Training your staff in the proper use of POS hardware.
Being that I work with Point of Sale equipment and software on a daily basis, I am probably more acutely aware of problems that I see at various retailers while shopping. Often, these problems are related to improperly configured hardware, or staff simply not using the devices correctly. As a recent example, during a visit to a big box retailer to return something, the following occurred…
The clerk was trying to use a barcode scanner on the return item and the scanner wasn’t reading the barcode. I had noticed that she was holding the scanner both to far away from the barcode, and at the wrong angle. As I was pointing fact out to her, she interrupts and exclaims, "O. K. wait a minute, I know how to fix this", and with that she holds the scanner above her head like hammer, and brings it crashing down onto the counter top with a bam, bam, bamitty, bam, bam, as she strikes the counter repeatedly. She then proceeds to attempt scanning the item, and is surprised that the scanner still won’t scan the barcode.
It’s a pretty safe bet that if the scanner was improperly programmed, but was functional, it probably wasn’t functional after her "fix".
My guess would be if one person was doing this kind of thing it is likely that others were doing so as well. Neglect of both proper training, and equipment can be an expensive lesson for a retailer.
If you would like some assistance with supporting and training your staff, please contact the CCS Retail Systems Support Department.