A quick note that Q3 and Q4 of 2020 was amazing! You folks kept me on the road for almost 6 weeks straight and we found some great solutions for your stores!
Here are the areas that I am headed to for 2021 - please let me know if we should schedule some time to meet in person at your store:
Twin Falls, ID
Pocatello, ID
Twin Falls, ID
Jackson, WY
Evanston, WY
Salt Lake City, UT
Stateline, NV
Battle Mountain, NV
Winnemucca, NV
Seattle, WA
Portland, OR
Salem, OR
Eugene, OR
Bend, OR
Missoula, MT
West Yellowstone, MT
Dallas, TX
Austin, TX
San Antonio, TX
Tulsa, OK
Oklahoma City, OK
Denver, CO
Phoenix, AZ
Minneapolis, MN
St Paul, MN
LaCrosse, WI
St Cloud, MN
Duluth, MN
Chippewa Falls, WI
You can reach me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632 - no cost to meet in person if I am already traveling to your area!
A quick shout out to retailers that have signed on recently for point of sale hardware, software and services. I am so grateful for all of you putting your trust in me!
CJ Eateries - 22 location chain in Oregon - moving from Microsoft RMS/HQ to Cloud Retailer
Owasso Liquor - Oklahoma - moving from Microsoft RMS to Cloud Retailer
Total Health - Idaho -support and services to upgrade their Microsoft RMS point of sale system
A collection of products that I have been made aware of that are designed to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus on high touch devices like payment terminals.
I have not tested any of these products and make no claim to warranties, effectiveness, durability or similar. I do not sell these products or have any relationship with the companies that make or sell these products.
I've been made aware of these products and feel that they may be of interest to retailers as more retail stores open across the US.
Payment Terminal Protective Covers: Cost starts around $15.00. Purpose is to add a skin/plastic membrane cover over the high touch parts of a payment terminal. One potential source to purchase this product is: https://discountcreditcardsupply.com/shop?category_no=119
Most of these products focus on the payment terminals instead of other POS hardware like the barcode scanners, etc. Generally, the payment terminals high the highest amount of touches from many different people throughout the day. The other POS hardware is generally only used by your employees and can be wiped down as needed.
If you have any PPE for POS Hardware that would be of interest to retailers, please contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632.
I have fielded several calls from retailers asking what to do regarding their point of sale system while their store is temporarily closed. Some general suggestions:
Make sure that you have a backup of all data. Best to have a backup that is off site (like a thumb drive or external hard drive) or cloud based
See if your point of sale provider will reduce any monthly fees while the store is closed
It is normally OK to power down the hardware but do not unplug anything - some of the hardware may lose settings if electrical connections are lost. Check with your point of sale provider to see which hardware can be powered down or put in to "sleep" mode without risking the loss of programming (this especially applies to payment terminals and other devices without actual power switches)
Make sure that dust does not accumulate on any hardware
Ensure that it can easily been seen that the cash drawers and till's are empty
Make sure that you have written down all passwords and user ID's (and keep in a safe location). These can be easy to forget if not used on a daily basis.
Check with your point of sale provider to see if it is OK to shut down any WiFi or network equipment - including the router for your internet connection. I normally recommend leaving the router on so you maintain the internet connection.
If in doubt, leave everything as is but in "sleep mode" or similar.
Two other recommendations:
When getting ready to re-open, test everything at least 2 days before you open to help prevent any last minute surprises.
This is also a good time for Microsoft RMS point of sale software users to start looking at RMS replacement options. Even if you won't be making a purchase until late 2020 or early 2021, it doesn't hurt to use this down time to explore options like Retail Management Hero and Cloud Retailer (these are the only two direct replacement programs for RMS at this time). You may find this RMS and Cloud Retailer comparison video here to be helpful as a starting point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sNWdpw5pKo
If you have any questions, suggestions or comments on the above, please contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632
Wow - I've had around 8 thrift stores contact me over the last couple of months based on an older post. Now seemed like a good time to update with more current information when it comes to the best point of sale systems for thrift stores. Note that this applies whether you have 1 location or 500 locations. Below is a matrix that also notes costs and some other basic details.
Please note that that first steps in searching for a thrift store point of sale system are documenting processes, coming up with a budget, and interviewing staff and leadership to come up with a feature/function wish list. The matrix is only designed to give a high level view of whats on the market today and a few details about each system.
Here is the matrix:
Thrift
Store Point of Sale Overview – 2017
Type
Examples
Strengths
Weaknesses
Costs
Kevin
Antosh can demo or provide free trial
Cloud
– low end
Shopkeep,
Lavu, Silver, Clover, Revel
Super
easy to learn and use
Weak
for multi-location operations, limited reporting. Some systems
lock you into contracts with specific credit card processing
companies
$3000
- $4000 for typical 2 lane store for hardware + $120 - $200 a
month per location for software subscription
Yes
on Silver
Cloud
– mid level
Bindo
Lightspeed
Easy
to use and better designed for multi-location operations
Mixed
reviews – somewhat pricey
$3000
- $4000 for typical 2 lane store for hardware + $200 - $300 a
month per location for software subscription
Yes
on Bindo
Cloud/Windows
– high end
Microsoft
Dynamics 365
Complete
ERP software for entire organization
Fairly
new (2017) and expensive
Easily
$1000000 to $2000000 across the organization or around
$60,000/month just for licensing
Yes
– can be arranged
Mixed
Cloud
Retailer
Part
cloud/part Windows, well designed for multi-location. Latest in
payment processing security while still being processor agnostic.
Might
need some minor adjustments to handle round ups if needed.
$5000
- $8000 up front for a single store with 2 check out lanes +
$70/month per store for software subscription and support.
Yes
+ can provide your organization with a full access to Cloud
Retailer for up to 60 days.
Windows
– Low end
Retail
Management Hero
Designed
for all types of retail – fairly low cost – flexible
Multi-location
version will not be available until Q1 2018
$8000
- $10000 for typical 2 lane store . No mandatory on-going fees
Yes
– have full copy.
Windows
– mid level
Retail
Pro
Stable
system
Not
truly for thrift, fairly outdated
$12000
- $16000 for typical 2 lane store . No mandatory on-going fees
No
Windows
– customized for thrift
NCR
Counterpoint SQL
Lots
of thrift store customizations – in use already at multiple
thrift stores (of which many I have met with in person)
Amazingly
expensive
$12000
- $18000 for typical 2 lane store . No mandatory on-going fees
Have
full copy of the basic software – general information on thrift
store enhancements
Windows
– discontinued (but in use at a lot of chain thrift stores)
Microsoft
RMS, Microsoft RMS HQ, Microsoft POS 2009, Microsoft POS 2.0,
Microsoft Dynamics AX
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Software in bold means that it is use at thrift stores and/or well designed for thrift stores.
Contact me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com with any questions or if you have interest in the onsite consultancy services that I offer.
Over the years I've actually provided large quantities of point of sale hardware to chains that use their own point of sale software but still need to buy large quantities of point of sale peripherals like cash drawers, barcode scanners, and receipt printers. As I am able to work directly with multiple distributors, do get in touch with me for a quote if you are in the US and looking for quantity 10 or higher of each item.
You can reach me at 208-340-5632 (mountain time), using the contact form to the right, or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com .
