Some point of sale software, such as Version 12.5 of Cash Register Express from pcAmerica, integrates with certain vendors’ scale software to the extent that price updates can be sent to scales automatically rather than programmed in separately.

It’s the law: Neither retailers nor restaurateurs can sell or serve age-restricted items, including tobacco, liquor and gambling products, without first verifying the customers’ age. Those that disobey the law, intentionally or otherwise, face stiff fines if caught—and even put themselves at risk of seeing their businesses shut down.

Integration of point of sale systems with video surveillance of any kind benefits retailers and restaurateurs by enabling them to put a “face” to suspicious activity–for example, pairing images of a clerk placing only a portion of the cash from a particular transaction in the till and pocketing the rest with data on the transaction that supposedly occurred.

Under the newest regulations set forth in the PCI-DSS, retailers and restaurateurs must adhere to what is known as the PCI Pin Entry Device (PED) standard. To toe the mark, they can only use PIN pads that meet the Triple Data Encryption Standard (TDES) and, as such, incorporate TDES (aka 3DES) encryption keys.

Such offerings as Version 12.5 of Cash Register Express retail point of sale software and Restaurant Pro Express point of sale software, new from pcAmerica, enable retailers and restaurateurs to e-mail receipts to their customers–an entirely welcome ‘green‘ alternative to paper-based documents.

Consider, for instance, a “combo meal” feature. Such a feature guides cashiers through the steps entailed in taking orders for “combination” meals, saving time and increasing order accuracy. Individual items that are ordered separately may be “packaged” together so customers can receive an automatically calculated discount, without adding any time to the process or introducing any margin for error.

Yet another new, highly desirable point of sale system capability paves the way for easy, effective, simultaneous price-changing on multiple goods. Even better, mass updating of prices can be set to take effect at a certain date and time; lists of items, departments or goods with specific properties can be selected for price change action.

Recent installments of this blog have focused on the addition of different software modules to retail and restaurant point of sale systems to bolster their capabilities. But forward-thinking vendors like pcAmerica aren’t stopping there.

If you’re like most retailers and restaurant operators, labor scheduling ranks among your least favorite tasks. Slotting staff members into shifts can be extremely time-consuming, and confirming just how many employees are slated to work a particular shift and the roles to which they’ve been assigned often necessitates a significant effort as well.

Retailers with fuel pumps have long utilized one point of sale system for pump-related transactions and another for transactions pertaining to other inventory, such as food and grocery items sold in their adjacent convenience stores or similar establishments. However, a much better alternative is now available in the form of solutions that handle fuel sales and other transactions from the same point of sale system.