RATED NUMBER ONE! (and read below for an article on checks) The editors of Hospitality Technology magazine published their POS scoreboard, a rating of over 50 restaurant point of sale packages formed by interviewing hundreds of restaurant owners. Restaurant Pro Express was compared to MICROS, Aloha (from Radiant Systems), Squirrel and dozens of other widely used packages. Budget POS received excellent ratings! *** Restaurant Pro Express was rated the NUMBER ONE package for quick service restaurants and the fourth best pick for table service! *** Budget POS and Restaurant Pro Express received fourth place for the best support and service, out of over 50 other point of sale packages. *** Restaurant Pro Express took the third best spot for the best overall performance of a restaurant point of sale system. The packages mentioned above were a few spots below. *** RPE was rated NUMBER ONE for return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership. This is particularly noteworthy; RPE is the most affordable package on the market but is still one of the top ranking packages available. *** Budget POS was honorably mentioned as having the only package with "a single solution for both foodservice and retail POS." Over the past 10 years, we've received a lot of input from store and restaurant owners on how to make Restaurant Pro Express and Cash Register Express the best products on the market. Your suggestions count! We're very proud of our rating! Keep the suggestions coming and we will continue to release new features to keep us at the top. Check 21...Do your customers have the money? Almost everybody has a credit card or a debit card...but paper checks haven't quite gone out of fashion. Many consumers are wary of the temptation of credit cards and also don't like the immediate dollar deduction from their accounts when they use a debit card. The old-fashioned check provides a certain level of comfort; the check-writer has a few days of 'float time' between when the check is written and when the money actually gets deducted. How is this float time generated? According to the Federal Reserve (as per www.msnbc.com,) nearly 43 billion checks are physically transported by mail every year. Your bank, where you deposit the check, will not receive the money until the check is received by your customer's bank. On October 28th, float time will slowly become a thing of the past. Check 21, a new banking law, will define regulations that will allow banks to transmit check information electronically to other banks, eliminating the days of transmit time with the current system. Why is this being done? The average check is handled between 15 and 20 times before collection, deposit, and funds transmission is complete. Depending on the stores, banks, and number of checks involved, this process can cost 50 cents to $1.50 per check! The Check 21 legislation was further prompted by 9/11; the entire system was disrupted with the almost total shutdown of the transportation system. What will this mean to you? For the first few months, nothing. Most banks will be adopting the new technology slowly in order to accommodate their customers. However, the Consumers Union estimates that within a year, consumers could be bouncing an additional 7 million checks per year. Make sure they don't bounce checks written to you. Ask your bank when they will be adopting this legislation. When your bank is ready for Check 21, inform your customers of the change in float time. COMING SOON... Look for the release of Cash Register Express 10.1 and Restaurant Pro Express 10.1, scheduled for September 20th. Next week's newsletter will talk about more new legislation...involving gift cards. Within 60 days, Budget POS will introduce new features to electronically verify, deposit, and guarantee check funds. Back to Newsletters
The editors of Hospitality Technology magazine published their POS scoreboard, a rating of over 50 restaurant point of sale packages formed by interviewing hundreds of restaurant owners. Restaurant Pro Express was compared to MICROS, Aloha (from Radiant Systems), Squirrel and dozens of other widely used packages. Budget POS received excellent ratings!
*** Restaurant Pro Express was rated the NUMBER ONE package for quick service restaurants and the fourth best pick for table service!
*** Budget POS and Restaurant Pro Express received fourth place for the best support and service, out of over 50 other point of sale packages.
*** Restaurant Pro Express took the third best spot for the best overall performance of a restaurant point of sale system. The packages mentioned above were a few spots below.
*** RPE was rated NUMBER ONE for return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership. This is particularly noteworthy; RPE is the most affordable package on the market but is still one of the top ranking packages available.
*** Budget POS was honorably mentioned as having the only package with "a single solution for both foodservice and retail POS."
Over the past 10 years, we've received a lot of input from store and restaurant owners on how to make Restaurant Pro Express and Cash Register Express the best products on the market. Your suggestions count! We're very proud of our rating! Keep the suggestions coming and we will continue to release new features to keep us at the top.
Check 21...Do your customers have the money?
Almost everybody has a credit card or a debit card...but paper checks haven't quite gone out of fashion. Many consumers are wary of the temptation of credit cards and also don't like the immediate dollar deduction from their accounts when they use a debit card. The old-fashioned check provides a certain level of comfort; the check-writer has a few days of 'float time' between when the check is written and when the money actually gets deducted.
How is this float time generated? According to the Federal Reserve (as per www.msnbc.com,) nearly 43 billion checks are physically transported by mail every year. Your bank, where you deposit the check, will not receive the money until the check is received by your customer's bank.
On October 28th, float time will slowly become a thing of the past. Check 21, a new banking law, will define regulations that will allow banks to transmit check information electronically to other banks, eliminating the days of transmit time with the current system.
Why is this being done? The average check is handled between 15 and 20 times before collection, deposit, and funds transmission is complete. Depending on the stores, banks, and number of checks involved, this process can cost 50 cents to $1.50 per check! The Check 21 legislation was further prompted by 9/11; the entire system was disrupted with the almost total shutdown of the transportation system.
What will this mean to you? For the first few months, nothing. Most banks will be adopting the new technology slowly in order to accommodate their customers. However, the Consumers Union estimates that within a year, consumers could be bouncing an additional 7 million checks per year.
Make sure they don't bounce checks written to you. Ask your bank when they will be adopting this legislation. When your bank is ready for Check 21, inform your customers of the change in float time.
COMING SOON...
Look for the release of Cash Register Express 10.1 and Restaurant Pro Express 10.1, scheduled for September 20th.
Next week's newsletter will talk about more new legislation...involving gift cards.
Within 60 days, Budget POS will introduce new features to electronically verify, deposit, and guarantee check funds.
Back to Newsletters
