point of interest.
- Solid Case –Whe
n internal components aren’t protected, wear and tear is inevitable. That’s why we recommend registers with solid casing to keep dirt and dust out of printers and circuit boards.
- Flat Keyboard – A flat keyboard will ensure that moisture and grime stay away from moving parts of buttons.
- Steel Bases – Plastic cash drawers are more easily damaged than their steel counter parts.
For more insights based on our experience in the fireworks industry, or for information on how American Metro can help with your upcoming fireworks point of sale needs, click on the button below. We make selling stuff easy!
We at American Metro pride ourselves on making selling stuff easy. We deliberately set up our rental equipment so that the average cashier can learn everything they need to know about how to complete a transaction in under 5 minutes. Of course, if they are anything like me, those few days between being trained to do something and actually putting it into practice, can result in some of the information not quite sticking.
For this very reason, we include a quick start guide with each rental. We usually call them cheatsheets, but don't worry, there are no penalties for using one. They include all the basic information about how to operate a register like:
- Ringing in preset and open items
- Applying discounts
- Tendering the sale with cash or credit or cash and credit (aka split tender)
- Processing voids and returns
- Running end of day reports
- Even basic programming functions like adding items or changing prices
One of our most popular cash registers is the ER-285, so to give you glimpse of what these cheatsheets look like, or in case you've misplaced yours, here is the standard 285 Cheatsheet. This covers the most common configurations for the ER-285. For rentals that have custom programs, custom cheatsheets will be created and supplied.
For more cheatsheet, keyboard templates and programming data, visit our Downloads page under the Training and Support tab. If you don't see your model of Sam4s register in the list, leave a comment and we will get one created for you. We make selling stuff easy!
What do you call 4 days in Atlanta filled with 42,000+ college age people socializing, singing, and learning about ways to make a real impact in the world? We have come to call it the 2012 Passion Conference hosted by 268 Generation. From January 2-5, students from all over the world joined together to listen to messages from speakers such as Louie Giglio, John Piper and Francis Chan. They also sang along with Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels and David Crowder*Band as they lead worship. The most amazing part was the support of the Do Something Now campaign to combat human trafficing and give hope to the 27 million people caught in modern day slavery. Over $3 million was raised to put directly toward stopping slave and sex trading and for providing recovery programs for people who have been freed from slavery.
American Metro is proud to have been a part of the Passion Conference again this year. 2012 marks our third year working with 268 Generation by providing the point of sale equipment and on site service personnel to the conference. This year was a much larger endeavor as the venue spread from the Georgia World Congress Center pouring into the Georgia Dome next door. In the past, all merchandise sales were centered around one location. This year, sales occured accross nine different locations. And the number of point of sale terminals nearly doubled to a total of 78 machines. Using a mix of Sam4s SPS-520s all-in-one registers and SPS-2000s touchscreen terminals, the American Metro Event Team came through in a time sensitive setup window.
Throughout the event, the on site team kept busy from store opening at 9:30 am through close at 1:00 am. During this time, you could find them:
- providing manager and cashier training
- making price changes as items went on sale
- coordinting credit card processing solutions during a venue-wide internet outage
- fixing a few minor issues like jammed cash drawers and finicky scanners
- collecting and consolidating reports at the end of the night
- and even running registers during peak sales hours
While behind a register at the main store during one such peak time, I overheard on 4 seperate occasions that the patrons who had been waiting in a line that wrapped out the store and down the convention center hallway, only spent a total of 15-20 minutes in line. I found out that about 5000 transactions were made on 25 registers during that stretch of 2 hours. That means that each cashier spent an average of 36 sec. per transaction. It can make a monumental impact on your customers' happiness and on your sales numbers having point of sale equipment that is easy to use, fast and accurate.
When the cause is good, we are that much more excited to allow our customers to focus on what they do best and not worry about their point of sale setup. American Metro, we make selling stuff easy.
During the past year, the American Metro Event Management Team had a great success partnering with Event Promoters of all kinds, all across the country. We worked events from New York to Los Angeles, British Columbia on down to Texas with several stops in between. It has been our absolute pleasure working with the various concert series, different sporting events, conventions of all types, and all the unique special events throughout the year. Here is a tour of some of the events we were fortunate enough to partner with by supplying on site support.
Point of Sale Equipment for Sporting Events
In the sporting world, we focus on solutions that fit the fast paced concession style setup. Using a mix of equipment to fit the specific needs, we find the majority of venues using the Sam4s ER-285 due to it’s simple keyboard, straight forward interface and breadth of reporting options. Right in our backyard, we are very proud to be working with the University of Minnesota football program at TCF Bank Stadium. Providing ongoing support for the over 100 registers found throughout the stadium at their concession stands. Go Gophers!
Golf is one of our favorite sports here at American Metro and we made a few stops with the Tour this year. We started out the golf season at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, NC. We then went straight down toPonte Vedra Beach, FL for the Players Championship. In June, it was off to Bethesda, MD for the US Open Championship, and in August we went back down south to Atlanta for the PGA Championship.
Tennis has also become a popular sport for us as we ventured to the Sony Ericson Tennis Championship in Miami, FL followed by the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington DC had us in to help out with their point of sale needs. We have also been privileged to work with the Veuve Polo Classic New York, NY and the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, NV.
Cash Registers for Music Festivals 
This year saw an expansion amongst the music festival genre as American Metro finally went international. Starting the season off, we made our 4th appearance at the annual Life Light festival in Sioux Falls SD. Our next stop brought us to Salmo, British Columbia, Canada for the Shambhala Music Festival; a blending of techno music with the spirit of Woodstock. We provided Point of Sale support as U2 made their way through Minneapolis and we were in Central Park in New York for Black Eyed Peas concert.
Point of Sale Solutions for Conventions
Convention sales have proven to be a more in depth setup than the standard concession only setup used at most sporting events. Delving into touch screen options with the SPS-520 and SPS-2000 and PC based systems running AIMsi provides inventory options, remote networking and advanced reporting functions.
The Zumba Fitness convention in Orlando, Florida brought in fitness trainers from around the world to get the latest workout techniques. Blizzcon, the massive gaming convention hosted by Blizzard Entertainment occurred in Anaheim, CA in October. And the Passion Conference had two venues this year. One was held in Atlanta over the New Year and another one in Ft. Worth, Texas in May.
Point of Sale Support at Special Events
With so many different markets, each with their own needs, the sky’s the limit when it comes to special events. This was particularly relevant with the Airventures Oshkosh Air Show in Wisconsin as well as the Red Bull Air Race nearLiberty Island. Actually, New York was kind of a hot spot for us this year with another event in the area; the Big Apple BBQ. We provided registers and credit card processing to Barrett Jackson, the high end automobile auction. The 10 days leading up to Labor Day were spent supporting the Minnesota State Fair. Finally, the Vera Bradley Warehouse Sale in Ft. Wayne, Indiana drew huge crowds. As a special request to help make check out as easy as possible, we set up an online registration component with a means to track individual customer sales.
Well, that’s the quick look back at all the locations the American Metro Event Team has visited this year. We’re looking forward to 2012 and continuing to build the relationships with all these great events along with some new ones.
Whether you've used them yourself, or have just seen them popping up on business cards, advertisments, property listings, etc., QR codes are a quick way to give customers information.
While waiting in the lobby of a local restaraunt for my to go order, I found myself looking for something to distract me from the hunger that was starting to overwhelm me. Normally I fill this time with a quick game of Angry Birds, but something else caught my eye. Sitting on a nearby shelf was a ketchup bottle with one of those "pixely black and white squares" printed on it. That's the term I ususally use for it, but they are technically called QR Codes.
What is a QR Code?
A Quick Response Code or QR Code is a two dimensional barcode capable of encoding over 7000 purely numeric characters or over 4200 alphanumeric characters. This type of barcode was developed in 1994 for the auto industry to track part numbers and descriptions. Since then, they have found more broad uses. These codes can be programmed with everything from product numbers, names, addresses, phone numbers, website URLs.
QR Codes can be read by a number of scanning devices. With certain smart phone apps, the camera on a cell phone can function as a scanner. Simply aim the phone at the barcode and up will pop the encoded message, or the user will be brought to the specified web address.
Engage Your Customer
So there I was, scanning a bottle of my favorite ketchup with my phone. I was brought to they company's website and found out some interesting facts about America's #1 condiment. (Although in my family, we count ketchup as it's own food group.) It occured to me that the time inbetween paying for my order and receiving it, I was a fairly captive audience. This gave me an idea.
The standard cash register receipt footer has room to program 2-6 lines of text with each line containing up to 32 characters. Most of the time that space is filled with a "Thank You For Your Business" message and a maybe a website and phone number. Some cash registers have the ability to print a monochrome logo or other image in addition to the header or footer. This is the perfect scenario for printing a QR Code. This feature makes a picture worth an entire website.
Now your customer has quick access to important information about your business. It could be just link to your home page, or maybe a customer feedback survey, or an announcement about next month's special offer. There's no need for the customer to remember or even type out the long web address of a custom page making it easy for them. And the easier something is, the more likely you are to get a response.
As an example and special offer of our own, try scanning the code to the right. If you don't have your phone handy or don't have a QR Scanner app yet, you always use the old school method of clicking on the link as well.
We get a lot of service requests at American Metro, so in an attempt to help our clients as well as anyone just searching for point of sale assistance, I will post some of the questions that come in. This was a recent question submitted on our contact us page.
"What can we help you with today? I have a ER-260 that stopped running and printing sales receipts in regular mode. However, it still prints the daily reports and summaries for the end of day count. Please let me know if I need to reprogram something or bring in the machine."
Here was the response I emailed back.
"Thank you for contacting American Metro with your questions. It sounds like your receipt has been working in the past and has recently stopped printing. Your register has a Receipt On/Off function that was probably activated. To turn on the receipt printing back on,
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Make sure the key is in the REG position
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Make sure you are not in the middle of a sale.
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Then press the button in the top right of they keyboard (labeled PO by default).
That will turn the receipt back on. Pressing it again will turn it off. You also have the ability to print/reprint a receipt by pressing the CASH button again after ringing the sale through.
If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know."
We really are here to help with any cash register, credit card or point of sale questions you may have. Our specialty is in Sam4s, Sharp and Exadigm models. If you have service or operations question, post them here or submit them to our service request page.
Cash registers have come a long way since they were first introduced. They once required hundreds of moving parts to calculate sales transactions. Now, almost every aspect of a cash register is electronic. The printer has been the last holdout on the electronic conversion (although most newer machines have upgraded to an electronic, thermal printer.) It's not surprising that printers are where we see the majority of mechanical failures. Here are a few simple steps to getting the most life out of your printer.
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Keep it Clean - When dust and dirt collect inside the printer, it can wear down the feed roller, advancement gears and dot heads. Take a can of compressed air and blow out any debris that may have accumulated every few months.
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Keep it Dry - In environments where liquids are served, avoid handing spillable items to the customer directly over the register. At outdoor events, cover the register with plastic or a garbage bag should bad weather roll in. Should any liquid make it into the printer, soak up as much as you can with a clean, dry cloth. Use the paper feed button to send paper through the printer until any signs of moisture are no longer noticable.
- Replace Ribbons - When a ribbon gets old and print begins to lighten, replace the ribbon. This will keep the dot heads functioning properly and make reciepts easier to read.
- Replace Paper - Cash register models using ink need paper for the receipt and journal (when applicable). When the printer runs without paper, ink will collect on and soak into the feed roller causing it to swell. If it swells too much, the roller will stop moving causing other mechanical failures.
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Paper Roll Direction - Make sure that the paper is unrolling in the correct direction as it feeds through the printer. In almost all cases, this means the paper should feed from the bottom of the roll. Unlike the over/under debate for toilet paper, direction does matter.
If you keep these simple steps in mind, you can add years onto the life of your printer, and in turn, your register. Should the unexpected occur and you need help with your register, our support line is always available. We also service point of sale equipment in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.