Merry Christmas from POS Pondering!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas as we take time to celebrate Christ's Birthday with family and friends!

-Kevin

Cities and States I Am Headed To in 2020

Update May 2020: I made it halfway through my travels and then the shut downs began. I will re-evaluate travel starting in June. Presently, I have a list of around 25 retailers that I need to meet work - most are in the Seattle, Tri-Cities, Portland and Salt Lake City areas.

Want to meet in person for some free point of sale advice?
In need of some more in depth paid onsite point of sale consulting?

Here is where you will find me in 2020:

• Idaho (Boise area, Twin Falls area, Burley area, Pocatello area, Long Valley, Wood River Valley and Idaho Falls area)
• Greater Seattle, WA (WOW - you folks are keeping me busy!!!)
• Portland, OR (same as Seattle - amazing demand)
• Tri Cities area of Washington and Oregon
• Yakima, Washington
• Baker City, OR
• Salt Lake City, Utah
• Denver CO area
• Dallas - Ft Worth, Texas
• Billings, Montana
• Minneapolis - St Paul, Minnesota
• St Cloud, Minnesota
• Phoenix, AZ
• Tucson, AZ

If you don't see your city and/or state listed, please get in touch with me as I tend travel across whole states (eg: I may in Dallas, TX for a specific event but will also likely travel to Austin and San Antonio as time permits).

Please contact me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com for more information.

Last Reminder on Windows 7 End of Life

If you happen to still be using Windows 7 on your point of sale computers, it is important to note that all support for Windows 7 will end on January 14th, 2020. What does this mean? Basically, you will be using an un-supported operating system and will most likely need to upgrade to Windows 10 (and may need to upgrade your computers as well).  Reasons for this include the following:

• Being non-PCI compliant
• Being vulnerable to virus and malware attacks (potential loss and/or compromise of data)
• POS software may no longer be supported if using Windows 7
• Peripherals like receipt printers, payment terminals, scales, customer displays, etc may no longer be supported
• Your point of sale Partner/VAR/Dealer/Reseller will no longer assist you
• You may not be able to use integrated payment terminals 

You may want to take this opportunity to evaluate which point of sale software program to use and see if it is time to make a switch to newer point of sale software as you will likely already be investing in new computers. Keep in mind that the only way to by-pass this would be to use stand alone payment terminals and computers that have no internet access.

Questions or need some advice? Please contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632.

JUUL's Retailer Access Control Standards: POS System information

A quick request first: Are you a JUUL Retailer?  What are your thoughts on JUUL's Retailer Access Control Standards? Planning updating your POS system or will you just switch to a different product to sell instead of JUUL?

All responses are completely off the record. You can reach me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com.

Now on to the post...

JUUL has initiated compliance program called "Retailer Access Control Standards" or "RACS" for short. RACS has a compliance deadline of May 2021 for using a POS system that meets RACS standards in order to be a JUUL retailer.

The 2 main parts of RACS are Age Verification and Enforcing Purchase Limits. Several point of sale software companies have already committed to meeting RACS Compliance. They are:

• LightSpeed
• ShopKeep
• Fastrax
• Clover
• NCR
• Various gas station POS systems - see https://www.racscompliance.org/documentation/#compatible-pos-systems

Aside from the obvious "does anyone care" question as a retailer could simply opt to switch brands, there are some interesting points to consider:

• Age verification is a good thing for any retailer selling age restricted products
• This may spur more retailers to update the technology that they use in their store

So what does this mean for other POS systems like Microsoft RMS, Retail Management Hero, and Cloud Retailer?

Microsoft RMS: RACS Certification is in process. Keep in mind that extended support for RMS ends between July 2020 and July 2021 anyway. However, given the number of retailers using RMS, RACS certification may be approved in conjunction with a software and/or hardware update. 

Retail Management Hero: RACS Certification not being sought at this time

Cloud Retailer: RACS Certification is being initiated due to existing Cloud Retailer customers already being JUUL retailers.

If you have questions specific to JUUL RACS and Cloud Retailer or Microsoft Dynamics RMS, please contact me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com

For official information from JUUL, please visit https://www.racscompliance.org/

Cloud Retailer: Video Overview of Custom Discounts

A general overview showing how flexible the Cloud Retailer point of sale software is when it comes to creating custom discounts. Also shows how easy it is to learn!

As always, please do call or email me with any retail point of sale related questions. You can reach me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com