Free SAM4s cash register manuals and more

Our friends at the cash register guys have published a new page full of highly sought after tools and downloads for SAM4s cash register end-users. These tools include manuals, cable guides, software and software manuals.

To access these valuable tools visit the page SAM4s Cash Register resource page at the CRG.

SAM4s cash register programming help

The Cash Register Guys have recently added programming videos online for SAM4s cash registers. This is a great resource for the SAM4s end-user looking for some help programming their cash register or perhaps in need of some trouble shooting. Visit the site SAM4s Cash Register for more information

Harbortouch Free POS system for restaurants

The Harbortouch Free POS system has come to Seattle. We have become an agent for Harbortouch and are proud to offer their FREE POS system. They give you the Hardware for Free and you pay a small  monthly fee per terminal for software, programming and 24/7 support. The fee is about $100.00 a month per terminal and includes a lifetime warranty on the system hardware.

The Free hardware requires a Merchant Services account with Harbortouch who have very competitive rates and even guarantee to match an existing rate you are receiving.

The Harbortouch system has many different options as well like on-line ordering, tableside ordering with iPads, and a back office application

Give us a call at 1-800-863-2274 to get more information, we have been serving the Seattle Tacoma area including Bellevue and Redmond for years.

Sam4s Software for cash registers

SAM4s software is available for many of their cash registers. Often times this type of tool will help with your programming and set up of the cash register. In the case when you have hundreds or thousands of PLU's or UPC's SAM4s software can save you hours and hours of your time.

Another good reason to us SAM4s software for cash registers is to be able to take your "Z" reports from your PC, which of course will allow you to interface to other software packages like Quick Books or Excel.

Many cash registers can be polled remotely over the internet while others are better suited for a direct serial connection between the cash register and the PC with the SAM4s software installed on it.

A few of the registers and software options do allow for inventory control. The inventory works well however be prepared to put in the work an inventory system takes to be worthwhile. There is a hand held data collector available for the SAM4s software if you decide to track inventory along with programming and reports.

If you need help deciding on which cash register and software is for you or need support for a system you already own give us a call at 1-800-863-2274

Sharp cash register keyboard templates and manuals for free

Here is a site that offers quite a few Sharp cash register manuals for free download. These manuals will help you program sales tax rates or departments if you need to.

They also off Sharp cash register keyboard templates too. Everyone with a cash register should have their own template so you can edit and print your keyboards as needed.

Programming SAM4s cash registers

SAM4s Cash Registers

Whether you bought your SAM4s cash register from us or not we can help you solve your programming problems or reporting issues. We support SAM4s cash registers across North America all over the phone and/or email. With todays more modern machines we can even make program changes and send them to you on an SD card or email you the programming changes.

Rates and fee vary depending on what you need done but the average support call cost $50.00 If you would like us to help you program your SAM4s cash register give us a call at 1-800-863-2274

Need help programming your cash register?

So it is the time of year to be programming your cash register. Many cites and States increase sales taxes this time of year. If you forget to increase the rate your cash register charges you still have to pay the state the correct amount. Don't lose profit get your SAM4s cash register programmed for the correct tax. We also program Sharp cash registers. Most changes are quick and the current fee for 2013/14 is $50.00 for most models. Call us at 1-800-863-2274 to schedule a time to program your cash register

The cash register with a touch screen the SPS-2000 from SAM4s

The SAM4s SPS-2000 is a touch screen cash register. Often confused for a touch screen computer the truth is the SPS-2000 is a touch screen rom based cash register. In our experience ROM based cash registers are far more durable the a PC based system. Unlike a PC system the SPS-2000 has no operating system, no hard drive, no fan and no games!

The SPS-2000 interfaces with all the popular accessories restaurants want like credit card interface with the Datacap Twin Tran, kitchen printers, kitchen video, scales, scanners and more.

If you already own a SPS-2000 and would like expert support for programming or training then contact us at 1-800-863-2274 or at SAM4s SPS-2000 support

Programming the time on a cash register

It is that time of year again when you need to program the time on your cash register due to daylight saving time ending. We can help program the time on a SAM4s cash register. If you bought your cash register from us we will help for free (if you ask for Dave Jr.) if you bought it elsewhere we can still help but the fee is $50.00

We can help on all SAM4s and Samsung cash registers and many of the Sharp models but not all. Call us at 1-800-863-2274

Free cash register support and manual downloads

There is a website that offers some free support tips and many free SAM4s cash register and Sharp manuals you can download including some XE models. Check it out when you are looking for free cash register help. If you need support and don't want to figure it out on your own we offer support for a fee and you can call 1-800-863-2274 to check rates and availability. If you bought your register from us we will try and give you support for free (just depends what you are looking for)

Keyboard templates for SAM4s cash registers

When you buy a cash register from a dealer you should make sure you get a template for making your own custom keyboards. National Business Systems, Inc. in Seattle WA will always give you a template when you buy a cash register from us..

We always suggest printing a blank template out before you spend two hours laying one out only to find you downloaded the wrong one.

Here is a link to the SAM4s ER-5200M Keyboard Template which by the way will work on a ER-4900, ER-5100, ER-6500, SER-7000 and many more. Download and print it out first to make sure!

If you need help picking out a new register call us at 1-800-863-2274

Programming your cash registers sales tax rate

SAM4s ER-5200M

The ER-5200M/5240M cash register has the capability to support four separate taxes. Taxes can be calculated as either a straight percentage rate of between .001% and 99.999%, or a 60 break point tax table. Each tax may be either an add-on tax (added to the cost of a taxable item), or a value added tax (VAT) that is included in the price of the item. I'm only going to address the straight percentage rate.

Straight Percentage Tax Rate Programming
When tax requirements may be met using a straight percentage rate, use the following method to
program a tax as a straight percentage.

1. Turn the control lock to the P position.
2. If the tax is a percentage rate, with a decimal. (0.000-99.999). It is not necessary to enter preceding zeros. For example, for 6%, enter 06.000 or 6.000.
3. For the type of tax: If the tax is a percentage added to the sale (normal add on tax), enter:  0

4. Enter 0 here for all taxes, unless if you are programming tax 4 as a Canadian GST.

5. Press the Tax Shift key for the tax you are programming.

6. Press the CASH key to end programming.

Again this was for a basic add on sales tax. There are other options.

If you need help programming your cash register we can help. If you did not buy from us we do charge for support over the phone.

Invest in a good cash register

So you are investing a great deal of money opening your new business, maybe you are going into debt to open your dream store or restaurant. You are making sure you sell great products, have a great staff, your signage looks great because you spared no expense!

Well then don't wait for the last minute and buy a cheap cash register of POS system like so many people do. All of the return on your investment is going to come through your cash register or POS system. The cashiers will be handling all of that money before you get it back! The cashiers will tell the customers what they owe for their purchases. Do you want to risk that to a cheap cash register or POS system that lacks the proper controls? Would you use a bank that store your money in a cigar box and had lax security and record keeping? Of course you would not.

Lets talk about cashiers first. Yes most of your employees will be great honest folks that work hard! I know you don't want to hear this but I'm going to tell you anyway. You are going to hire someone soon if you have not already that is going to steal as much as they can from you while smiling and looking like a great employee! Yes I already know you are going to say not my employees they are like family! I have heard it all before and unfortunately every time I think I have seen it all before a client will come to us for help finding out where their money is going! I have had clients tell me there is no way an employee would do that as I show them in black and white how their employees are stealing from them and they don't believe me. I have seen many of those same people close up shop because they are not making enough money to keep the doors open.

So before you buy that $129.00 cash register at the big box store keep this in mind. Look at the list below for some important things to look for in a cash register

• You want a cash register that interfaces to credit card payments.
• If you are a retail store consider bar code scanning to ensure the correct price is registered for the item being sold.
• Make certain your cash register is capable of 4 sales tax rates.
• Make sure you can get support for your cash register over time. Sales tax rates change all the time! You don't want to find out at the end of the year you under collected sales tax on a million dollars in sales do you?
• Understand your sales reports and the built in security features.

Did you know the cash register was invented by a bar owner that knew his bartenders were stealing from him! The only thing that has changed is the technology! Need help call us at 1-800-863-2274

We support commercial Sharp cash registers all over North America not just in Seattle or Tacoma. Most register dealers made a transition into POS systems years a go and forgot all about cash registers and in most cases getting out of the register business. We did kind of the opposite we grew our POS business but also grew our cash register business until we started selling and supporting Sharp cash registers all over North America. Many people are surprised to find that we sell Sharp cash registers into Canada all the time!

We have service technicians that are experts on the current Sharp line up as well as the older discontinued models. We can support Sharp credit card interfaces with Datacap TwinTrans, PC POLL, SAM software, bar code scanning, kitchen printing and even kitchen video.

Many problems are really just a matter of support and instruction. Of course sometime you may have a broken machine that needs to be repaired and we can do that too.

We have been in business since 1972 and we look forward to working with you call us at 1-800-863-2274

Cash Registers and POS in Washington State

Were are a full service cash register dealer located between Seattle and Tacoma. Our lines include SAM4s cash registers, Digital Dining restaurant POS, Sharp Cash Registers and more.

We provide service and supplies for commercial grade cash registers. Give us a call if you have a cash register that needs some work or if you require training 1-800-863-2274

Why do cash registers have four programmable tax rates

Because of the trend in complex local and State sales tax rates cash registers over the last decade and a half started coming out with two tax rates however in the last 5 years or so most are coming out with four as the taxing rules have become even more complex.

I have only helped on customer set all 4 tax rates but it seems like a trend that will will not be able to avoid so when you buy a new cash register make sure it will handle the taxation requirements or your city, State and county.

The most common situation we run into is that the local sales tax will be one rate for hard goods, and another rate for restaurant and bar sales, and another for hotel/motel tax. In these areas many restaurants were surprised to find out that if they sold tee shirts, hats, souvenir glasses etc those items would be taxed at a different sales tax than the food and beverage.

Also in many places things may be taxed unless the consumer is paying with EBT which may reverse the tax status of an item.

So as you can see checking on your local sales tax regulations before you buy your cash register can be worth ding the home work. Find these things out before you buy or program your cash register for sales tax. I recommend contacting your department of revenue and giving them your address so they can tell you the rate(s) you must charge.

I think all the new SAM4s cash registers have the ability for four tax rates and so are the Sharp cash registers.

How to use the RA feature on a cash register

The "RA" button on your cash register is a feature that allows you to receive and account for payments without increasing your sales. RA stands for "Received on Account" and is used when customers are making a payment against their account or balance with the store NOT for a purchase.

Let's say you allow customers to charge purchases to a house account. They come in to make a $50.00 payment on their account not buy $50.00 worth of goods. You would use the "RA" feature which will account for the $50.00 in the cash register and whatever media was used to pay (CASH, Check, Charge) but will not increase your sales.

Your sales were increased the first time when they actually bought the items they charged. If you going to operate this way you will need a payment key for house charge. When your customers buy something to be charged you pay it off to a house account/charge payment key. Your sales will be increased on that day but not your cash, check or credit card payments.

Some RA FAQ's

1. Do not register sales with the RA button, it won't work, it won't tax, it won't report to a department.
2. Most cash registers can use any media you accept using the RA function
3. You can't use the RA function during a sale.
4. Your cash register may or may not be able to be put under manager control.
5. The RA function DOES not keep customer balances.

Please keep in mind the "RA" function is simply for tracking media coming into your cash register with making a sale. It does not track a customers balance, account number etc!

Almost every cash register including entry level registers have the RA function. All SAM4s cash registers I'm familiar with have one as well as all the Sharp cash registers I've worked with.

Hope that helps

What is the PO button on my cash register

The button on your cash register labeled "PO" is for a function called Paid Out. It is a function on your cash register that will allow you to pay a vendor for example for a delivery right from the cash register. This function will allow you to remove cash from the drawer so it will balance however it does not lower your sales, just the cash amount.

So if you had $200.00 in sales and collected those sales in payments of $100.00 cash, $50.00 credit card, $50.00 check and you had a "Paid Out" of $50.00 your cash register report would be something like this.

Dept. 1 Sales $25.00
Dept. 2 Sales $50.00
Dept. 3 Sales $25.00
Dept. 4 Sales $75.00
Dept. 5 Sales $25.00

Total Sales $200.00

Cash   = $100.00
Credit = $50.00
Check = $50.00

Total  = $200.00

PO = $50.00

Cash in Drawer = $150.00

So as you can see the sales totals were correct, the media totals were correct and than the register adjusted the "Cash in Drawer" to account for the $50.00 paid out.

Few more PO Function FAQ's

1. No you can't perform a PO without it recording
2. You can't do a PO in the middle of a sale
3. Most cash registers will only perform a PO to cash and not other media types
4. Some registers can put the PO function under  manager control. (most simple ones can't)
5. On some registers you can disable PO on some to disable you would have to remove button if possible.

Almost every cash register make and model include a PO feature. It is probably on every SAM4s cash register and Sharp cash register on the market. Seldom used feature but a great one if you need it!

What is IRC in a cash register and do I want that?

Inter-register communications (IRC) in cash registers is a very important feature. What is it you might ask? We in simple terms it is a cash register network which you could compare to a computer network or LAN (local area network)

Why is this important? well if you only need one cash register it means nothing at all. If you need two or more cash registers then IRC can save you a lot of time and add features.

How does it save time to have IRC? Well first it allows you to program all of your cash registers by programming just one and downloading to the other cash registers in the network. The other benefit is reports, you can go to one register and take reports from all the registers and have them consolidated all from one cash register.

Some machines have a simple IRC and some have fully capable IRC. The differences may or may not affect your choice. The simple IRC allows programming download and IRC reporting but will not allows floating guest checks and cashiers or allow a shared device like a Datacap TwinTran or kitchen printer.

Most mid level SAM4s cash registers come standard with IRC however only the highest couple models of Sharp Cash Registers offer IRC.

Keep in mind if you have three cash registers and it takes you three hours to program one of them without IRC it will take you 9 hours total to program your cash registers as with IRC you would have been done in 3.5 hours total!

Keyboard templates for SAM4s and Sharp cash registers

A great feature of flat keyboard restaurant style cash registers is your abilty to create new keyboards as well as update existing one. We simply use word templates and they allow you to change the color of each button, the text and a picture if you wanted. A good cash register company will provide you with the template so you can print your own on demand or make changes as needed.

Here are a few links to some pre-made keyboard templates and keep in mind many cash registers use the same template. Also little word of advice please print a blank, cut it to size and make sure it fits before you spend a few hours building a custom template only to have it not fit.

• Sharp UP-700 keyboard template
• Sharp ER-A420 keyboard template
• SAM4s ER-265 keyboard template
• SAM4s ER-285M keyboard template
• SAM4s ER-390M template
• SAM4s ER-600 keyboard template
• SAM4s ER-650 Keyboard template
• Samsung SPS-1000 keyboard template
• SAM4s ER-5200M keyboard template (works with many)

Again if your model number is close to any of those above download it, print it blank and try it. If it is close you can also adjust it in word. Some keyboard will print on 8.5 x 11 paper some will require leagal size so make sure you printer supports that. Also this are without warranty, use at your own risk. We make them available for free so please don't expect support for them as well but i can tell you we have created thousands of keyboards with these templates.