Cashiers, how unfriendly are your card readers?

[bean]

We have what's quite frankly the nicest, easiest to use register setup I've ever encountered. For the cashier anyway. Top of the line NCR RealPOS Pentium 4 based equipment, running Windows XP Embedded, with custom software on top of it. Fully menu driven, only a handful of buttons on them. 12 "hard" buttons (buttons with a set function, including the enter key), plus a standard 10 key numeric keypad, and a row of what NCR calls "dynakeys" along the screen - they change function depending what menu you're on, what page of the menu you're on, etc. With a small VGA LCD monitor built into the keyboard. My training on the register took 4 hours - the majority of that spent on policies and procedure, maybe an hour of that actually spent going over functions on the register. They're that easy to use. And they're really, really fast. Card authorization takes 1-3 seconds (part of that is because we use satellite for authorization, with fallback to DSL). I've seen authorization go so quick that it goes from "Authorizing" to "Approved" in under half a second on my screen, with the drawer popping open the instant "Approved" shows up.



That's what I use for 8 hours a day, except ours are black and don't have the built in card reader on the side (they're also on 4 or 5 way adjustable stands). We even have receipt printers that print on both sides of the receipt. How awesome is that?

The major downside is, obviously, Windows crashes occasionally. Thankfully they've never crashed during a transaction, but they've bluescreened while idle before. The other downside is they take *FOREVER* to boot. From power on to being able to actually use the register takes nearly 10 minutes. Finally, each register workstation costs about $11,000. No typo, I actually looked online and priced each component of our setups.

For customers paying with anything but a card, they're nice setups. 14 inch VGA LCD monitor showing a running tally of your purchases on the left side, XML/HTML advertisements on the right side. If we're idle, they show 2 advertisements side by side.

Our card readers SUCK ASS. They're also from NCR (since we have a service contract with them). They're not ergonomic at all (you have to put your card in through the bottom of the machine, upside down, with the stripe to the left, and they show a reverse-print picture next to it showing how to insert it that confuses people to no end), they're touchy as hell, and they have a horrible user interface. Anyone with arthritis or bad carpal tunnel usually has a lot of trouble putting the card in - I have mild carpal tunnel and arthritis in my hands and I even have trouble with them. You have to pull the card out QUICKLY - as the screen instructs, but a lot of people drag it out slowwwwwwwwly. And I get to hear the lovely error beep from the machine, and it just keeps flashing the same message instead of any kind of error message. The only time it'll flash an error message is if I select a specific card type on the register, it fails to read the card, AND I hit "Acknowledge" on the register. Any kind of error message, period. That's the only one it'll show.



They just show the company logo if the register is idle.. that's pretty normal. Also until you scan/ring the first item. Also normal. Everything else is just retarded.

If it's waiting for a card, it alternates between "Thank you for shopping with us." and "Insert and remove your card quickly.". Once you insert a card, it may or may not prompt you for a PIN or card type (American Express and Discover users don't get to select a card type, others do if it doesn't recognize it as a debit card). It doesn't allow you to select debit about 50% of the time (Chase and Wamu cards in particular), the cashier has to select it on their side. EBT (foodstamp) customers wind up selecting "EBT (Cash)" about 1/4 of the time... when they actually need to select "Electronic Foodstamps". And the register locks up and requires a supervisor key when EBT Cash comes up declined, then prints out a balance statement on the printer. 19 times out of 20, it comes up with "System problems, balance unavailable" on the printer, which basically means they can't use the EBT card as an ATM card. ("EBT Cash" allows cash back, "Electronic Foodstamps" doesn't - I've only once gotten someone with a working EBT Cash card out of a few hundred tries)

Once you've selected a card type, or entered your PIN, it just goes back to "Thank you for shopping with us." and stays there. If it doesn't read the card, it just beeps and goes back to the "Insert and remove your card quickly." screen, alternating with the "Thank you..." screen. If you hit cancel on the PIN entry screen, it tells the register to go to credit, but goes back to the "Thank you..." screen and stays there. Many people assume it hasn't read their card or they did something wrong and keep putting their card in at this point. By many I mean most. And the others assume they're done with the machine - it stays on the "Thank you" screen until I hit total followed by customer tender (at which point it pops up "<payment type> $x.xx YES NO"). I've had to chase people down because they just grabbed their bags and walked off while it was prompting for a signature, once while it was still asking if it was a credit card (god I hate people who come through my line on their phone).

The screens scratch VERY easily - we've only had them 6 months or so and half of the screen is unreadable on all of them (except for 1 register that we never use) where the customer signs their name with the stylus. They also crack easily - one customer shattered the display on one a few days after we got it by hitting it too hard with the stylus. These machines cost over $1200.

If the card is declined for some reason - the most common being "Invalid PIN" - it doesn't show any kind of error on the card reader, it stays on "Processing..." and only shows the error on my screen. Half the time the customer will say "But it still shows processing!". Thankfully our keyboards/screens are on a swivel base, so I can turn it toward them and show them the declined message. It doesn't go back to the "Insert card" screen until I hit enter on the register to acknowledge the declined message.

The customer is given a 1 1/2" tall box to sign their name in. If they stray outside of that, it stops taking a signature (even if they go back into the box) until they pull the stylus off the screen. If they stray outside of it more than twice, the register pops up "INVALID SIGNATURE" and makes them sign again (we can print a paper slip to sign on, when I get that warning on the screen I usually print one). If any part of their hand is touching the screen, even slightly, it won't acknowledge the stylus at all and just beeps.

Another gripe - once the customer taps "Signature Done" on the screen - nothing happens for several seconds. You see the "button" shadow change on the screen, and it beeps... but it doesn't clear the screen for about 3-5 seconds. The only sign that anything is happening is the cash drawer pops open the instant they tap the button. The screen doesn't clear until the receipt starts to print, which doesn't happen until the entire receipt (both sides) and the credit slip are buffered to the printer.

A few times a month, I'll have "UNKNOWN ERROR (random ####)" pop up on my screen while someone is entering their PIN. The card reader then locks up until I go to the total menu and select a form of payment. They also randomly get stuck on the "Insert card..." screen. They'll beep when you swipe a card, but don't do anything until I go to total and select a card type. This happens a few times a day (I usually get 150-250 customers a day, and ring anywhere from 8k on a slow day to 15k on a busy day).

Finally, what's the point of having an electronic signature device if... your register still prints up a copy of the card receipt, with the signature? I still have to turn in several hundred CC slips at the end of the day, the difference being they have a badly printed rendition of a (usually partial) signature instead of a real signature. This may be company policy though, I know IBM registers can be configured to either print a slip or not print a slip.

I love our registers, except for the card readers (or as NCR calls them - "MSR" - magnetic stripe reader - our register actually shows "Have customer sign MSR").

7-11 uses a variation of our registers called NeighborhoodPOS - it's a touchscreen version with no keyboard, and they use the single sided version of our receipt printers. They're able to use non-NCR card readers, why can't we? Though I have my own gripes with the readers 7-11 uses - mainly, if you're signing them, the stylus doesn't even have to touch the screen for it to recognize it (it can be several inches away, VERY irritating). 7-11's card readers will also show "Declined" if the card doesn't go through. They use Incognito (I think that's how you spell it) full color card readers. I've seen that brand of reader hooked to every brand of register under the sun, so I know they can somehow be interfaced to ours.

tl;dr: how unfriendly are the card readers your store uses? My main gripe about others is they usually require a stylus to use - ours will work with light finger pressure even for a signature. My main gripe about ours is they're HORRIBLY unfriendly.

[fireheart]

Awww man yours look so cool!

Ours are fairly basic setup, EFTPOS machine faces the customer, we have a touchscreen that faces us, customers have a screen that faces them (that's very clear to read).
Having said that, our EFTPOS machines can be picky. Some days it'll like one card, other days it'll hate it.

[bean]

Our card readers are incredibly picky. If a card is anything less than brand new, you'll have to swipe it several times before it decides to read it. My debit card is a year old and they have trouble reading it from time to time (depends on the last time the machine was cleaned).

And they're nearly impossible to clean without a special card since you actually have to push a card inside of it.. instead of sliding it through a slot. We try to clean them weekly.

I kind of wish our registers were touch screen, but they're so damned easy to use that it'd be mostly pointless. The only time touchscreen would come in handy is when one crashes and Windows pops up a dialog box stating it restored the registry from a server copy during boot (you can't get past it without a mouse - we now keep a USB mouse around for that purpose, the keyboard has 4 USB ports built into the bottom of it). I've only seen that happen once in the year and a half I've been on frontend.

edit: If my boss will allow it, I'll see if I can get some pictures of our actual setup. We use the same NCR scanners that most (pre-remodel) Walmarts use, but the actual register setup I've never ever seen in another store. I know I said it before, but it's an incredibly easy to use system, I'm really spoiled by it.

[Android Kaeli]

I would LOVE to have something like that, our registers are about eight years old with the card readers about the same age too. And there's no way we're getting new ones, unless the Big Wigs decides to grace 98% of it's stores with updated registers and that's not going to happen. Hell our air conditioner is more up-to-date than the registers and the AC is about three years old!

It's a pain in the behind, the card readers. They have trouble every so often where we literally have to shut down the register in order for it to work properly -- and that can take up to ten minutes for the entire process to go through. We've got these little black boxes that only have numbers for PIN's, a Yes (Enter), and No (Cancel) buttons, that's about it. Want credit instead of debit? Gotta hit Yes for credit since the register only has one button for BOTH credit AND debit. o.o

[bean]

On the first page of our total menu (remember it's a menu driven setup), it's basically cash, check, travelers check (which I won't take without management approval, period), or "customer tender" (a few other options that we're forbidden from using are thrown in on that page). The "customer tender" is whatever the card reader assumed they were paying with. Before I hit the customer tender button, I ask the customer "that was credit, correct?". About 1/10 of the time they'll say no, they wanted debit but the machine didn't give them the option, so I hit the page down button on the register and select debit, which then forces the card reader to prompt for a PIN. Next to the customer tender button, it shows the form of payment they've supposedly selected ("credit cards", "debit with x.x cash back", "electronic foodstamps", or "gift card").

And of course, once I do that, about half will say "Oh no I meant credit", and at that point I can't back out of the debit transaction without canceling out the card swipe entirely. So I have to ask them to slide their card again, and they almost always get pissed about that.

You might say I have some issues with our card setup.

For the record, corporate ripped out all of our registers/scaners/card readers overnight 2 years ago and replaced them. They then replaced the card readers with the ones I'm bitching about less than 6 months ago, again overnight.

[mattm04]

Our registers suck. The POS software is a old, heavily modified OS/2 software running on PC's from the 90's. We got new cars readers that allow for electronic signatures, but still print a receipt to sign. The screen for the custoemr is behind the cashier and way too much is taken up by a ugly blue background leaving the transaction in 12-14 font vied from 3-4 feet away.

The cashier has a keyboard with a screen showing the last item scanned/instructions. To make matter more fun not all registers have the same keyboard setup based on use.

[MrSmiley]

The major downside is, obviously, Windows crashes occasionally. Thankfully they've never crashed during a transaction, but they've bluescreened while idle before. The other downside is they take *FOREVER* to boot. From power on to being able to actually use the register takes nearly 10 minutes. Finally, each register workstation costs about $11,000. No typo, I actually looked online and priced each component of our setups.

You'll never convince me that a dedicated piece of hardware should be running Windows, be it an ATM, a display sign at an airport or a music system over the speakers. IMO, Windows strength is that it's able to support multiple components that users buy from wherever and provide a generic GUI for getting different programs done. Dedicated machines DON'T NEED THAT... because if they're built to do one (or a group of) thing, it should be doing only that. It doesn't need to support USB cameras it will never use, it doesn't need to have a DirectX layer that will never run and it doesn't need to download security updates for IE/OE security holes it will never encounter.

My card reader is NOT a computer! It wasn't built to be! </rant>

[bean]

Our card readers aren't PC's - they're dedicated machines running their own firmware and OS. It's the registers that run Windows.

The only real alternative for a PC based system these days is Linux (and I believe NCR offers a Linux version of our registers). OS/2 is long dead, and even if it wasn't, you'd have to do a site visit to do updates (whereas Windows XP can update itself, along with being able to receive other software updates easily). Of course, our registers are on a private LAN (no outside access whatsoever except for the authorization links and a remote admin link for the helpdesk), so there's little concern for patches and most Windows updates.

I've heard some ATMs have moved toward Linux. The fact of the matter though, when you're dealing with a PC based solution, Windows is the easiest to write for these days. There's no need to write a custom OS when an off the shelf solution offers everything you need, with what's typically off the shelf hardware or close to it (we run a custom dual head video card that also interfaces with the keyboard in the same cable). Windows programmers are fairly easy to come by as well.

I used to despise Windows until XP came out, then I grudgingly started to like it (I still ran OS/2 up until I got a release candidate of XP from Microsoft). I actually like Vista, as long as the PC has at least 2 gigs of RAM and it has service pack 1 (it's a sluggish nightmare until SP1 is installed).

[MrSmiley]

The fact of the matter though, when you're dealing with a PC based solution, Windows is the easiest to write for these days. There's no need to write a custom OS when an off the shelf solution offers everything you need, with what's typically off the shelf hardware or close to it (we run a custom dual head video card that also interfaces with the keyboard in the same cable). Windows programmers are fairly easy to come by as well.

heh. I didn't say anything about writing a whole new OS. It's more along the lines of customizing the OS to it's bare bones because the company is MAKING the hardware too... they KNOW what's going into it. Windows DOES offer this customization, especially Windows CE or whatever it's newest descendant is called... it just doesn't offer it as much as IBM or most Unix/Linux variations do.

I used to despise Windows until XP came out, then I grudgingly started to like it (I still ran OS/2 up until I got a release candidate of XP from Microsoft). I actually like Vista, as long as the PC has at least 2 gigs of RAM and it has service pack 1 (it's a sluggish nightmare until SP1 is installed).

Heh. I love Windows XP, most of the others I've gotten to like eventually. I notice that Microsoft has a general habit of doing better with their "second version" of products than their first one... that used to be an actual new install diskette/disc, nowdays it's a downloadable service pack (which sometimes needs a new install for best results... but that's something else)...

Anyway my original point is that it's all about choosing (building) the right tool for the job... and Windows strengths all seem to be on an actual PC. I cringe when I see some custom device with a error dialog box (or windows update prompt) on it's screen

[SG15Z]

Our POS machines are IBM ones with keyboard only (except Starbucks, they get touchscreen). Generally speaking it isn't horrible but NCR registers are a lot nicer IMHO. We use keyboards with a limited amount of buttons and a 2 line display on the cashier side built in.



It wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have to know all these different button combinations o do certain functions. We do have a regular old DELL monitor for the customer and we can scroll up and down on the screen if we want. Though cashiers don't usually know how to do that so to look back on an order we have to print the reciept so far (it's not a legal reciept the customer gets the real one at the end of the order). So in other words the 2 line screen is annoying.

And on registers not on the front end both the cashier and customer diplays are the 2 line screens.



It'svery basic and I'm not a big fan of it, but the touchscreen ones IBM has are a lot slower changing from screen to screen, and could slow down checkout. So until they can speed it up I won't support a change.

Now our EFTPOS machines are 99% ok. Cards usually scan unless they're really beat up. They have easy to understand menus and it always asks for PIN on debit cards. They do from time to time glitch up and not work, but rarely happens. Most of our problems are usually on the IBM side.



I can't tell you how many time I have to do a reboot on these freaking registers. Now IBM is pretty cool in that third party vendors can work with IBM hardware/software. Which is why we can use Fujitsu for SCO and Rediant Sytems for Fuel. Sure the ACE program IBM has is very basic but the combatibility with other hardware/software out there makes it very desirable. Still these keyboards are falling apart, we have a couple cash drawers that won't always close or open, reciept printers jam pretty often, and quite frankly are a bit out of date. Considering that most places I go to have nice touchscreen POS systems, I ould personally love it if we upgraded, but I doubt it would happen anytime soon.

In other word what I'm saying Bean, is I need the NCR registers and you need the verifone card readers.

[bean]

Verifone has always made nice equipment - I used to do tech support for Verifone card readers.

You just described the exact setup that DFW Krogers have. For an IBM setup, they're pretty nice, but still not user friendly.

A coworker went on a huge epic rant about how much NCR registers suck in an IM conversation yesterday - I LOVE our registers, but I hate our card readers. Our registers are incredibly easy to use, I mean I was able to start ringing with 3-4 hours of training, and most of that was spent going over policies regarding checks.

However, we can't print a journal/receipt at all, we have to wait for the end of the transaction. The only thing we can reprint is an EFT journal. The cash office can reprint a receipt on their laser printer though.

[DerangedHermit]

Our registers suck. The POS software is a old, heavily modified OS/2 software running on PC's from the 90's. We got new cars readers that allow for electronic signatures, but still print a receipt to sign. The screen for the custoemr is behind the cashier and way too much is taken up by a ugly blue background leaving the transaction in 12-14 font vied from 3-4 feet away.

The cashier has a keyboard with a screen showing the last item scanned/instructions. To make matter more fun not all registers have the same keyboard setup based on use.

Oh, and most of the self-scans this company uses run on Windows. At least it's one of the more stable Windows OS's (I think it runs on 2K), but still.

And the card reader at selfscan is even more stupid with regards to signatures. You'd think you'd have to sign on the card reader? No, you sign on a small tablet built into the self-scan register that a customer might not see.

As an aside...do the producers of EBT cards not know how to stripe their cards? They're always needing to be punched in, regardless of store.

[mattm04]

Oh, and most of the self-scans this company uses run on Windows. At least it's one of the more stable Windows OS's (I think it runs on 2K), but still.

And the card reader at selfscan is even more stupid with regards to signatures. You'd think you'd have to sign on the card reader? No, you sign on a small tablet built into the self-scan register that a customer might not see.

As an aside...do the producers of EBT cards not know how to stripe their cards? They're always needing to be punched in, regardless of store.

I believe on the older self scans the UI for the system was run on Windows but it was linked into the OS/2 based POS software somehow, meaning their were 2 computer per self-scan lane. Sometimes they would refuse to play nice and we occasionally lost entire orders. Most frequently in the summer if we had a minor power blip that took out one PC but not the other.

That assuming they notice the grey signature screen embedded in the stainless steel surface to begin with.

If you are no on a FE register, say bakeshop or floral their is no slot for credit slips so you have to do a no-sale to pop the drawer to put the slip away. Then they get all pissy because you have a ton of no-sales.

[bean]

I believe on the older self scans the UI for the system was run on Windows but it was linked into the OS/2 based POS software somehow, meaning their were 2 computer per self-scan lane. Sometimes they would refuse to play nice and we occasionally lost entire orders. Most frequently in the summer if we had a minor power blip that took out one PC but not the other.

That assuming they notice the grey signature screen embedded in the stainless steel surface to begin with.

If you are no on a FE register, say bakeshop or floral their is no slot for credit slips so you have to do a no-sale to pop the drawer to put the slip away. Then they get all pissy because you have a ton of no-sales.

That just sounds... convulted. And why didn't they have a UPS on them? All of our registers have a UPS on them that's good for about 20-30 minutes.

Our drawers open even on credit/debit transactions. If we didn't have printed CC slips (.. even though we have signature pads) it'd be kind of pointless, and it's pointless on no-cash-back debit transactions - but it takes all of 1 second to bump it closed with my hip as I'm bagging the order.

They do get bitchy in my store if you average more than 4 no sales a day - I know how to open the drawer without a no-sale though (they're screwed down, but if you yank the front up in just the right place it pops open). I rarely do that unless I screw up someone's change though. And it was a sup that showed me how to do it.

I'm VERY ocd about keeping my coupons organized though, so the drawer popping open even when it's not necessary helps me keep it organized. Plus I keep 4 piles of slips neatly stacked under the till in the drawer - 1 for Visa/MC, 1 for Discover, 1 for American Express, 1 for EBT/electronic food stamps. We have to separate them before turning them in anyway, it's easier to keep 100+ slips organized as I go instead of going through all of them at the end of my shift.

[DerangedHermit]

I believe on the older self scans the UI for the system was run on Windows but it was linked into the OS/2 based POS software somehow, meaning their were 2 computer per self-scan lane. Sometimes they would refuse to play nice and we occasionally lost entire orders. Most frequently in the summer if we had a minor power blip that took out one PC but not the other.

I wanna say that the selfscans ran a OS/2 emulator or something like that to run the POS software. I have no idea about the U-Scan type selfscans or any of the newer ones they've installed. (My store opened in '05, so it's not old, but it's not new and fancy.)

That assuming they notice the grey signature screen embedded in the stainless steel surface to begin with.

Some of the stores around me are bright and have signs pointing to the correct spot on the pinpad. My store is not.

If you are no on a FE register, say bakeshop or floral their is no slot for credit slips so you have to do a no-sale to pop the drawer to put the slip away. Then they get all pissy because you have a ton of no-sales.

I knew that, being a CDH for a short while. Most of the time they put it under the till or in the 50/100 slot.

By the way, Starbucks is the worst miscellaneous department to count. (Their till replaced the rarely-used Bakeshop till in my store when it opened.) They get so many singles during the day, it's not uncommon that they give $100 or $200 in singles to the podium till for other assorted change. Plus the cash counter seems to choke if you put more than 20 additional bills on it at a time.

As an aside, mattm04, does your store have Scan It? Thankfully my store doesn't as it's one of the shrinkiest stores in the area. A few other stores near me have it though, and I like it a lot.