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Square announces the Register, a $999 point-of-sale device for larger businesses

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Re: Square announces the Register, a $999 point-of-sale device for larger businesses

#51

Post by lotsofpulp »

thecity2 wrote: post #23
StudentStuff wrote: post #18

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 also a feature to help keep out people with worse credit, who are likelier to cause problems, such as in hotels.

Re: Square announces the Register, a $999 point-of-sale device for larger businesses

#52

Post by synicalx »

Interesting, seems somewhat similar to a product the Commonwealth Bank (Australia) offers called 'Albert'. Basically just a tablet in a fancy case with various apps to fulfill various POS needs.

Also quite a lot more expensive than an Albert - 2.5% seems like a lot? Maybe I'm missing some info here though, POS isn't really my forte...

Re: Square announces the Register, a $999 point-of-sale device for larger businesses

#53

Post by reustle »

tgcordell wrote: post #48
callalex wrote: post #32

Great, now they’ll spin this huge register around so I can waste 2 minutes figuring out how to not accidentally tip at the grocery store /s

Please read the article before you add a non-value comment.

They bring up a good point. Existing square point of sale tablets often push the tip screen, even in situations where you wouldn't usually tip. It turns a normal quick purchase into a guilty one.

Re: Square announces the Register, a $999 point-of-sale device for larger businesses

#54

Post by StudentStuff »

_JamesA_ wrote: post #42
foota wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are POS units actually cheap? Seems to me like one of those areas where things are potentially way more expensive than it seems they should be.

A supermarket POS (Fujitsu, NCR, etc) runs about $7.5k - $15k per lane.

Depends on your supermaket POS vendor. NCR has by far the most expensive offerings, but there are a few dozen smaller vendors, some of which have reimplemented a few of the core concepts of ACS, BR Data and other components, thrown them all in one package, and offered it at a much more reasonable price.

Re: Square announces the Register, a $999 point-of-sale device for larger businesses

#55

Post by closeparen »

jjeaff wrote: post #40
blahedo wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "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…

All debts public and private refers to debts by a creditor. A drink you haven't paid for isn't a debt. It's just an account payable. They don't have to take your cash.

>debts by a creditor

It's clearly not all debts. I actually can't think of any debts this applies to. Your student loan, credit card, auto loan, home loan, water bill, power bill, heck even rent if you're in a modern corporately owned complex... would never under any circumstances accept cash payment. It would be stunning if one even provided an address that isn't a PO box, let alone an address where you could get in the front door if you showed up in person, assuming you were willing to travel a few thousand miles.

At most there might be something like a retail bank branch where you could deposit cash and then request an electronic transmission of the same amount of money.

Re: Square announces the Register, a $999 point-of-sale device for larger businesses

#56

Post by Artemis2 »

lstamour wrote: post #35
bhhaskin wrote: post #10

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.

Or use Apple Pay (etc.) with the new contactless reader, then only your credit card network and bank can identify you based on the transaction.

Not really. The token merchants/payment processors get is very easily trackable across transactions. It is a bit harder to link to a real card number though.

Re: Square announces the Register, a $999 point-of-sale device for larger businesses

#58

Post by koancone »

askafriend wrote: post #16
bhhaskin wrote: post #10

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…

Not everyone has a smart phone. I don't. Believe it or not you are not required to have a smart phone function in the word. At best it is a pointless waste or time and money gadget at worst it is a tracking device and profile builder.

Re: Square announces the Register, a $999 point-of-sale device for larger businesses

#60

Post by nikolay »

StudentStuff wrote: post #3

Still no scale/scanner combo support, coin dispenser, or any way to use a non-overpriced receipt printer. Once again, Square is stuck doing a meh job replacing the cheap cash register and nothing more.

Plus they have a device-specific pricing, which is crazy. Those $.10 for small-ticket sales is a big percentage. I'm disappointed as it marks the beginning of a dangerous pricing policy!
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