Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Ada Cash Register

As you know it can be tough to find a local company that sells, services, programs, and offers supplies for cash registers so I wanted to pass along some information about Ada Cash Register.

Ada Cash Register is based in Boise, ID and offers the Sam4S line of cash registers as well as being able to service and offer supplies for many different kinds of cash registers. Rick Bier is the owner and he has many years of cash register sales, service, and programming experience.

Ada Cash Register also offers paper and ribbon supplies for cash registers as well as for the common receipt printers used with computer based retail point of sale systems.

As DirectPOS in Boise, ID and Spokane, WA is no longer offering cash registers, cash register repair/programming, or cash register supplies, I would highly recommend getting in touch with Rick Bier at Ada Cash Register - he even rents cash registers for short term special events!

Rick can be reached at 208-407-2202 or rick (at) rbier (dot) us

You can also find him on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/adacashregister


Monday, August 26, 2013

New Contact Information

Just a quick note that my email address is still kevinantosh (at) gmail (dot) com.

My new cell number is 208-340-5632.

I will have some additional important information to share with everyone in early September.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Microsoft RMS Store Operations and RMS NextGen (or NexGen)

A quick reminder that sales of Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ to new users as well as mainstream support ends next year (2016) so please keep that in mind if you are thinking of purchasing RMS or HQ as point of sale software for your business or organization.

Update 13.June.2015: A quick note that I have been receiving multiple calls and emails from Microsoft Dynamics RMS users looking to replace RMS due to the upcoming October 1st, 2015 EMV liability shift deadline as well as the "end of life" status for Dynamics RMS and HQ. I have personal experience with RMS users upgrading to NCR CounterPoint and would be happy to share - just visit my contact page for information on how to reach me. I can also put you in touch with a trusted NCR CounterPoint SQL partner.

More current advice for options available to Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ users can be found here and here.

As you know, I have worked heavily with the Microsoft RMS Store Operations and HQ program over the last decade (and with QuickSell 2000 & QuickSell Commerce before that).  I was hoping that Microsoft would be ready to share information about the future of RMS and the new version due out later this year currently known as RMS NextGen (or RMS NexGen) at RSPA last week.

Unfortunately, no new information was made available. Given that the current version of RMS doesn't support the upcoming EMV and MasterCard unique terminal ID requirements, this is a bit concerning.  I have been advising my client base to start thinking about the following options:

  1. If they are not current on the annual software maintenance to look at renewing and becoming current on software maintenance OR looking at switching to a different point of sale system with a clearer future (we can transfer the data from one system to another in most cases).  
  2. If they are current on software maintenance, to hold tight until October of this year when (hopefully) Microsoft will release a "Statement of Direction" related to RMS.  At that point we can then see if it makes sense to continue using RMS or look at other options.
I will continue to pass along information on RMS and RMS HQ as soon as Microsoft makes the information available to their Dynamics Partners.

Are you in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice? I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Tuesday Tip: Discounts in Microsoft RMS and NCR CounterPoint



Both NCR CounterPoint SQL, and Microsoft RMS Store Operations have great flexibility when it comes to offering percentage or flat dollar amount discounts.  Very helpful if you are running a promotion or have a need to extend a discount (like for the sale of a display/demo item).

Generally, your NCR CounterPoint partner will program the point of sale screen to include the various buttons needed according to how you want to discount.  It is helpful to have a discount ‘menu’ with one main discount key and then the various other discount options and choices in a ‘menu’. That way, the point of sale screen doesn’t become too cluttered with too many buttons.

Here I have setup some various discount buttons to appear once a main discount button is pressed from the point of sale screen:



“Shift” + “F3” is the discount key in Microsoft RMS Store Operations. The trick is that when the cursor is over a specific item on the transaction then the discount is just applied to the specific item. If the cursor is not over a specific item, then “Shift” + “F3” will allow for a whole transaction discount.

Are you in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice? I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com.