This is a POS... wait, that's not a bad thing!
January 12, 2010 7:46 PM   Subscribe

Mom's opening a brick and mortar store and we're shopping for point-of-sale software. We're looking for a system that will accept credit cards and EBT (basically foodstamps on a debit card) and haven't bought any of our computer hardware yet. So, feel free to mention software for Mac or PC. Difficulty: Need support for random weights/prices.

It's a butcher shop and deli, so we won't have flat prices like most stores would. That's one reason we're unsure of software like Checkout, an OS X POS system. (There does seem to be a Cheese shop that used Checkout, but it's now out of business so I can't ask them if they liked it.)

What we'd like in a POS:

- Support for Random Prices via a scannable UPC. We need it to know that the $3.87 pack of hamburger is both hamburger and 3.87.
- Inventory counts/levels. Can it subtract 1.5lbs of chicken from the 20 on hand and show me there's 18.5lbs left?
- Support for EBT.

Of course, what I'm really asking is if any of you have used retail point of sale systems, which ones and which you'd recommend for a small operation using 1-2 registers in one location.
posted by aristan to Technology (2 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
We use Checkout for our store, but it involves more straightforward types of inventory. You might be able to get it to work for your purposes, but there would be contortions involved. It does not support EBT. (There are other reasons I wouldn't recommend Checkout, but I think it would be basically unsuitable for a deli based on basic functionality, so I won't gild the lily.)
posted by jimw at 7:55 PM on January 12, 2010


I am also researching OS X POS systems and am currently looking at LightSpeed. LightSpeed has a fairly good user forum where you could probably get quite specific answers to your questions. Another local shop (perfumery) near me uses POS-IM on an OS X system and reports that they are happy with it.

Timely question for me - I'm glad you asked it. I can take it off my AskMe question backlog list and just follow along here. :)
posted by webhund at 10:00 PM on January 12, 2010


« Older Already weary...   |   Boom! Thwak! War and Comics Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.