Close of day alternative with Square Register?

[cashxx]

Looking into Square Register for a College Cafe.  I only need two registers.  

The manager of the Cafe said she needs Close of Day option.  What are others doing by not having this feature with the Square Register?

How long has this been a coming soon feature?

[keicollective]

Hello! 

If the Close of Day option you're looking for is related to the cash drawer, I'd suggest setting up your staff with cash drawer management (works on the Square Dashboard as well as on Register). You can see how here: https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5152-cash-drawer-management 

Sorry if you're looking for a different option, I wasn't 100% sure what Close of Day option you were referencing. Hope that helped though!! 

-Andrea 

[cashxx]

Looks like Close of Day is a restaurant thing.  In Shopkeep that we currently have the register is setup as retail and has the feature.  I think closing the cash drawer is part of it and then a final report afterwards.

I'll have to talk to her to see if the cash drawer management is all she is looking for and if so then I think we could go with the Square Register and maybe even simply use just the Square POS instead of Square for Restaurants as we wouldn't use alot of the options anyway.

Thanks for the reply!

[cashxx]

Hello all

We are looking to replace ShopKeep for our College Cafe.   I really only need two register setups with a cash register and receipt printer and credit card processing.

I was all set on the Square Register with Square for Restaurants but keep finding limitations.  I am finding out that our manager for the cafe needs Close Of Day option that is on the Plus program.  No big deal, we can do the plus, but that isn't an option that works with the Square Register.  Says coming soon, how long has it been coming soon? The Square Register was released in 2017 I believe and would think a common feature like that would be already in place.  What are others doing as an alternative?

So that put me back at looking at the Square Stand and iPad with a USB cash drawer, usb receipt printer.  I don't like that the cashier has to swivel the iPad so the student can finish checking out, especially with Covid still around.  So I was looking at adding and the Square Terminal as a credit card reader, but it doesn't work this way with Square for Restaurants that I found in FAQ.  So now I think getting the Square Reader Block and the Square Reader that goes in the headphone jack as a backup.  I think that will work.

But really wanted to get the Square Register setup, but don't think we can go that route.

My end goal:

Have a register with no wireless/bluetooth.  Have a register with USB cash drawer, usb receipt printer, usb credit card processing that doesn't have the cashier sharing the same screen and swiveling the iPad.

Right now a student gets their food, walks up to cashier, cashier creates the sale, student uses credit card terminal and pays and leaves.  They use swipe, contactless, or chip usually not getting receipt.  They just tap and go no pressing anything on the screen etc.

Also, I'm just an IT guy. The Cafe manager keeps throwing things she needs or would still like to have like closing out day and reconciling credit sales, other tender types, can I create buttons for daily specials, do we have to get gift cards for this system we can't use the current gift cards we have.

Thanks,

Dan

[keicollective]

Tagging a few of the other Super Sellers who have experience with Square for Restaurants to see if anyone knows a bit more than me (I have a retail shop so not quite the same). 

@BeChewzy  @LLCafe  @Donnie-M  @artizansty  @pessosices 

Can any of you help answer their cafe manager's questions? 

[Donnie-M]

@cashxx 

"Have a register with no wireless/bluetooth.  Have a register with USB cash drawer, usb receipt printer, usb credit card processing that doesn't have the cashier sharing the same screen and swiveling the iPad."

My end recommendation:  Get the new square stand with an ipad, & a square terminal (you can actually just get any stand you want and an ipad if you like).  I would not get a USB driven cash drawer, I would get a star receipt printer and a printer driven cash drawer (most reliable).

The only connection you have to have in this situation is wi-fi which is very reliable.  Wired Ethernet just seems overkill.  The new square stand would allow you to have a backup, but the square terminal is independent wi-fi connected and the register sends the sale to the terminal for completion by the student.  They can tap, dip, swipe, apple, android, and print a receipt if needed.

I would inquire more about why the manager needs the close of day option other than he has always done a "Z tape" or register close out.  The end of day report only prints a report (that you can print any time at any time of day for any period on the point of sale or restaurants app), closes open checks (ie bar tabs, unsettled tips, which you all aren't doing), and clocks everyone out (which doesn't matter if they left earlier in the day and didn't clock out).  I have a feeling you all may be doing timekeeping another way.

So my real recommendation is the register with point of sale app.  There is no such thing as reconciling credit cards unless you have tips.  If you are doing tips at the point of sale, those are done right then and require no additional input.  As far as gift cards, yes have to buy new gift cards.

[cashxx]

@Donnie-M Thank you for the detailed response.   I was just talking with the Cafe manager and she did mention "Z tape" and what she always used.  She is worried about Credit Cards going through and is saying on Close of Day on ShopKeep they get transferred at the end of the day when she does Close of Day.  I don't think that is correct, but I could be wrong.  First time I ever heard of "Z tape"....lol.  I'm an IT guy...lol

Correct, she does time keeping another way and no reason to worry about checks, or even tips, etc.

Ultimately I would like to just get the Square Register and use the Square POS and be done.  Concerned on the age of the unit though as it's from 2017.  Not sure if they have secretly upgraded the hardware and not said anything or if its still the same from 2017.  Starting to get a little old. I seen the question asked some place on it if will be updated since the Square Stand has been updated and the answer was no updates known about at this time.

The on the other hand the iPad Stand setup seems to be more flexible and compatible but I don't like all the different failure points.

I have a meeting at 10:30am tomorrow to site down and hash things out and see where we go.

Thank you!

[Donnie-M]

@cashxx If wi-fi is not a deal breaker, you can have an excellent reliable set up with no problems especially with the square terminal.  I prefer iOS in this scenario due to the reliability with the underlying software.  The customer facing screen is a definite plus, but the terminal does about the same thing and it only requires a power cord.  The great thing about the new stand is you do have a backup set up if something goes down and can process offline.  The terminal is basically a mini mobile hand held.

Square settles credit cards in real time for the most part, there is no nightly batching.

[cashxx]

Hello all

We are looking to replace ShopKeep for our College Cafe.   I really only need two register setups with a cash register and receipt printer and credit card processing.

I was all set on the Square Register with Square for Restaurants but keep finding limitations.  I am finding out that our manager for the cafe needs Close Of Day option that is on the Plus program.  No big deal, we can do the plus, but that isn't an option that works with the Square Register.  Says coming soon, how long has it been coming soon? The Square Register was released in 2017 I believe and would think a common feature like that would be already in place.  What are others doing as an alternative?

So that put me back at looking at the Square Stand and iPad with a USB cash drawer, usb receipt printer.  I don't like that the cashier has to swivel the iPad so the student can finish checking out, especially with Covid still around.  So I was looking at adding and the Square Terminal as a credit card reader, but it doesn't work this way with Square for Restaurants that I found in FAQ.  So now I think getting the Square Reader Block and the Square Reader that goes in the headphone jack as a backup.  I think that will work.

But really wanted to get the Square Register setup, but don't think we can go that route.

My end goal:

Have a register with no wireless/bluetooth.  Have a register with USB cash drawer, usb receipt printer, usb credit card processing that doesn't have the cashier sharing the same screen and swiveling the iPad.

Right now a student gets their food, walks up to cashier, cashier creates the sale, student uses credit card terminal and pays and leaves.  They use swipe, contactless, or chip usually not getting receipt.  They just tap and go no pressing anything on the screen etc.

Also, I'm just an IT guy. The Cafe manager keeps throwing things she needs or would still like to have like closing out day and reconciling credit sales, other tender types, can I create buttons for daily specials, do we have to get gift cards for this system we can't use the current gift cards we have?

Thanks,

Dan

[ryanwanner]

Hey @cashxx !

First, welcome to the community! I think Square was the right choice for your setup here, but I'm wondering if you'll really need Restaurants for your space.

My place is set up relatively similar to yours as a QSR where everyone orders at the register. It's not too much of a leap from my concept to your way of doing things. I started with Square before Restaurants was even a thing and I've stuck with the basic point of sale (I abbreviate this to spos) throughout. It serves my business well.

Restaurants shines with table service places, and from what I've seen it's only marginally better in our style setups. The only thing that spos doesn't have that restaurants does is the conversational modifiers: No xxx Add yyy kind of thing.

So for your setup, I think you're on the right path with the register just running spos. That way there isn't any stand swiveling going on. If you do decide to go with the stand/connected terminal option I can tell you that I have that setup in my store right now and it works 99% of the time. That 1% weirdness is usually solved by restarting the terminal.

To answer the other questions you raised:

-Closing out the day is a little different here than on other points of sale or running Z reports on your cash register. How square works is that your day runs midnight-5pm PST by default. Any transactions rang up after 5 PST will show on the daily sales--those reports are midnight-midnight by default--but the cc sales won't show up in the next day deposit. If you do a lot of business after 5 PST, I recommend checking out how to adjust your close of day.

-Unless you choose to have the customer sign a printed credit card slip, you don't have to worry about settling your credit card batches. It's done on the fly. If the customer does sign a slip (highly unlikely for your scenario), you have 72 hours to adjust each transaction.

-There is an Other Tender Types option on the system (it may be behind a More... section on the tender screen) but you can't designate multiple Other Types nor can you customize the name. This has been a feature request in the past; I recommend checking out the Ideate section of this site and filing a new request if it's not already there.

-Creating Daily Specials buttons is the matter of creating the item on the Dashboard and adding it to the grid of your spos by long pressing on the grid until you get into an edit mode. Instead of creating multiple special items, I recommend creating one Daily Special item and leave the price blank. That way you have to enter the price at time of sale. This will save you time and headaches when one of your employees tries to order yesterday's special.

-Square's gift cards are specific to the Square ecosystem unfortunately. You won't be able to use your old cards unless they came with a standalone reader.

I hope this helps point you in the right direction! Please reach out here if you have any other questions!

[cashxx]

@ryanwanner Thank you for the detailed response!  Can you elaborate a little more on your setup?

"stand/connected terminal option"

I was looking at this setup now instead of the "Square Register":

- Square Stand with 10.2" iPad

- USB Connected Cash Drawer

- USB Connected Printer

- Square Reader in headphone jack for Credit Card swipes

- Square Reader (the little block) I think it can use USB with the stand  https://squareup.com/us/en/hardware/contactless-chip-reader

- I'm looking for everything to be USB and hoping it would be more stable than bluetooth/wifi

Is your setup all USB and plugged in or bluetooth, etc?

I have to think about the future too.  Over covid we had online ordering.  It's disabled now so I doubt it will get used again, but like to have the option there.  Not sure what Online Menus is for the "Square Restaurant" plan. Other than that they seem pretty much the same. I don't need table maps, tips or item counts.  https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/compare

I think in ShopKeep right now it is set to Retail instead of Restaurant. I didn't set it up and never changed it as the setup has been fine, just running credit cards has been a disaster with the terminal locking up constantly or dropping offline from the iPad.

Is the Closing end of day part of the "Square POS" free version?    Or is that a restaurant thing?  How do you close out on "Square POS"?      I see in the link below that it isn't an option on Square POS.   Seems to be a Restaurant thing but don't get what the difference is, how do you close out the day on Square POS?  I would assume you would have to do the same thing to close the register out at the end of the day?

Some things sound nice for the "Square Restaurants Plus" like the "Remote Menu and Grid Management", "Remote Device Management", "Shared Device Settings", "Menu Reports".

Then on "Square POS" it would be nice having the "Item Creation on the POS".  

https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/6525-compare-square-for-restaurants-and-square-point-of-sale

But the Cafe manager specifically singled out the "Close of Day" and looks like that is only on "Square for Restaurants Plus" and iPad setup.  Funny that ShopKeep has it for their Retail.

I typed too much.  Thanks for the reply again and any additional info!  

[ryanwanner]

Hey @cashxx I'm glad I've been able to help so far! Let me break down your questions a little more...

---

 Can you elaborate a little more on your setup?

"stand/connected terminal option"

I was looking at this setup now instead of the "Square Register":

- Square Stand with 10.2" iPad

- USB Connected Cash Drawer

- USB Connected Printer

- Square Reader in headphone jack for Credit Card swipes

- Square Reader (the little block) I think it can use USB with the stand  https://squareup.com/us/en/hardware/contactless-chip-reader

- I'm looking for everything to be USB and hoping it would be more stable than bluetooth/wifi

Is your setup all USB and plugged in or bluetooth, etc?

---

--My current setup is with a first generation stand with a 10.5" ipad 2018 in it. I have the USB receipt printer and the USB contactless reader in the dock (yes the dock is USB wired and the stand sees it). The cash drawer is the kind that plugs into the back of the printer versus being USB. I also have two ethernet printers--kitchen and thermal, a secondary ipad mini for handling online orders, and a couple of terminals wandering around. All these systems are on a UniFi wireless network and aside from routine network restarts I never lose signal.

With this setup, I did have the issue you're trying to avoid, which is spinning the stand around for the customer to complete the cc transaction. I helped test the Connected Terminal and then rolled it out recently. The terminal basically becomes an old-style cc reader, and you send the active order to it. The customer then uses the terminal to verify the order and swipe/dip/tap their credit card or Square branded gift cards. You never have to spin the stand around. I keep the contactless reader around just in case something causes the terminal to not work right. In over two months of relatively continuous use I've only had that happen once. The only issue is that it connects via a wifi connection, not usb.

I have to think about the future too.  Over covid we had online ordering.  It's disabled now so I doubt it will get used again, but like to have the option there.  Not sure what Online Menus is for the "Square Restaurant" plan. Other than that they seem pretty much the same. I don't need table maps, tips or item counts.  https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/compare

--My point exactly. The bells and whistles on Restaurants are great for table service, quick serve it's things that can muddy the waters. As for online orders, I have an active Square Online store including using the QR Code self serve ordering feature plus an app and a kiosk setup. All work seamlessly with spos.

I think in ShopKeep right now it is set to Retail instead of Restaurant. I didn't set it up and never changed it as the setup has been fine, just running credit cards has been a disaster with the terminal locking up constantly or dropping offline from the iPad.

--Not knowing the ShopKeep product, I'm not entirely sure why the disconnect is happening. I know weak wifi signals can do weird things to any internet-dependent app (Square included) though. Make sure your signal is strong and you shouldn't see a problem.

Is the Closing end of day part of the "Square POS" free version?    Or is that a restaurant thing?  How do you close out on "Square POS"?      I see in the link below that it isn't an option on Square POS.   Seems to be a Restaurant thing but don't get what the difference is, how do you close out the day on Square POS?  I would assume you would have to do the same thing to close the register out at the end of the day?

--I think this is where terminology starts to get muddied. As I mentioned in my last response, there really isn't a need to run a close of day for cc sales with Square. There are EOD reports you can run on the spos for cash drawer management however. This is a standard feature on any iteration of Square's software. Credit card settlements happen on the fly with tips being added at time of sale (unless the customer is signing a printed copy). 

Some things sound nice for the "Square Restaurants Plus" like the "Remote Menu and Grid Management", "Remote Device Management", "Shared Device Settings", "Menu Reports".

Then on "Square POS" it would be nice having the "Item Creation on the POS".  

--I won't lie there are some tools that Restaurants has that would be fun to play around with, but in the grand scheme of things for our restaurant style I really think it's overkill. Remote Menu and Grid Management is slick because you can control your full menu and layout of your devices from the dashboard, but this is available in spos to a point. You can't get into specific menus (breakfast, lunch, etc) but you can create/modify items and these changes appear almost instantly on your devices. With grid management, if you set up your spos grid on one system, it syncs to the others. You just have to be on a device instead of in the dashboard. Remote Device Management is something I haven't played with at all, Shared Device Settings basically makes it easier to set up multiple devices but is relatively easy to accomplish without it Menu Reports just gives you another report option specific to individual menus. This is doable with a few tweaks on a custom report on your dashboard. item Creation on the POS is so nice to have: if I decide to run a special I can jump on my phone and create the item. As soon as I'm done it shows up on every device.

Overall, I'd say stop overthinking this. 🙂 From your original post, I'm assuming you have one or two devices at the end of the chow line to quickly check out customers. Restaurants is nice but overkill for this setup, and the additional bells and whistles won't be utilized much at all. Closing out the day with Square is quite simply counting the cash till. Everything else is done on the fly and you can pull almost any report you need right from the dashboard. If you're trying to keep from spinning the stand and don't want to use the Register with the basic pos, I recommend checking out the connected terminal. 

Now who types too much? LOL

[cashxx]

Wow, thank you for the details and your time!

I'm over thinking this because it's been years of frustration with ShopKeep.  I have had the current setup on ethernet, wifi, and now on a hotspot and have the same issues with the credit card processing. They had us buy new CC readers and still had issues at one point.

Finally got the ok to upgrade and move to something else and that led us to Square.  Either way I'm going to be spending $2,000+ and want it to be the correct decision on hardware and no issues....lol.  Been much drama of anti-apple folks blaming the iPads, ShopKeep blaming our network, etc.  So, I was hoping to get an all-in-one system that wasn't an iPad like the Square Register or Clover Duo.  Seems like the iPad setup is more featured setup with Square though. And the Square Register, to my understanding, was released in 2017 and hasn't been updated so may be better to go the iPad route anyway.

The original plan was to simply get the Square Register with USB printer/cash drawer along with Square for Restaurants free and be done.  I found out that cafe manager wanted that Close end of day feature which is only on the Square Restaurant Plus and not supported on the Square register.

So that led me to the current setup idea I have now with the terminal, but that setup doesn't work with the Square for restaurant POS.  Only works with Square POS.

So if you have had things stable that makes me feel a lot better!  I currently have the Square for Restaurants setup and will have to look to see how I can switch over to just the Square POS instead and do the same setup I mentioned above and go back to the terminal idea as it should work with Square POS.

Also, to my understanding, you should be able to connect the terminal to the iPad Stand with either WiFi or Ethernet. Ethernet would be ideal and I think you would just need the adapter, no?  Or is that feature specifically wifi only?  I see under the Square Stand Specs page it mentions about connecting via wifi to use it as a cc terminal for the iPad stand.

https://squareup.com/shop/hardware/us/en/products/terminal-hub 

https://squareup.com/us/en/hardware/stand/specs

[_Violet]

Hi @cashxx - Thanks for reaching out to us here on the Square Seller Community👋

I went ahead and merged your additional posts to this thread. We merge duplicate conversations together to keep like comments in one place, and to make it easier for others to find the thread in the future. 

Additionally, I want to make sure you've seen our Community Etiquette Guidelines. We ask that you do not post the same message in multiple places, as it is not productive. 

We know that sometimes tone can be misconstrued in online interactions and we want to make sure that the community is a collaborative environment - where anyone can ask or answer a question and expect a respectful response. In future interactions, please keep these guidelines in mind. 

I see that @ryanwanner was able to provide you with some more detailed information. Thanks, Ryan!

I hope this information is helpful but please do let me know if you have any additional questions.
 

[cashxx]

@_Violet Sorry, I figured multiple posts were frowned upon.  I didn't get any answers at first and couldn't move the post so posted it again in a better section.  I need a solid answer by Monday/Tuesday here and didn't have much luck calling into the support number, didn't seem too engaging to want to help or answer questions and was hard to understand.

Thanks!