Update on Meetings with Goodwill Stores and Retail POS Systems for Thrift Store

As many of you know, I've worked with multiple Goodwill stores over the last 12+ years specific to helping them source POS systems and/or selling and supporting their POS systems. Over the last couple of months, I've had the pleasure of meeting with a couple more Goodwills and wanted to share some feedback specific to what they are using, or moving to, when it comes to thrift store retail point of sale systems. My notes from the meetings are below:

• Many are still using Microsoft Dynamics RMS/HQ as well as NCR CounterPoint (both of these programs have Goodwill/Thrift Store specific modifications like round up buttons and production tracking).
• Budgets are still tight so many of you are holding on to current POS systems as long as possible.
• When looking for a new, or replacement POS system, many of you are concerned about costs related to the replacement of existing hardware as well as aging servers.
• Justification to spend money on a new POS system comes from newer features and functions, reducing costs specific to manual processes, and eliminating the need for expensive servers.
• Your next POS system must handle the unique requirements of Goodwills but also be as automated as possible to eliminate cashier errors and cashier decision making for unique situations like double discounting.
• The POS system must be easily trainable due to staff turn-over but also provide data needed by the organizations leadership.
• On the solution side, we have eliminated all of the iPad systems like Shopkeep, Lavu, Revel, Clover, Silver and Bindo due to lack of depth and feature/functions. We've also eliminated Retail Management Hero since it is only (for now) a single store product. Possible solutions include: Staying with NCR CounterPoint, NetSuite, Dynamics 365, Lightspeed, and Cloud Retailer. We also discussed the pro's and con's of using a custom designed POS system and agreed that that was not a viable option as you would end up being a beta tester and could be orphaned if the programmer moved on to other projects (which I've seen happen a couple of times within Goodwill).

Those are just a few bullet points. If you are part of Goodwill, or a similar organization, I do offer unbiased consulting as well as the sales and service of POS systems designed for thrift stores.

Oh, and we are happy to provide RMS/HQ support as well (we have 10 support techs).

If I can help, the first step is a conversation via phone, email, or in person. Please contact me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com. As always, non-profit organizations enjoy a 10% discount off of any consulting fees and/or towards the cost of new software and hardware!