POS Scale

POS System With Scale: Reviews

POS scale reviews. The grocery business presents currently many challenges (5) such as microbial growth in edible items (1) including fish (2), agricultural products (3) and beef (4). Furthermore, the ability to sell products in a B2C environment (12), measured by weight and not by piece (13). Here is where POS scales appear to satisfy factors requested by consumers (9), specially post millennials (10), updating the inventory in real time (14) and with scales that accomplish legal requirements (6) in terms of weights and measures (7) including standard measurements for each type of product (8), accuracy through calibration (11) and legally certified for trade (15) called simply “legal for trade” (16).

A POS scale is a device that encompasses the functionality of a POS, a compliant scale and a label printer that satisfies the business requirements of groceries through weighing products, determining the price and printing the label thereafter.

POS Scales Buying Guide According To Business Requirements

In principle, these shops might utilize a standard scale and a simple calculator to compute pricing.

The flaw with this procedure, is that there is no back-referencing or subtraction done, thus the number of units sold is never reflected in the store’s inventory.

Because this portion of the operation must be done manually, there is the possibility of human mistakes when calculating the remaining inventory, having to do always manual inventory reconciliations.

A POS weight scale comes with the full functionality of a weight scale.

In addition to hospitals, correctional facilities, airports, stadiums, and movie theaters, those who pay by weight for bought goods include people using self-service frozen yogurt, candy shops, bakeries, salad bars, and certain cafeterias. 

The sales process in such companies is sped up by an integrated POS scale, which automatically rings up weighted goods and then calculates the total. After this, the product, already priced and with its printed label, is paid with a pin pad device that is part of the payment processing architecture of that business.

Employee mistake or intentional shrinking is avoided because the scales have the ability to weigh and read automatically. In such a case, you will be able to deal with large numbers of clients in a quite limited timeframe.

To meet on-the-counter and functional requirements, various scale types will be required depending on specific operational needs.

Weight-based point-of-sale scales are used for almost all places that sell fruit, meat, or other items that are sold by weight today.

A POS scale should be incorporated into an entire POS system if you need to utilize one.

Retailers such as supermarkets and other businesses use points-of-sale systems able to print barcodes for weight-based UPC labels. Though it is impractical to always print barcodes at the checkout counter, in certain instances it is still necessary to input the weight by hand in order enough for the point of sale system to compute the price.

Here it is necessary to utilize a point of sale system with an integrated scale. This automates checkout functions in many scenarios, while also improving transaction accuracy.

In comparison to generic scales that are available at some retailers, POS scales are specifically designed to work with point of sale systems. For a scale to be able to be connected to a POS terminal, it is mandatory to have a port.

The scale is smart enough to figure out what price to display for each item that you weigh by connecting to the peripheral devices that you have in your POS.

Most businesses, especially grocery stores, are successful because of recurring customers.

It may be frustrating for consumers today to experience the same old grocery store experience they have always had, but offering something new may push others away. Customized purchasing became increasingly common among younger customers. To satisfy the varied needs of their customers, business owners have made changes in their payment methods and checkout-line management systems to increase customer control.

As part of seeking to improve their business operations, grocery shops must explore the use of scale-enabled POS systems, that we know as POS scales. To start, an evaluation of the store’s operations must be done to discover which activities are getting in the way.

In addition to assessing the features of the POS system that will produce the greatest ROI and at the same time keeping within the store’s budget, the evaluation also includes examining which POS features have the most room for expansion while remaining within budget.

When weighed against the cheap price of POS-connected scales, the installation, and usage of scales is simple, and the increase in productivity provided by the devices is expected to be profitable for grocery shops.

A POS checkout terminal equipped with a scale, a POS scale, provides many benefits including the following:

• Less manual processes to avoid errors with UPCs: The checkout procedure for consumers and staff will be streamlined due to the elimination of lists of UPC numbers that are used for pricing checks.
• Multilane payments and coupons management: You get to scan coupons, apply loyalty and other discounts, and take government food aid vouchers along with credit cards via tap-to-pay systems and other automated methods.
• Inventory management easy to handle that avoids spoilage and issues for replenishment. Because of these POS systems, your shop will never be without popular goods, since they offer an in-depth examination of your inventory in real-time. In order to minimize the need to purchase large amounts of goods that move more slowly (slow-moving items), or products such as dairy, fruits, vegetables, and other products with a limited shelf life.

Retail grocery shop operators realize that a profitable and efficient POS system is critical for maximizing their investment in technology.

By using a scale-enabled point of sale system, a POS scale, stores are able to reduce inventory waste, boost worker productivity, streamline checkout procedures, and improve employee productivity. The sum of it all helps ensure happier customers and boosts the bottom line

Grocery shops differ from other merchants because their merchandise is perishable and because they all need to utilize POS scales

With rapidly changing inventory, sometimes limited shelf life, and merchandise such as produce that is not good for tracking through UPC barcodes, it is necessary to implement a POS system for grocery shops.

To enhance the customer experience and guarantee inventory is managed properly, grocery shops use a POS system with connected scales to automate the process of determining the pricing.

With so many checkout stands in the grocery store, it is particularly essential to hire individuals with less experience, who may be students who work nights and weekends.

Scale-enabled point of sale systems have the advantage of giving checkout clerks the ability to see a picture and a short description of goods to reduce the possibility of confusion when workers process large numbers of items.

In POS scales, when the product selected on the POS display is added to the system, its weight is calculated by the scale and shown to the customer, after which the unit cost and ultimate price are calculated and printed on the receipt.

Grocery department employees who perform a weighing function in the delicatessen also benefit from scale-enabled POS systems by producing labels that include the weight, price, and barcode of weighed products

POS Scale Costs

As you know, the features offered by your preferred point of sale scale will also have an impact on the price you pay for it.

Hands-free scales with sided scanning, 360-degree rotation, and bar code scanners, for instance, are likely to be more expensive than POS scanner scales.

Pros And Cons Of A POS Scale System

In my analysis of the POS scales, I notice almost no cons. I see all advantages, from a small grocery to a large supermarket that has some departments selling by weight.

Pros

Data Replicated Through All The System

It is essential that each and every component of your retail point-of-sale system communicates with the others around it and shares data as necessary when processing a transaction.

This does not require any additional hardware. Just connect your POS scale to one of the primary POS terminals’ ports, and you are ready to go. In this manner, the information travels from the terminal to the node in the opposite direction, and vice-versa.

It could be, for instance, that you were holding lemons in your hands. Type lemons on your touchscreen to input the lemon code, which will appear on your main terminal screen. Next, place the lemons on the scale to see the result.

Your checkout terminal calculates the price of each customer’s lemons, and then the scale transmits that information back to the terminal where the price is stored, which in turn computes the price of each customer’s lemon according to the weights configured in the POS system.

As a result, the amount resulting from the lemons is added to the customer’s bill and the lemons are put into a bag.

The POS scale system should also discount that quantity of lemons from your inventory and if you reach the reorder point configured it should inform you or create purchase orders automatically.

Automation and Time Savings

In addition to using a complete POS system, using a proprietary point of sale scale also significantly reduces many administrative and logistical difficulties involved with operating your company.

A POS scale may be included into your POS system as a peripheral component and streamlines inventory and accounting tasks.

POS scales are useful for retailers, who can now have their inventory managed more efficiently and get their goods through the checkout process faster.

For example, take a POS for retailers such as POS Maid, that we have reviewed here. The bundle does not include a scale, but you could integrate one through its interface.

For a company, having a point of sale automation and data gathering is essential.

Cons

You must also take into consideration the expense of a POS scale installation, when you just have one product that is sold by weight in a very small retail shop.

I think that in this case you could do this manually and you require only a simple scale disconnected with a POS system.

I have a cafeteria near home that only sells one product by weight. I asked the owner about having that integrated POS scale for just one product. The owner said that he planned to add more products but he has not done that yet.

Calibration of POS Scales

The customer does not need to calibrate the POS scale when it is delivered.

When the POS scale is delivered, there is no requirement for the client to calibrate the device because it is delivered to the store directly from the warehouse with its factory calibration already completed according to NIST legal requirements.

POS scales need to be calibrated on average every 10 to 15 months, depending on use.

In order to prevent expensive downtime, a calibration weight is highly recommended for companies who are reliant on their scale equipment in order to prevent expensive outages. 

It is possible that the POS scale may lose its calibration if it is handled incorrectly.

In most cases, a licensed scale service agent would charge between $80 and $160 each visit for local calibration of a POS scale.

The POS scales and software that you will find in the market must be certified by the NTEP (National Type Evaluation Program – Legal for Trade, NTEP Class III, USA COC #00-096)

Step-by-Step: How to Connect a Scale to Your POS System

Types Of POS Scale Systems Available

The 3 major kinds of POS scales to consider are:

1. Weight-Only POS Scales

By far, these POS scales are the simplest and easiest to use ones you can pick up on the market today.

Bulk goods and items may be weighed using only electronic scales, which are ideal for this use.

Weight information is sent externally, for example, to a cash register or point-of-sale system, once the weighing process is completed.

This type of scale is straightforward in its design; all one has to do is place the item on it for weighing and then transmit that information back to their POS terminal based on the specific cost per weight rates that you have set for that particular product; 

The corresponding price is determined, added to the customer’s bill, and after this operation is settled, the next item may be weighed in its place.

In the event that you do not need to weigh many goods in your shop, this is definitely the finest option for you. Despite the fact that these scales are among the most basic types discussed here, they nevertheless make use of cutting-edge technology to do their tasks.

For example, they are usually quite precise in the weighing procedure and may give weights that are accurate to the tenth of a pound or better in certain instances.

As a result, even if you are buying a scale that has less features, you will not have to sacrifice accuracy in the process.

Because an incorrect scale may result in revenue loss due to underestimating the weight of an item, it is critical to get an exact measurement.

These scales are often available for purchase for as low as $386 or less in most cases.

Scales of this kind may also be connected with a POS environment that is used across a whole business or shop.

Between $463 and $541 will get you a scale that has a capacity of 4 lb to 64 lb, accuracy of up to hundredths of a pound, and dimensions ranging from 5′ x 11′ to 11” x 15.”

2. Price Computing Scales

As soon as the merchandise has been placed on the scale, the cashier simply has to press the menu button and accept the weight that has already been determined by the software.

This scale will weigh the product and print a sticker with the product’s price and a barcode on the back.

It does this by using the code that was input into the scale’s keypad or through a touch screen by the grocery or supermarket clerk.

Afterwards, it determines the price per pound for that specific product and produces a ticket that includes the weight and price as well as the identification number. The attendant seals the bag with the sticker and then gives you the bag back.

That is how a point-of-sale scale that calculates prices works. Pricing ranges from $560 to $1110 or more for a reliable scale that can also compute price.

3. Scanner And POS Scale Combination

These point-of-sale scales are not limited to weighing a variety of goods, such POS scales may be used with quality control and bar code scanners and are the most advanced devices we are discussing here.

Generally speaking, scanner scales can be used on cashiers or in self-service environments, respectively. Typically, a laser scanner is used in conjunction with a programmable scale, which is the most common kind of hardware used nowadays in supermarkets.

In this particular instance, the laser scanner scans barcodes in real-time. Having been designed in such a way, these scales are usually displayed in conjunction with self-service checkout kiosks.

Scanner-scale combos are among the most expensive POS scales available today, owing to the fact that they are among the most sophisticated.

POS scales such as these are the most frequent kind of POS scales that you will find at a grocery store.It performs two distinct roles. It functions as a scale, weighing goods, and then adding the total amount to the customer’s ticket.

That client, on the other hand,  has other products to buy in that grocery of supermarket, that are already packaged and do not require to be weighed. For example, a frozen pizza, two bottles of wine, and so on.

These products have to be scanned to recognize the barcode at the cashier, but do not require to be weighed at all as they are sold by piece and not by weight as unit of measurement. Well, these POS scales can serve us in these cases very good too.

It is unfeasible to have two gadgets on the checkout counter at the same time since that they would occupy a lot of space.

Therefore, these devices are integrated into a single, sophisticated tool: the point of sale scale with an embedded scanner device.

Customers who purchase goods sold by weight may have them weighed and charged by the shop clerk. The same equipment may also be used for scanning the frozen pizza that I have mentioned in the example above, if desired. In addition, all the data retrieved is sent into the same point of sale system and is applied to the same bill.

They are expected to be more costly than the other two kinds of scanners discussed above since these devices are so complex and rely on sophisticated software to perform at a high level.

A point of scale integrated with a scannng device embedded in the same POS equipment will cost you between $1,407 and $2,610, depending on the features you choose.

If you want to be more specific, you can anticipate to spend between $1,570 and $2,520 for a 14 to 35 lb weight range scan and point of sale scale with tray dimensions ranging from 10” x 15” to 10” x 20”. The price you spend for these scales will be determined mostly by the specifications and general features included therein.

POS Scale Features

As previously stated in this article, the complexity and features of point of sale scales differ according to your business requirements.

The features provided by your chosen POS scale will influence how much it costs, so keep this in mind when making your purchase.

For example, a hands-free scanner-scale that has sided-scan capabilities, 360 degrees rotation, and a barcode scannng devicei will be more expensive than a conventional point-of-sale scanner-scale with the same functionality.

The customer can see the weight because it is shown on the main pos scale display. One of those displays is facing the customer and there is another touchscreen facing the clerk.

When the scale is empty, a red light will illuminate on the display to signify that it is at zero.

Also included will be a “Zero” button, which will enable the cashier to quickly and efficiently turn to zero the scale.

Warranty For A POS Scale Device

In most cases, there is a one-year manufacturer’s warranty for these scales, which you can refer to when purchasing the product.

All warranty problems from customers with active support plans will be handled by the dealership on their behalf.

Business Cases For POS Scales

Cafeteria And Salad Bar

The majority of the time, such businesses charge set rates for the different dine-in meals they provide.

It is also known that certain companies charge set pricing for specific menu items but not to take-out meals, so you need a POS scale to configure different prices for the same item or item bundle when the patrons are consuming them inside the cafeteria or outside.

The quantity of each dish requested by a client is usually placed in a to-go container by the customer himself. The integrated scale of the POS system is then used to determine the total weight of the food that was bought.

It is basically the only method to accurately quantify the quantity of food being sold and the accompanying price in the context of salad bars that cater to consumers who would like to take food home with them, and that is via the use of a point of sale scale.

Convenience Stores

People who purchase at convenience stores are frequently in a rush.

A proper system should be implemented that enables for proper seamless processing of their transactions in order to avoid causing customers any more inconvenience.

Generally speaking, the majority of the items at convenience shops are priced individually.

Nevertheless, you must have a point-of-sale scale for goods such as prepared meals, produce, and other items that must be sold by weight.

Ice Cream And Frozen Yogurt Stores

Yogurt and ice cream enthusiasts are known to purchase these goods in particular proportions and amounts. Ice cream is also sold by weight in many countries and it is a typical business requirement for POS scales in Latin America and Southern Europe.

If you operate a frozen yogurt business or an Italian style ice cream store, then having a scale that can be easily integrated with your point of sale system is essential.

Local Markets And Seafood Markets

The majority of seafood items are sold by the pound, much like meat.
While transporting the whole supply of fishes is pretty simple, it is still important for you to keep track of the inventories you have. It is required a point-of-sale scale to be able to weigh both frozen and fresh fish items more precisely in order to do this.

Similarly to how a supermarket would use a point-of-sale scale to weigh the produce bought by a customer, in a seafood market one would use this type of scale to weigh the quantity of fish purchased by a customer.

Bulk Food Stores

Bulk food and health food shops, may be able to take use of this technology in a variety of ways.

The majority of the food products offered in such establishments are sold per weight. Therefore, you will want to be sure you are using an accurate method of weighing the goods.

Many of them are health food shops, and they offer goods that they can obtain from places like grocery stores, almonds, dried fruit, wheat, and other staples of current diets and eating lifestyle.

Every single one of these items is sold by weight and requires the use of a scale to ascertain the costs of the various amounts of these items being bought.

Groceries And Supermarkets

Retailers such as supermarkets and grocery shops are well-known for moving huge amounts of weighted merchandise.

For your shop, you will need a POS scale if you want to maintain precise records of the goods you sell. It is in such a situation that the scale will be utilized to weigh salad bar goods, tea leaves and nuts and chocolates as well as bulk herbs and coffee beans.

When the POS scale is correctly connected, you can also print barcodes for the goods that you weigh on the scale while you are in the store or at the counter. Further product specifications, such as the date of purchase and nutritional information, may also be printed.

Delicatessen Stores

Deli business owners and managers can utilize these devices we are studying here to accurately weigh products in their establishments as well as to keep track on stock levels.

As an example, point of sale integrated scales can be utilized at such businesses to monitor products such as processed meats purchased in bulk quantities, spreads, and deli salads, amongst other things.

In order to use this type of software architecture, you must first determine the weight of the item you want to monitor and then enter its product number. After you have completed the process, the system will immediately generate a barcode label for the object you just measured.

Later, at the POS device, that can be located at the counter, the label will be scanned in order to identify the item being sold.

In addition to barcode stickers, a label printer may be used to give comprehensive information about the object that is being labeled, if necessary. For example, these printers are often used in Delis to give nutritional information on the goods they sell.

These stickers have some limitations based on their size, but Deli owners manage in practice to print some phrasesfor each product sold, normally it is nutritional information.

No matter what kind of product like chicken, meat, or pork or other delicatessen product that a customer want to buy, they will do so by the pound.

Furthermore, many delis offer pre-prepared meals like casseroles, or pasta, or even Schnitzel (as I saw myself recently), and other similar items as well. A wide range of pre-cooked  products are also available for purchase by the pound. For a deli, this makes the use of a point-of-sale scale even more critical.

Recommended Readings

We have compared Fattmerchant vs Square, thinking that they were very similar POS and payment processors, but we found many differences and we were surprised by these findings.

Complex industries that handle their own inventory and 3PL organizations have granular requirements about batch recalls, warehouse management and inventory reconciliation. They need handheld inventory scanners that connect in real time with their point of sales systems and ERPs. We review them here and test them connecting to a Zebra printer. Beautiful!

We have reviewed several POS providers. The most interesting according to their industry vertical are: OVVI POS, NCR Counterpoint, Alexandria POS Maid, Verifone Ruby 2 POS, Mynt POS, Indica Online, Reverse, Micros, 1st Pay, Simphony, and Appetize.

There is a type of POS that the majority of readers here do not seem to like. I refer to the POS Pin Pad type. I understand the readers that reject them, but we can recommend it for some type of businesses, as you will read.

Each industry vertical requires a different type of POS, so we cannot analyze them all together in one single group. Therefore, we have researched in different verticals to define which are the POS systems that we can recommend for each industry and why: Wholesale POS, POS for kiosks, fast foods, POS for restaurants and which of them work well in iPads because some work very bad in mobile systems in my opinion, gas stations, supermarkets, dispensaries, convenience stores, dry cleaning industries, furniture, liquor stores, and bike shops.

What about cash registers? We have reviewed some and we have found good and bad products: cash registers for gas stations, small businesses in general, and restaurants.

We reviewed some specific type of point of sale systems that determine the price according to the weight, called POS scales.

We have studied barcode and label printers, as label printing is a legal requirement in some industries

Restaurants, fast foods, delis and food trucks, require a separate kitchen printer integrated with the POS with a separate hardware unit. We have reviewed them here.

We do not usually review printers for POS, we simply dedicate ourselves to review a complete POS system with its hardware. However, we had so much criticism and discussions around printers for Square, that I have decided to investigate further here.