Cash Rounding

[ProofOfConcept]

People have been asking for the ability to round up hundreds of times, and Square indicates they can't do it, but in Canada, they got rid of the Penny years ago, and Square has a Cash Rounding feature already built into doing this.

It makes no sense that you can't add a feature to the US version allowing a business to round up or down cash sales automatically. Ideally, you could have user-selectable options for rounding - up only or up or down - plus amount to round to 0.05 or 0.10 or 0.25 or $1 rounding. Then, please create an account where this money could be tracked so users could apply it to a charity or an employee fund.

At the very least, let customers in the US turn on the Cash Rounding feature you've already built for Canada.

See this recent article on the Penny - if Square were to make a big announcement about getting rid of the penny, it might move the issue forward. Having my staff have to deal with pennies is a waste of time - please help us get rid of them.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/01/magazine/worthless-pennies-united-states-economy.html?campaign_id...

[Avvint]

@SVLFever @There is not option for me on my account that I can find. And customer support just keeps telling me it is activated automatically and is the default setting however it is not working. 

@LChappell thank you for commenting. Now I know I am not the only one having this issue. My banks are no longer providing pennies either so this is becoming a big headache for me

[homeprogreen]

@LChappell its currently in beta so they’re actively working on it. The problem is that in the US different localities have different rules and regulations for how to round transactions so they need to ensure that it’s setup correctly. It’s unfortunate that the federal government doesn’t have a clear policy on how to deal with it like the other countries that got rid of their pennies do

[abhiroop]

@Avvint @LChappell the feature is in beta and we're piloting with a group of sellers before fully rolling it out. If you email cash-rounding I can enable it for you (please email with your Square registered email address).

[SVLFever]

Yeah @Avvint , I wondered if you were in the beta or not, which I probalby should have clarified better.  My apologies.

[perkits]

Just an update. In the short time of testing we are ($0.21) with cash being 28.62% of sales. Still looking for cash rounded amount being more prominent on the Register.

[DocPopcorn]

I am currently using the rounding beta on 3 registers.

A couple of suggestions for business owners using the beta: Cashiers need to be trained on the 'penny issue', and how to explain it to customers if they complain or ask. Cashiers also need to be trained in advance on what the Square register is doing, and I suggest that you find a way to make customers aware of the new difference in cash transactions. You would be surprised how many people have no idea that pennies were discontinued or are mostly impossible to get. And other people think pennies are no longer valid currency at all. It doesn't matter what customers know or don't know, I know don't want pi**ed-off customers for any reason, so I've trained employees on what to say and I have some pennies to give to customers that insist on getting them in their cash change.

For Square beta developers: The pre-rounding total also needs to be displayed on the customer screen, main screen, and receipt. Currently only the sales items are listed, then the rounding amount, then the final amount. The pre-rounded amount needs to be listed after the items, and before the rounding amount. Our employees need to see all the numbers to be able to explain to customers without doing the (reverse) math in their heads. In a year or so, most customers (and employees) will likely see that everyone is doing rounding everywhere, but right now they are confused, and need it presented clearly to them.

Also for developers: The rounded amount shows up only on the Sales Summary report. It's there on-screen, but when you download that report, it DOES NOT show up in the downloaded file--that's a problem. That rounded amount also needs to (somehow) show up in the Category and Item and/or Payment Method reports. Category and Item reports will show the 'product sales' totals. Payment Methods shows all $$ which add up to Product Sales, +taxes +tips. What is missing is '+rounding' in that equation. Right now, I compare those two reports to ensure I don't have mistakes or typos, etc, and they no longer add up, since 'rounding' is still missing from the equation.

[abhiroop]

@DocPopcorn Thanks for the feedback! This is really helpful.

• The pre-rounding total also needs to be displayed on the customer screen, main screen, and receipt. Currently only the sales items are listed, then the rounding amount, then the final amount. The pre-rounded amount needs to be listed after the items, and before the rounding amount.
  • The pre-rounding total should always be displayed on the customer screen and main screen. We do this because the customer might pay by card, in which case it wouldn't be rounded.
  • Could you clarify why you'd want to see the non-rounded amount in receipts?

• The rounded amount shows up only on the Sales Summary report. It's there on-screen, but when you download that report, it DOES NOT show up in the downloaded file--that's a problem.
  
  • We're working on fixing this at the moment

• That rounded amount also needs to (somehow) show up in the Category and Item and/or Payment Method reports. Category and Item reports will show the 'product sales' totals. Payment Methods shows all $$ which add up to Product Sales, +taxes +tips. What is missing is '+rounding' in that equation. Right now, I compare those two reports to ensure I don't have mistakes or typos, etc, and they no longer add up, since 'rounding' is still missing from the equation.
  • This is harder to fix since we're not rounding individual items but the entire bill. 

[DocPopcorn]

Here's an example of one of our receipts below, where the total with tax is not shown (right after the Tax line). This receipt is the 'final' record of the transaction, since all the screens disappear, and it would helpful if the $14.99 total was also obvious to the customer.
I honestly don't have screenshots or specific knowledge of all the main screens and customer screens that come up during a transaction sequence. The screen you show looks pretty clear to me, but if that is the cashier screen, does the customer see the 'process' of all adds and subtracts and subtotals along the way of choosing credit, debit, cash and the resulting differences? I know this is all likely some fairly complex logic in the software, but I always think of the 'scenarios' of both the customer and the cashier in all the different displays and choices along the way, since it is how I was trained (as an old software guy anyway). We've already had confused customers, so anything that 'un'-confuses them is good.

All I could think of for adding Rounding to the Category and/or Item Reports was to treat rounding as just another Item or Category, with its own line and total, just like any other. It would be one that the user did not create, which is something I don't think you've done before. But it would allow the $ totals in those reports to come up to the same $total as is there in the Payment Methods report (except of course Payment Methods would also include Sales Tax and Tips). I don't use every report you have available, so I can't comment on other ones that may need rounding in there (somehow) also. I add Rounding manually into the output of the Category reports now, and the only place I can get the final Rounding number for the day is the on-screen Sales Summary report. I've also found that when I record all this in Quickbooks, a separate line (a fake 'product') called rounding is necessary on the QB Sales Receipt. When I tried just adding the rounding number to the Product sales, it messed up alot of totals, which hid any potential other mistakes in the numbers. Adding a separate line item keeps it separated out no matter where you find it, Square report, Excel, or Quckbooks, etc. If the Rounding came out as just another new line in the Category Report, then I wouldn't have to find it and add it manually.  I think my franchisor directly pulls either the Category or Item Report in order to verify my sales for the month. If I'm adding Rounding back in manually, and they directly pull the Category/Item report and will get a different total.  It doesn't make much difference in the grand scheme of things, but an accountant seeing 37cents difference may drive them crazy.