Who we write for
Owners and managers of small shops, boutiques, market stalls and pop-ups in the United States who are choosing or replacing a point-of-sale system.
Everything here lives in one category, Retail POS: comparing point-of-sale systems, choosing hardware, understanding processing fees, managing inventory, and getting the checkout ready for the holiday rush.
The idea behind the site
A checkout system is bought once and lived with every day, and the day it matters most is the busiest day of the year. A slow card reader, a stock count that is wrong or a till that freezes at four o’clock on the Saturday before the holidays costs more than any monthly fee.
Most of the differences between point-of-sale systems are about fees, hardware and how they cope with a rush, not the number of features.
Principles
- We start from the busiest hour. A system is judged by how it behaves under a queue, not on a quiet Tuesday.
- We make the fees add up. Subscription, hardware, processing and add-ons arrive on the same statement. We show how to total them.
- We say when you do not need one. A pop-up with thirty items may not need a full system. We say when a simple reader will do.
- We name the trade-off. Every system that removes work moves a little elsewhere. We say where.
Who writes here
Tamara Holloway — Editor. Tamara spent twelve years managing independent gift and home-goods shops in Oregon and then consulted for small retailers moving off cash drawers. She has watched the Saturday before Christmas expose every weak point of a checkout, which is why this site starts at the queue.
Where we stop
Payment-card and data compliance. Card handling and customer data carry obligations that vary by state and processor. We tell you they exist and send you to your processor. We do not tell you what your business must do.
Tax and accounting treatment. Sales tax rules and bookkeeping are for an accountant. We do not advise on them.
Vendor contracts. We explain common terms such as early termination. We do not interpret your agreement.
Funding
Running Store POS Guide costs money, and two things cover it: display ads selected by third-party networks, and the occasional affiliate link. We never see the ads beforehand, advertisers cannot touch our copy, and a commission has never changed a conclusion — much of our advice is to start on the cheaper plan and read the processing terms twice, which is the least profitable advice a POS site can give. The details are in the Disclaimer.
Corrections
Nobody is right all the time. Plans and fees change monthly, and we occasionally miss one. Use the contact form to point out a mistake; we check it against the source, correct the article and say what we changed.
Contact us
Questions, disagreements and topic suggestions are welcome through our Contact page. We cannot set up your system or compare your exact quote, but we can usually tell you which two questions to put to a vendor.