I was thinking of purchasing a digital cash register. There's a pretty sweet Casio for $200 at office depot that we could actually program in all of the product prices for and just enter a quick 2 digit code when ringing up purchases. It would print out a receipt and calculate change and all that stuff. It keeps track of clerks and departments and we could set each company up as a department so that would make end of day pay out pretty easy.

I think it would add a touch of professional appearance to the booth and avoid alot of headaches.

Only problem is, I don't think it runs off of batteries (I have a query in to be sure, but I'm betting no).


Greg, as I recall last year you had a Car battery rig to run your lap top. Do you plan on having that with you this year, and would it put out enough power to run the register and your laptop both?

If not, how much extra is getting power to the booth?

Valamir,

Ive read a few other posts over the past couple months of other needs for electric too... IF the power needs become too much for gregs battery perhaps those who need/want electric could chip in on it. I know its cheaper to buy early than at the con, and would be willing to chip in.

The cash register would likely simplify the end of the day, and help prevent mis-charging people. The question on that end is if you plan to do enough cons to make it useful to you in the long run.

I have no problem with the cost of the register. This will be my 3rd trip to GenCon, and I see no reason to expect that there won't be several more for me to get my money's worth out of it. The headache savings alone I think will be worth while.

I just don't want to get it, get it all set up, and then not be able to actually use it.

Yep, I'm bringing the battery and inverter again. If you can tell me what kind of power draw the register has, I can tell you if its a viable proposition. If it runs off of one of those wall wart power supplies, no problem.

Greg Porter
BTRC

Ralph,

Such a device would be a godsend for money management at the booth. I was thinking about bringing a more low-end adding machine with paper roll, but I'm also concerned about juice for it. It is *not* battery operated or rechargeable; I'm not sure how it would work with Greg's set-up.

One thing I hope folks will think about a little in advance is discounted pricing or special deals, and making sure that information is clearly recorded for the end of the day cash-out.

Julie

Yeah, especially this year where we've taken a much more "professional" (for lack of a better word) approach to organization and actually charging other booth members I think that we need to have a much better system of handling the financial end.

Last year it worked (although at times just barely) largely because of some really stellar volunteer work by Julie and Danielle. Part of the reason it worked is because most of the folks in the booth knew each other, had done the GenCon thing before, and because of the social atmosphere took a pretty laid back and easy going approach to the money issue. As it was it all worked out in the end but it was a lot more stressful than it needed to be.

This year there are alot of different companies joining us in the booth. New faces, and new people I haven't yet met. I'm not real comfortable tempting fate a second year with our slightly haphazard money handling technique (although last year was better then the year before's envelope-in-Jake's-hip-pocket method).


I'm pretty certain that the unit I'm looking at uses a standard wall plug, so Greg, if you're pretty certain you'll have the juice to make it go, I'll go ahead and pick it up and figure out how to program it.

What I'll need then is a list of every product that is to be sold at the booth with price and company including any companies that will have stuff sold at the booth but may not actually be present themselves.

"Company" here should be interpreted as any individual entity that expects to get paid seperately; and "product" here is anything that has or may have a non zero price tag on it.

If someone is already compiling such a list, fantastic. If not, we'll need to figure out the easiest way to do that.

If the register uses more juice than expected, you can always turn it off when it isn't in use, and I can drag the batter back to the room each night to recharge it. One, the other or both should ensure a constant supply of juice for it.

Greg
BTRC

Hello,

I'm keeping a pretty tight list of people, companies, and products already. I plan to have it nicely printed out for use at the booth, both at the register and for general reference.

I'm also (slowly) getting the specs together for the handouts. Right now, I have two in mind: an overall booth listing with very brief information as well as a "what is going on here" statement; and a special/spiff listing for the high-end buy-ins and sponsors, with logos and so on.

As for the battery - Ralph, since you're an official GenCon exhibitor for the booth, feel free to look into the costs of getting the place wired, and I'll leave it up to you to decide whether to do it or not.

Best,
Ron

Ok, ye olde cash register has been purchased.

It comes with software that allows you to program it on your PC and then upload it to the register which is vastly easier than trying to program it using the arcane key stroke combinations. This also allows download of the sales data rather than relying on a sales journal printed on register tape.

Its a little squirrley getting it to talk to my PC, it uses a serial cable and isn't particularly plug and play, but I will bring the software and cable to the Con in the hopes that we can get it to work with someones lap top and make capturing the sales data easier.

1) Its a little complicated to use. I was unaware that being a cashier required some sort of advanced degree in button pushing, but apparently remembering what order to hit the buttons in is pretty crucial. The fact that this model has beau coup features means there are lots of buttons.

2) I think operation can be boiled down pretty simply to the handful of key functions that little 'ole us actually needs so actual operation should go pretty smoothly, but it will definitely require a training period longer than 5 minutes. If there are some booth monkey types with retail cashier experience then I imagine it will be a piece of cake for you and feel free to volunteer for the job of head cashier.

3) The register can be programmed with both Departments and Prices (PLUs). The journal reports can provide subtotals by Department (as soon as I figure out how to get them), so I will be assigning each company a Department number. There are far more departments than we need, although the higher numbers require additional arcane key strokes to get to. But I think the basic (easy) ones will be enough. One of the nicer features of the register is that it can be programmed to replace the Department number with a name so Dept. 1 can be "Adept Press" and Dept. 2 can be "Ramshead Pub", etc.

4) The PLUs can also be programmed with names and linked to a Department. My intention is, for ease of operator use, to assign each product a number whose first digit is the company number. So if Adept Press is Dept 1, then Sorcerer will be 101, &Sword will be 102, Soul 103, Sex& 104, Elfs 105, and Trollbabe 106. Similarly Universalis will be 201 etc. The PLUs can also be programmed with fixed prices so that hitting "101", <PLU>, <CA> will automatically add 1 unit of Sorcerer at the preprogrammed price. There is a way to then do %age and $ discounts if necessary though I discourage such activity.

For products such as BTRC's CD-o'rama (which I presume they'll be offering again) and which has a variable price based on content, the price will have to be entered using the Dept # only (or a non fixed PLU) instead.

5) There is also the possibility of assigning Clerk Numbers with names that will print on the receipt. This is possibly useful to track down who made what sale if there is a problem.

6) I have not toyed with it yet, but the register also is supposed to have the capability of putting a customized graphic logo at the top of the receipts along with text. We'll see if I can monkey around with figuring out what format and dimensions it wants

7) Yes the register does have a locking cash drawer, which supposedly is removeable but I haven't figured that out yet.

8) At the end of the day then it should be possible to pull a sales journal sorted by Department that will make day end reconciliation if not a breeze at least much easier.


***OK, WHAT I NEED***


1) I need a complete list of all actual companies who will be selling product at the Con with the name they are doing business under (as this may get printed out on the receipt if I can figure it out). If its a long name give me your preferred abbreviation because I think you only get 12 letters or so.

2) I need a complete list of EVERY SINGLE product that will have or may have a price associated with it by company. If you think there's an off chance you might sell a signed autographed pair of your old gymshorts I want it listed as a product so that EVERYTHING gets programmed into the register BEFORE I go to Indy and we don't have to figure out how to futz with it on site.

3) I need a complete list of prices that will go with these products because it is my intention to program the prices into the register. If you have a product that will have a variable cost indicate that. If you have a product that may be sold individually or as a set (with a different price)...for example TROS Core, TROS Beasts & Men, and TROS Core + Beasts & Men; or all 4 Sorcerer books for 1 low price and if you buy Troll babe we'll throw in Elfs for free...they MUST be listed as seperate products.

***failure to comply with any of these items will make me most wroth and ye shall be sore afraid***

Ron had indicated he was compiling a list but I don't know if his list is as complete in the particulars as I need it to be. If it is great. Make sure you get your info to Ron and I'll get it from him. If its not going to have all of that, then I need to get a list of the companies from Ron and then you will need to supply the above information directly to me

---Ron?


4) Cashiers. It is almost certainly best to limit the actual people allowed to operate the cash register to a select few. That will make training easier and limit the possibility of catastrophic mishap. Lets discuss

a) who wants to volunteer to be a cashier and is willing to swear an oath to the eldritch gods of banking and finance to not screw it up.

b) do we want to program the cashiers first name / initials into machine so it prints on the tape

c) the register requires a key to operate. I have 2 Manager level keys (required for doing manager type stuff like voiding transactions) and 2 Operator level keys (which don't allow access to the more dangerous functions like programming and erasing all the days data). Obviously, I will have 1 of the Manager keys. Some other soul who gets to have the fabulous and completely uncompensated title of Head Cashier should have the other one. Someone with a Manager Key (who knows how to use it) should be in the booth at all times uncase transactions go awry and need to be cleared. At other times one of the operator keys should be used to prevent inadvertant disastor


5) Stocking the register in advance. I guess that since its my register I'll have to take the initiative to stock it with bills and coins for change. How much do we think we need in that regard. Any of last years cashiers get a feel for it?


Talk amongst yourselves, I'll be back when I've figured out more feature type stuff.

Hi Ralph,

I'll volunteer to perform cash register duties. The only formal register experience I have is from memorizing a price list and adding totals in my head with an open cash drawer while working at a coffee shop in graduate school. Hmmm. Sounds like what I did at GenCon last summer. I'll even be head cashier if no one else with better experience raises their hand.

I have no opinion about the name or initials issue (Julie/jrs)

Advance stocking. We surprisingly managed to get away with minimal up front cash for stocking the drawer last year. I wasn't there Thursday morning, but I think there was only about $20 odd to start each subsequent morning. I do remember asking for small bills and exact change a few times. And at least once had to get someone else to change out a $20. Off the top of my head, I'd consider $40 in small bills a safe amount.

Everyone will price their games in round numbers, right? I'd really prefer not to deal with coins.

I have a few questions about the new cashier setup:

1. Is it possible for you to share the operation instructions in advance?

2. Are receipt books needed for any reason?

3. Does the cashier allow input regarding credit card purchases? I'm thinking of two issues: identifying which products can be purchased by credit card, and the ability to keep a separate tally of purchases that are not associated with cash on hand.

4. Should we consider any backup plans in case there is a problem with the cashier and there is an imminent sale?

Julie

Everyone will price their games in round numbers, right? I'd really prefer not to deal with coins.

I have a few questions about the new cashier setup:

1. Is it possible for you to share the operation instructions in advance?

2. Are receipt books needed for any reason?

3. Does the cashier allow input regarding credit card purchases? I'm thinking of two issues: identifying which products can be purchased by credit card, and the ability to keep a separate tally of purchases that are not associated with cash on hand.

4. Should we consider any backup plans in case there is a problem with the cashier and there is an imminent sale?

Ralph,

First off, you rock and rule. This is a great idea. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere in the recent posts, but is power for said wunder-machine confirmed?

Here's my company data and price list:

BURNINGWHEEL (BW) Dept 5. (I'm a bit superstitious, if it's not a problem I'd like to specifically request dept 5.)

BW set, 501, $15
Monster Burner (Monbu), 502, $20
Character Burner only (CBO), 503, $10
BW Monbu Combo (BWMonbu), 504, $30
BW Tshirt, 505, $20

Also, if it's not a problem, for ease of accounting, the No Press Anthology should be a separate department from BW. Let me know if it's a problem.

No Press RPG Anthology (NPA), Dept 6.
NPA, 601, $20.

hope that helps, let me know if you need anything else.
-L

Just a thought. I was planning on offering a discount coupon at some point in the show. If anyone else was going to do this, you might want to specify it as an item specific to your company, like:

$1 off discount coupon for BTRC, price of "-$1.00"

That way, it shows up as a negative in -your- sales, not something that has to be figured out afterwards. And of course, you'll be able to see how many coupons were redeemed and on what days.

And it looks like power from me and the car battery is a definite yes.

Greg Porter
BTRC

Valamir,
I've sent you a copy of the BTRC sales list via the Forge mailer.

Greg
BTRC

Ralph,

Here is my list for Bob Goat Press (BGP):

Conspiracy of Shadows: $20
Coupon: - $2

Nice and simple....

Keith

Half Meme Press has one product:

My Life with Master: $13

Paul

Ralph, here's mine:

Chimera Creative (CC):

Products:

Dust Devils: $12
Nine Worlds: $18

Here's mine:

93 Games Studio (93GS)

The Swing: Reality Guide - $20

The Swing CD - $5

Fastlane - $12, is the only product of Twisted Confessions (TC, I suppose)

Heres my Company Info and Product List w/Gencon Pricing.

Company: Digital Alchemy (DA)


Products:

$20.00 Cartoforge: Dungeons (Palm OS)
$30.00 Cartoforge (Palm OS)
$30.00 Adventure Writer For Windows (10th Aniversary Edition)
$60.00 Adventure Writer For Windows Designers Edition

If you need anything else let me know.

Thanks,

Dan Ridenhour
Digital Alchemy

Here's Behemoth3's (B3) info, Department X:

Products:
Horde Book 1: Stirge (HB1), X01, $12
Stirge monster cards (MC1), X02, $5
Horde Book 2: Minotaur (HB2), X03, $12
Stirge monster cards (MC2), X04, $5
Masters and Minions set (MnM), X05, $30 [combo of all of the above]
Bull lord baseball jersey (BUL), X06, $20
Stirge coffee mug (MUG), X07, $13
Behemoth3 logo cap, X08, $15

Discounts:
Postcard coupon, -$2
HB1 PDF owner coupon, $-5 off X01 and a free X02
HB2 PDF owner coupon, $-5 off X03 and a free X04

The latter two are part of a promotion; the PDF people buy between now and the con will include a coupon that they can print and turn in at the booth to receive the discount. Since they could print out endless numbers of said coupons, I'll also compile a list of the owners who qualify for this discount, and we should have someone in the booth most of the time to help manage this.

Let me know if you need more details or explanation!

- Tavis

Ok Update Time:


1) Among the products so far include 3 shirts, a ball cap, a coffee mug, and an LCD Badge (for full disclosure, 1 of the shirts is mine). I don't recall having any merchandise in the booth in previous years.

Ron, you, me, Luke, and George need to pow wow up some standards for merchandise display in the booth.


2) There are a fair number of discount coupons planned. Thanks for making those explicit up front in your product lists. I still have to test them in the register to make sure they work right but I think they will.

However, I must stress that it is the individual companies who must be 100% responsible for the proper use and application of their coupons. None of the cashiers can be expected to monitor coupon useage or promotion implementation.

In other words: if people get credited for coupons who don't deserve them, don't blame us. This goes with especial emphasis to you, Tavis, since you are running some freebee promotions in addition to discounts.

I suggest everyone offering a preprinted discount to provide a sample of it at the con so the cashiers can identify what the coupon is supposed to look like, but again, its the company owners/reps who are responsible for making sure they are applied properly.


3) I am still waiting for product information from the following:

Driftwood,
Dogeared,
Lumpley,
Incardine,
Custom Built


I have product information from the following:

Adept
Ramshead,
BTRC,
Burning Wheel,
No Press,
Half Meme,
Chimera,
Twisted Confessions,
Bob Goat,
93 Games,
Behemoth,
Digital Alchemy

If you aren't on one of the above lists and you think you should be, you'd best get in touch with Ron ASAP because these are the only companies currently scheduled to be at the Forge Booth.

If you're on the first list, then you'd best supply your product information to me ASAP or that whole wrath and fear will kick in and you'll need to placate me with free beer and product (blood sacrifice comes later).


4) A small change in plans with regards to assigning Price Look Up numbers. I was planning to make the first digits of the assigned PLU match the company department number. Unfortuneately the register only holds 1200 PLUs while there are 17 companies. So that won't work. It violates my aesthetic sensibilities but shouldn't be any real problem.


5) Its looking like we are going to have 80+ individual products for sale in the booth. That's ALOT of individual products. The good news is that about 20 of those are BTRC's CD products. But that still leaves alot of product.

I plan to have a product list with name, company and PLU number by the register, but the list is going to be alot longer than I had anticipated.

The PLU system is supposed to make working the cash register easier. It has the fewest keystrokes per item of any method, but I'm not sure how easy looking up the right number is going to be with so much product.

Any suggestions on how to make that piece easier will be appreciated.

The only one that's come to mind so far is to use little price tag stickers on the product but with the PLU number instead of / in addition to the price.


This also means some serious thinking about display space.

Discuss...

Ralph,

What are our assets for display space? You brains, Fezzik strength, my steel? Do we have display shelves like one would find in a comic book store or something or is it just tables and boxes?

Keith

Hello,

I'm not Ralph, but the booth has one rather nifty shelving rack provided by Paul Czege's selfless labor last year. Other than that, display space is extremely limited - the back curtain looks to be pretty taken up by banner space, and there is only very limited space for stand-up displays or shirts. The booth layout was not designed for selling anything but games themselves, with the demo tables being the most significant part of that process.

So for these:

3 shirts, a ball cap, a coffee mug, and an LCD Badge

The programmable scrolling LCD message badges (which are tres cool, by the way) are going to be mounted on printed 8.5 x 11 cardstock so they can sit in any slot where a book could.

Greg Porter
BTRC

If someone's got shirts, those can be folded anc packaged to fit in a book-size slot as well. Just takes a little advance work.

Greg Porter
BTRC

Good points, Greg. Both of those are fully acceptable.

Best,
Ron

I appreciate the thoughts about how to store and display lumpy merchandise! I should have said, though, that I listed the mug, cap, and shirt just according to the might-sell-used-underwear dictum. They're mostly prizes for the Masters and Minions tournament, things for people to wear at the booth, etc. I reckoned that it was best to put 'em in the cash register regardless, and I'm open to any solutions for storage and display that make sense at the time.

The only display Behemoth3 really needs is an 17 x 11" patch of table on which we can put stacks of the two Horde Books; the deluxe set folder w/the cards can sit on top of the stack.

Lucky for me several of my neighbors have unsecure wifi, or I'd have missed this thread. I'm not due for hookup until next friday.

Anyway, Dog-eared Designs (DD or DED) has one product:

Primetime Adventures: $10

Valamir wrote: 4) A small change in plans with regards to assigning Price Look Up numbers. I was planning to make the first digits of the assigned PLU match the company department number. Unfortuneately the register only holds 1200 PLUs while there are 17 companies. So that won't work. It violates my aesthetic sensibilities but shouldn't be any real problem.

Valamir wrote:
The only one that's come to mind so far is to use little price tag stickers on the product but with the PLU number instead of / in addition to the price.

Bob Goat wrote: What are our assets for display space? You brains, Fezzik strength, my steel? Do we have display shelves like one would find in a comic book store or something or is it just tables and boxes?

Important Discovery

The Sharp website found here: http://www.sharpusa.com/files/cas_man_XEA202.pdf

has a PDF of the XE-A202 manual complete with keyboard layout examples and walkthroughs and the like.

I still plan on creating a cheat sheet for use in the booth, but those planning to be cashiers can get a head start with the PDF.

Its 108 pages, but the important pages for operator purposes are:

11-18: Basic Sales entry
21-22: Discounts and Premiums
25-26: Corrections
57-60: Printing Sales Reports by Department, PLU, or hour
61: Manager Level Corrections
62-66: Replacing Paper Roll/Jams and removing cash drawer

The rest of the manual is pretty much programming it or other languages.

lumpley games:
Dogs in the Vineyard: $18.
kill puppies for satan & cockroach souffle (set): $15.
kill puppies for satan (single): $10.
cockroach souffle (single): $6.

I might not actually have any singles of puppies or the cockroach thing, but if I do, that's how much.

-Vincent

More Updates:

1) Programming the discounts in as a product with a negative price won't work after all. Good idea, but the programming won't accept negative prices. Fortuneately free entering dollar discounts is pretty easy and they can be linked directly to a department (company) so it should still work out fine.

%age discounts are a pain in the ass because they depend on hitting the discount in just the right place when ringing things up so that only the desired items get the discount. There will be no %age based discounts made at the Forge booth If you want to give a %age off, you do the math and report the dollar discount to the cashier.

2) The Forge Logo (as it appears above) will print at the top of every register receipt. Its a monochrome low res BMP (and I had to do some pixel edits to clean it up) but it looks pretty cool. The web url will print below it.

3) I have product information for everyone except Incarnadine and Custom Built. Free beer will accrue to me at the rate of 1 per day starting with Saturday. You don't even want to know the penalty for waiting till Wednesday.

Michael Miller and Gordon Landis, this means you


Edit: Michael reminds me he has already sent me his info, so I am unfortuneately unable to extort any free beer from him...