Simple PrePay/Checkout System Using MagCards?

An Anonymous Coward asks: "I help at a small youth club that has various events on different nights. For awhile now we have had a snack bar of sorts and have been thinking of developing a pre-paid system. We have access to plenty of computers and magnetic card readers (wit blank cards) but any ideas on the software? Also, would there be any way of also using this to keep track of a CD sign-out system?"

Comments

Obvious security issues...

[ameoba]

There are a few obvious things here:

• I doubt anonymous transactions are much called for, so keep -all- the data, other than a single user ID, on your server. No need to have kids comming in and getting $150 worth of pixie sticks at a time.
  
• Do your damnedest to keep the physical security of the server (and access points) tight. Kids can do wonders with an accidentally logged-in terminal
  
• If you can implement some form of photo-id on the cards, it'll cut down on loss/theft. If printing the pix on the card isn't workable, keep them in the DB.
  
• Make sure to keep copious records and excellent backups of all transactions. Hell hath no fury like a parent who thinks somebody's been stealing from their kids.