CounterPoint Users Group December 2017

POSTINGS FROM OUR FREE  

'NCR COUNTERPOINT® SQL' FORUM 

Counterpoint® Users Group (CPUSER.ORG®) is an independent Support Group for users of Counterpoint® Point-Of-Sale Software by NCR Corporation (formerly by Radiant Systems, Inc. & by Synchronics, Inc.).  We have been serving the Counterpoint® Community since 2003.  Please see our Legal Disclaimer at the end of this e-mail.

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1.) Upgrade to 8.5.4 not working!   

 

Here is a NCR Counterpoint® SQL User who reports he cannot get a dry-run upgrade of 8.4.6.7 to 8.5.4 (latest version) to work.  

He has decided to upgrade to 8.4.6.18 instead! 

 

See a great example of users-helping-users at Posting #3218, "Upgrade from 8.4.6.7 to 8.5.4 not working."    

2.)  CPSQL Users Get Answers:  

"isc250 and XR5 line display conflict"

"How do I update Vendor Item Costs using Data Interchange"  

"How to select printer for reports"

"Use Azure SQL"   

 

"Dashboard access from the internet"  

 

 

3.)  HostGator Error 404:  Page Not Found:

If you are trying to link to our Forum and get an Error 404 Message, change the IP Address in the link to www.cpuser.org and the link will work. 

       

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Counterpoint® Supplies & Equipment!   

BUY FROM US & SAVE!      

*  Receipt Paper Rolls

*  Labels and Tags  

*  Custom Labels

*  Ribbons 

*  Gift Cards  

*  Label Printers, Receipt Printers, Scanners, etc.  

*  FREE SHIPPING  

*  SAVE 10% ON FIRST ORDER!
*  100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE! 

 

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Questions???  Call or E-mail us!  

Counterpoint Users Group 

(CPUSER.ORG®)

 

Gordon Gelrod, Owner 

 

Toll-Free:  (888) 434-0844 

 

E-mail:  Gordon@cpuser.org 

Website:  www.cpuser.org   

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* LEGAL DISCLAIMER

 

CPUSER.ORG® and Counterpoint Users Group provide independent technical support services and information specifically for users of COUNTERPOINT® point of sale systems.

 

COUNTERPOINT® is a registered trademark of CheckPoint Systems, Inc. and a licensed trademark property of NCR Corporation (formerly licensed by Radiant Systems, Inc. and by Synchronics, Inc.

 

CPUSER.ORG® is a registered trademark of Counterpoint Users Group.

 

CheckPoint Systems, Inc. and NCR Corporation neither endorse nor have any affiliation with CPUSER.ORG® or Counterpoint Users Group.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Unless something major needs to be shared, I don't plan on posting any more in 2017. For those of you who who have not had the true reason for Christmas shared with you, the New Testament  book of Matthew is a perfect place to start. This is the first book of the New Testament in the Bible. Not very long and covers Christ's birth, life, death and resurrection.

Another tip - look for a NIV Bible for easier reading as all those "thee's" and "thou's" in King James and similar Bibles can be somewhat confusing to someone reading the Bible for the first time.

Best,
Kevin Antosh

Not Emailing Receipts or Using Signature Capture? This Price Increase will be of Interest to You

News below from Star Micronics about an upcoming price increase specific to thermal receipt paper.

Having a point of sale system than can email receipts and.or using signature capture is a great way to save on receipt paper costs. Here are some options:

• Using Microsoft Dynamics RMS? The Card Defender system for RMS allows for signature capture. You may also want to look at an email receipt add-on for RMS like RITE Retail Emailer.
• The new Retail Management Hero software also allows for the emailing of receipts and works with Card Defender as well for signature capture.
• Cloud Retailer POS also has the ability to email receipts and use signature capture.

Questions or comments? You can reach me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com

Here is the article from Star Micronics:

The thermal paper industry has been affected by the closure of a Chinese chemical plant due to environmental impact. This plant is the largest producer of a chemical dye used in thermal paper coating, and has reduced output and even closed mills worldwide. This shutdown is expected to last for at least three to six months while they modify operations.
              As a result of the chemical dye shortage, thermal paper pricing has been affected throughout the entire industry.  While doing our best to keep the increases minimal, Star Micronics will announce thermal paper price increase in the next 15 days.  We encourage you to immediately evaluate your paper needs and place stocking orders in advance to take advantage of this year’s pricing where possible.
              Star Micronics will continue to communicate changes in the thermal paper market to keep our distributors and customers promptly informed of this challenging situation.

Full article from Star Micronics can be found at: http://mailchi.mp/starmicronics/urgent-industry-update-thermal-paper-availability?e=f6fcd3a9ce

Planning for 2018

OK - first thought to pass along is that there is still time to get in payment for a POS system to write off as a business equipment expense deduction on your 2017 taxes (consult with your bookkeeper or accountant first). Just about ever year since 1998, I seem to have retailers who want to pay for a POS system to "get it on their 2017 taxes". No problem at all as along as payment in full is processed before the last business day of 2017.

Now on to advice for 2018:

• Plan for new payment processing requirements to be introduced and ensure that you have payment processing hardware in place that can be upgraded or updated to handle any new requirements.
• Still on Microsoft Dynamics RMS? We still have a couple of years before full support ends for RMS and HQ. Never hurts to start planning now to replace RMS (and HQ). There are several low cost replacement options that allow you to keep your existing information so you are not starting from scratch with a whole new point of sale system.
• Omni-channel: most of the retailers that I work with have a single store in a small town and have no need for, or interest in, e-commerce, customer business intelligence, or similar offerings beyond the in store point of sale system. Unsure? Let me know and we can chat about the different options and how they can effect gross sales. Other chains that I work with have grown their e-commerce revenue to exceed a million dollars in annual revenue.
• Cloud versus non-cloud: Don't feel pressured to hop on the cloud band wagon. Instead, look at your operations, staff, equipment, and budget. A 5 to 7 year total cost of ownership, along with personal preferences, will help determine whether you are a "cloud" / subscription based type of POS user or not. Even Microsoft had to cave on the recently released Dynamics 365 software to offer a locally hosted version. The decision to go cloud/non-cloud and subscription/upfront purchase can be complicated so please let me know if I can help.
• Solution and vendor consolidation: There are flat out too many point of sale systems on the market presently. Look for some of these solutions to fade away or consolidate with other vendors. I'm also seeing the various software companies start to tighten their requirements for dealers, VAR's, and re-sellers. Be wary of working with anyone who has a staff of less than 3 and a limited customer/client base.
• Given what happened in the Atlanta airport, don't forget to have battery backups/UPS's in place as well as some sort of payment processing backup if this is critical to your business. The reality is that long term  power outages will effect everyone but its nice to have protection for your hardware to help reduce damage due to power outages or power fluctuations. 

I can think of plenty of other topics that should be discussed but this would turn in to a short book instead of a blog post. Key points are to plan, budget, analyse, research and seek help for point of sale resources.

You can reach me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com as needed. For those of you keeping track, I've well exceeded helping over 1500 retailers with advice or sales & service needs. 

Tough year for retail chains and franchises searching for POS systems?

Many of the retailers contacting me have between 4 and 25 locations. Nearly all of them have expressed frustration due to a lack of affordable point of sale options on the market. They generally find that they are too complex for the tablet solutions like NCR Silver, Clover, Lavu, and Shopkeep but don't have the sales volume/budget to invest in LightSpeed or Dynamics 365/AX.

Retail Management Hero (RMH) with RMH Central will be a great solution come later in 2018 (for anyone - not not just Microsoft Dynamics HQ users). Cloud Retailer is also moving forward with more of the e-commerce and accounting integrations that chain retailers want. Microsoft is also working on a retail specific POS solution but licensing and deployment costs may fall in to the AX/365 category.

Lets not overlook that NCR continues to improve their CounterPoint point of sale solution. Retail Pro and Bindo are also players in the small chain and franchise concept market.

My main advice to small chain and franchise retailers contacting me is to see if they can hang on another 6 months to a year as more options should be available as 2018 progresses. If they can't wait, then a staged implementation might be acceptable starting with a core POS system and then waiting for additional features, functions, and integrations to be added.

Need retail or restaurant point of sale advice? Contact me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com