31–40 of 67 posts
What do POS systems cost typically? For example, what does a standard credit card reader cost, and is there additional transaction fees ontop of what credit card companies charge?
If you have a merchant account of your own there aren't usually extra fees; POS software is paid by b2b subscription site license.
Square is a privacy nightmare. They track your purchases across stores and tie your email to your credit card. The worst part is there is no "opt in" either. There is no privacy policy or terms of service that I agree to. My only option is to either pay in cash or not shop there.
This is true about every store. All credit card companies and vendors work together to collate all of this data easily. Most don't tell you they're doing it. Square at least made you aware of it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, a Casio cash register can be had for $99 to $250 new, and has scanner support. Credit/Debit won't be integrated, but at least you get a cash drawer and a receipt printer included in that price unlike Square's offering.
Not having cash actually is a feature for some establishments. There's a bar in Berkeley that doesn't allow you to pay with cash, so they had no need for registers. We assumed the purpose was to prevent any incentive to rob the place (even by employees).
It's not that common today (and there are legal issues in some states), but I can easily see an establishment that gets to the 90% (or whatever) credit card/smartphone payment range deciding to just dump cash entirely.
Square is a privacy nightmare. They track your purchases across stores and tie your email to your credit card. The worst part is there is no "opt in" either. There is no privacy policy or terms of service that I agree to. My only option is to either pay in cash or not shop there.
Square is a privacy nightmare. They track your purchases across stores and tie your email to your credit card. The worst part is there is no "opt in" either. There is no privacy policy or terms of service that I agree to. My only option is to either pay in cash or not shop there.
If privacy is that important to you then just pay cash. Otherwise your credit card company, your bank, Facebook, Equifax, Google and the store itself among others are all tracking you as much as possible across purchases in the physical retail world and across all your web traffic. All of these datapoints are being cross-correlated in a billion different ways. "I'm not on Facebook" - oh yes you are. There's a shadow…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, a Casio cash register can be had for $99 to $250 new, and has scanner support. Credit/Debit won't be integrated, but at least you get a cash drawer and a receipt printer included in that price unlike Square's offering.
Not having cash actually is a feature for some establishments. There's a bar in Berkeley that doesn't allow you to pay with cash, so they had no need for registers. We assumed the purpose was to prevent any incentive to rob the place (even by employees).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, a Casio cash register can be had for $99 to $250 new, and has scanner support. Credit/Debit won't be integrated, but at least you get a cash drawer and a receipt printer included in that price unlike Square's offering.
Not having cash actually is a feature for some establishments. There's a bar in Berkeley that doesn't allow you to pay with cash, so they had no need for registers. We assumed the purpose was to prevent any incentive to rob the place (even by employees).
How? Once they've poured your drink and ask for money, they can't refuse your cash payment[0] (that's what "legal tender" means). I suppose they could forbid you from ordering another at that point, or ban you....
[0] ETA: or rather, they can refuse it, but only if they forgive the debt. If you try to pay a debt in legal cash, they can't tell you "no you need to pay us some other way".
(IANAL)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not having cash actually is a feature for some establishments. There's a bar in Berkeley that doesn't allow you to pay with cash, so they had no need for registers. We assumed the purpose was to prevent any incentive to rob the place (even by employees).
> "Doesn't allow you to pay with cash" How? Once they've poured your drink and ask for money, they can't refuse your cash payment[0] (that's what "legal tender" means). I suppose they could forbid you from ordering another at that point, or ban you.... [0] ETA: or rather, they can refuse it, but only if they forgive the debt. If you try to pay a debt in legal cash, they can't tell you "no you need to pay us some othe…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not having cash actually is a feature for some establishments. There's a bar in Berkeley that doesn't allow you to pay with cash, so they had no need for registers. We assumed the purpose was to prevent any incentive to rob the place (even by employees).
> "Doesn't allow you to pay with cash" How? Once they've poured your drink and ask for money, they can't refuse your cash payment[0] (that's what "legal tender" means). I suppose they could forbid you from ordering another at that point, or ban you.... [0] ETA: or rather, they can refuse it, but only if they forgive the debt. If you try to pay a debt in legal cash, they can't tell you "no you need to pay us some othe…