Pinpad showing running total of items at stores

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storewanderer
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Pinpad showing running total of items at stores

Post by storewanderer »

Many non-grocery retailers have implemented pinpads that show a running list of the items in your transaction as the items are scanned. I typically use these pinpads to watch the price of items.

Dollar General did a POS upgrade and finally made NFC/Tap cards work. As part of this upgrade they also eliminated the feature where the pinpad shows the items as they are scanned and the prices. Instead the pinpad looks like the Safeway pinpad wanting you to punch a loyalty card number in for digital coupons and even if you bypass it, it just goes to a default/blank screen until it is ready for the card.
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Re: Pinpad showing running total of items at stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

When people see the running total, they are more likely to discard expensive items or stop further purchases when they see how expensive it gets.

If the cashier has already scanned everything, the customer is less likely to ask for items to be removed. This is just a way for businesses to sell more items.

The worst place is Hobby Lobby where you have to get a manager to remove an already scanned item. They do this just so that they can make more money.
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Re: Pinpad showing running total of items at stores

Post by storewanderer »

Hobby Lobby in Reno does not scan items, they key items in by hand and press a department button similar to how most stores handled ringing up items in about 1988. I have had multiple times where the cashier enters in the wrong amount due to a keying error. They are able to do an "error correct" immediately after making the mistake without calling for a manager.
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Re: Pinpad showing running total of items at stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

I read somewhere where Hobby Lobby employees cannot void an item without consulting with a customer service manager. Then the CSM would have to void the entire transaction. Maybe things have changed. However employees do give you attitude if you want to delete an item. It is such an awful checkout experience.

Ross also had an error correct button on their registers to cancel the previous item. However, you would need a manager to void all of the items. That is a store with a really time consuming checkout experience.
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Re: Pinpad showing running total of items at stores

Post by storewanderer »

Maybe the error correct function is all they can do if they catch an error immediately after the entry but to correct a previous item would be a void and need to have a manager show up. I also wonder if it has to do with the tenure of the employee. At Rite Aid, the void/price modify permissions vary depending on how long the employee has worked there. New employees have very low limits then the limit goes up over time.
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Re: Pinpad showing running total of items at stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

Ross back in 1997 used to have little CRT computer monitors on their cash registers for the cashier that showed all items and their prices. It was tiny, but you could see your running total that way.

Some of the old Walmart registers that are not touch screen do not even have a computer monitor to show employees what items have been scanned. The employee is working in the dark. The employee can print a slip on register paper that shows what items have been scanned.
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Re: Pinpad showing running total of items at stores

Post by mjhale »

My last visit to Hobby Lobby I was purchasing some Testors model paints. One of the paints didn't have a price sticker on it. The cashier called for a supervisor/manager. I asked why can't she just scan the item since it has a UPC on it. The cashier told me that no Hobby Lobby has barcode scanners. This is 2021 isn't it?! No scanners? No wonder it took me forever to work my way through the checkout line....

As for pin pads showing a running total or a list of the items I've purchased, I can't think of any store in my area that does this. Most everyone has some sort of screen above the cash register equipment that shows line by line what I'm buying and the price. I just position myself so that I can see the screen during the checkout process. Walmart and Aldi, the two places I shop that don't have a screen, would do good to add them (or let you see on the pin pad) from a customer service standpoint. This would especially help at Aldi where the cashiers go so quickly. But I do agree with Alpha8472 that people are more likely to remove items when they can see specifically how certain things cost.
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Re: Pinpad showing running total of items at stores

Post by storewanderer »

Wal Mart's pinpad shows the items as they scan them. It is a little bit useless as it only shows a few items and under each item it says "subtotal" which is sort of useless since that does not include tax.

I know Aldi is on a different system than Trader Joe's but Trader Joe's also shows the items on the pinpad as they scan them.

Hobby Lobby does have scanners but only for coupons (or did they do away with coupons so maybe they got to do away with the scanners)? I could not believe they had no scanners. No shelf tags either. Amazing they can stock and merchandise their stores.
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Re: Pinpad showing running total of items at stores

Post by ClownLoach »

mjhale wrote: June 27th, 2021, 9:28 pm My last visit to Hobby Lobby I was purchasing some Testors model paints. One of the paints didn't have a price sticker on it. The cashier called for a supervisor/manager. I asked why can't she just scan the item since it has a UPC on it. The cashier told me that no Hobby Lobby has barcode scanners. This is 2021 isn't it?! No scanners? No wonder it took me forever to work my way through the checkout line....
They also have no way to know how many of an item they have without physically looking at it. Because of this they do not have the capacity to perform online orders unless they're shipped from the warehouse. And would you believe they only have ONE warehouse? Every single item they carry is manually ordered and trucked from Oklahoma. They are a de facto dinosaur retailer that has no future in an online world.
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Re: Pinpad showing running total of items at stores

Post by ClownLoach »

storewanderer wrote: June 27th, 2021, 10:01 pm Wal Mart's pinpad shows the items as they scan them. It is a little bit useless as it only shows a few items and under each item it says "subtotal" which is sort of useless since that does not include tax.

I know Aldi is on a different system than Trader Joe's but Trader Joe's also shows the items on the pinpad as they scan them.
I think the items on PIN pads will go away entirely at all remaining retailers that have them because they need to disconnect the PIN pads from the registers to avoid data breaches and malware. The stores that seem out of date because the PIN pad does not show the items are actually the most up to date. The PIN pads are directly hooked up to the credit card processing servers on a completely separate network from the register. The register on its own network basically sends a message to the credit card processor to this effect - "Register 2 would like to use PIN pad 2 for a charge of $37.15.“. The credit card processor then sends the total amount to the PIN pad on its own secure credit network. Once an approval is received the credit system tells the register. This is also the reason most retailers can't do anything when credit and debit are down any longer. In the past they basically stored the card numbers and would take a gamble that the funds would be available when the system came back online and they could batch the transactions. Now that is impossible because the register itself never stores a credit card number.

I'll just leave it at this, I was astonished by what we had to go through at my company to get this set up the correct way, no cutting corners, with the standard Verifone and IBM/Toshiba registers. When it was done there was no visible change to the customer, yet thousands of feet of new cable had to be run to separate the PIN pads and install a 2nd network.

There basically is no good way to secure the register hardware itself so the PIN pads had to be separated.

All I can say is that the more convenient a register seems these days the less secure it actually is. You do not want to shop at a retail store that can actually refund your credit card without you running it through the chip reader again... Because if they can then your info is stored in the register and you're going to be the victim of a data breach sooner than later. They're still happening.
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