Can You Access Your Own Cash Register Data?

jeronimo989 writes "A customer of mine has a small shop and asked me to look for an electronic cash register. One of the requirements is to retrieve the sales data from the cash register in some accessible format so he can import it in the software of his choice (which happens to be OpenOffice), either by downloading the data on a Flash card, connecting a laptop via USB, or even via a direct modem connection. As far as the cash register itself is concerned, he doesn't need anything too fancy; any 'entry level' machine for small businesses is probably OK (as long as it keeps an electronic journal, of course). Which options do we have? Are there cash register manufacturers out there that allow accessing the sales data directly in an open format? Does anyone here have experience with setting up a link between a cash register and PC, preferably using free/open source solutions?"

Comments

Re:Lame

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you even look at the page you're hawking? The features tab has only a place holder, the forum tab is utterly blank, and the manual is V 0.1.0, last updated 2004.

It really doesn't work this way...

[mridoni]

... modern cash registers simply output on a serial or USB port all the transaction data entered, and receive informations on goods for PLUs (Price Look-Ups): when a barcode on a product is scanned, the cash register "asks" to a server the corresponding price and description to be printed on your receipt, etc. Most cash registers are actually (at least here in Italy, and in a reasonably sized shop) just a specialized keyboard/screen/cash drawer connected to a PC, which in turn sits on a network: it's all part of a turn-key system, maintenance included. It's not like you go and read the data *from* the cash register: while you can query it for some daily report, you usually just store the data on a server and use some custom app or a DB frontend to read it.

Re:It really doesn't work this way...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure a big store uses a network and for a small company that isn't needed but the point that most POS kit these days are just a PC with some specialised input devices is still a valid one.

This means the obvious solution is to find some POS hardware and software, bolt it to a standard PC and you'll have no problem exporting the data because it will be on a standard PC system. So the question is now what is the best OS/software/hardware combo for a build your own POS system.

Re:It really doesn't work this way...

[dbIII]

The problem is some of these things are not really modern cash registers but instead general purpose PCs not paticularly well set up to pretend to be a cash registers. I once had a short term contract with a place that made the things that will remain nameless. I can't mention the company name because that was the admin password on ALL of the deployed units! Changing the password prevented various things like updates from working. Windows CE would be acceptable for this sort of thing, Win2k possible given the hardware limitations, WinXP without a service pack however was the situation. No they were not Diebold but a much smaller company that may well have vanished or done an Andersons to get away from a bad reputation.

Re:It really doesn't work this way...

[innerweb]

Some solutions, not tested and not reviewed, but simply googled. I have used other solutions for clients in the past. They have worked well on an IBM systems that was networked. The data wound up on a postgresql database that was then linked through a client application and a web server for different kinds of reporting and control.

These are just a few of the listings off of Google on a search:

• One solution reviewed
• More solutions ...
• More solutions from tech republic...
• An article on Infoworld

Remember though that POS is one of the most important aspects of any retail or store front type business. So, be wary of what you choose. Choosing a POS system is more about the relationship you are building with your system provider and maintainers than the actual system itself. Some systems require less of a relationship, but I have never run across a situation where that relationship was not present and integral to the long term use of the system. That relationship could be with the OSS developers and users or a company. I wish you luck on your choice. And, please post back to here as to what you chose, why and then your experiences. I prefer the OSS way in most cases as I can make modifications where I (my client) need them. But some applications I farm out to a company as the requirements are outside of my experience.

InnerWeb

Checkout (POS) for mac

[kalleh]

http://www.checkoutapp.com/

Re:Quickbooks Terminal

[timmarhy]

ever used quickbooks? no? that's why you think it's a good idea.

Re:Lame

[xtracto]

Everytime someone posts some question on slashdot there is inevitably some idiot who will answer to "goolge it" or "source forge it" or whatever similar.

I am sure the original poster did know about goolge and maybe he even did look in there before posting here but the idea of asking in slashdot is to see what the opinions of other people with *knowledge* (supposedly) are. For me as a slashdot reader is quite interesting, because the discussion usually brings several alternatives and answers which are up to date (instead of web pages that someties are outdated) and even some comments which are worthy.

Plenty of times I have recurred to an ask slashdot that I had seen before to look at what people *in the know* are using, instead of just looking at the advertisements thrown by each of the avaialble products (either Free or non Free).

So if the only advise you are going to give is to "google it", just shut up and go to troll to the next slashdot story. You are only polluting an otherwise interesting conversation.

Maybe Stoq?

[GauteL]

I haven't tried it, since I'm not in the retail business, but Stoq is an open source Point of Sale system supported by a brazilian company called Async.

It is GTK based and uses PostgreSQL for database storage (so extracting data should be a breeze). It also comes with a LiveCD so you can try it out yourself.

Sharp

[N3Roaster]

I see a lot of comments already jumping on fancy POS systems, but if a basic cash register is really all that is needed, get to your local office store and take a look at what's there. A basic Sharp cash register (and probably registers from other makers as well) will store this data on a SD card or allow a USB connection to a computer. The software they (Sharp, don't know about others) provide is crap, but the data you get back is CSV which can be imported into any spreadsheet program. It's basic, but if that's all you need it does the trick.

Re:Sharp

[Anonymous Coward]

The Sharp XE-A505 Electronic Cash Register is apparently what he's talking about. Runs about $320 - less than an embedded Quickbooks box or a dedicated PC of any sort, after factoring in the display (unless you have boxen to burn).
http://www.amazon.com/Sharp-XE-A505-Electronic-Cash-Register/dp/B000I974O8

for a few hundred quid

[greebowarrior]

he could get a cheap mac off ebay, or a mac mini, and use Checkout

Re:A suggestion

[Mathinker]

> fairly trivial to make secure. ... do not allow anything to moved from the plug to the register

All I can say is, I hope you don't work in the computer security field.

How is the driver going to access the USB drive without transferring data from the plug? You do realize that the driver is going to need to read a lot of data about the state of the filesystem, right? System drivers, especially third-party ones, are well known to be weak points in the security of a lot of systems.

E.g., A Linux kernel vulnerability somewhat connected to this discussion.

Re:A suggestion

[Mathinker]

Now that I think about it, maybe that link isn't as connected as I thought... :(

I was looking more for something like this.

Too bad I can't make that post disappear by moderating the thread. :)

A PC does it all

[Anonymous Coward]

There are enough pc-based solutions. You can buy cash drawers that open on a COM port signal, you can buy slip printers (Epson) if you don't want a full-size invoice, you can buy extra customer displays that connect to a serial or parallel port or to the slip printer, there are barcode scanners for USB or keyboard wedge. Everything else is software then.

For the hardware look at http://pos.epson.com/products/.

Try this one

[mopwr]

Give this one a try.

http://www.openbravo.com/product/pos/

Its simple and has export options.

I've used it since it was tinaPOS and it has worked good for me.

Open POS

[Anonymous Coward]

From Wikipedia:
Vendors and retailers are working to standardize development of computerized POS systems and simplify interconnecting POS devices. Two such initiatives are OPOS and JavaPOS, both of which conform to the UnifiedPOS standard led by The National Retail Foundation.>

You have two choices; however, I think the Open POS solution might be a better option since it is cross platform.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_sale

A Software Solution Is Available.

[AndGodSed]

Disclaimer - I do not work for this company, but I have used this software package(s) extensively.

Softline Pastel.

It is an accounting software, so he will be able to do accounting of everything that has gone through the books, includes a payroll package, tax package and among even more other things: support for P.O.S (Point Of Sale)

What Pastel allows you to do wit P.O.S is:

Every Transaction gets recorded real time.
Operates P.O.S drawer.
Your Accountant can access what sales are in your P.O.S remotely (via lan, or with an add on via web - IIRC on that last one)
Supports "cash up" end of day to a removable drive.

It runs on Windows unfortunately - if you are inclined to run other OS's. Has a server module and can run the server/client on the same machine - ideal for small business.

www.pastel.co.za

Apologies for the spammy post everybody - like I said I am not employed by them, but it is a good piece of software with support for international currencies/tax etc.

Re:It works for both

[AaronLawrence]

It's true. Basically it's a niche, and driven more by accounting and marketing than practicality and security. No vendor can afford to meet all the requirements including security, a nice easy user interface, rigorous testing, all the promotions ideas marketing can think of, the interface-du-jour to head office systems etc. So everybody just makes do with (barely) adequate systems.

I should know, I work on one ;)

Also, even now there are benefits to using hardware designed for the job rather than PC model #9276. It will generally last a lot longer and be more fit to the purpose (cashiers banging on keys at high speed). The flexibility of PCs is somewhat irrelevant day-to-day, indeed you don't want people installing Office and SolitairePlus2000 (now with extra malware).

$250 gets you one with a scanner and data dump

[Tsu Dho Nimh]

For about $250 you can get this: http://www.cashregistersonline.com/store/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=387

Serial connection to connect the register to your PC or bar code scanner. Software includes a filter that downloads your end of day report totals directly to your QuickBooks Pro or Peachtree accounting programs.

Re:Open database

[Tumbarumba]

Sure: it's Montana. I didn't originally post the link because I'm not sure I'd fully recommend them at this stage. We've found the barcoding not quite up to scratch, minor usability issues with the UI, and I'm not fully happy with the support. Nevertheless, when I asked them to change their terms to allow open access to the database, they were happy to comply.

Too simple a question for Slashdot...

[Anonymous Coward]

Most people are trying to say linux this and quickbooks that. What the submitter is asking is about a simple cash register and not a computerized POS solution. You might not realize it but today even simple cash registers are fairly smart and have a serial/USB port or a flash card that sales data can be pulled from. Problem is that the software is usually poor and simply wants a way or a register that can get the data into a spreadsheet. Not everybody needs a full workstation and there are times when a cash register is the better solution as long as the data can be downloaded from it instead of needing to manually reenter sales data from a closeout (or whats sometimes called the Z report) or going through every ticket one at a time.

I used to work at a dive shop/dolphin watch office on South Padre Island, Texas and I had to do just that. Reenter every receipt every day into Quickbooks. The dive shop would have benefited from an electronic cash register but the boss didn't want to have to train people in Quickbooks POS. The dolphin watch office only had 4 items (different types of trips) to sell and was on a dock so a simple cash register was the better solution if only we had one that we could pull the data from and import into Quickbooks. -scubaspi