POS & Checkout Systems

The Café Owner v1.0

Runs a café with twelve tables, a counter and a terrace in summer, and closes the till herself at eleven at night. Wants an iPad till the student staff learn in one shift, orders that reach the kitchen printer, split bills and tips without arithmetic, a till that keeps selling when the Wi-Fi drops, a TSE she does not have to think about, and a monthly cost she can still read in the second year.

The Retail Shop Owner v1.0

Owns a stationery and gift shop with a second branch across town and about four thousand articles, many in several colours. Wants barcodes scanned at the till, stock that shows what the other branch still has, transfers between the two shops, suppliers and reorders in the same back office, vouchers that work in both branches, and the month's sales handed to the tax adviser without a USB stick.

The Tax Adviser v1.0

Looks after the books of sixty restaurants, bakeries and shops and has sat in on more than one unannounced Kassennachschau. Wants the TSE named with its certificate, a DSFinV-K export that opens in the auditor's software, the § 146a registration done, a procedure documentation that exists before it is asked for, a DATEV export with the right revenue accounts, and ten years of records still readable after the client changes tills.

The Hospitality Operations Manager v1.0

Runs operations for a group of eight restaurants in three cities with two hundred staff. Wants one menu and price list pushed to every site with local exceptions, staff rights that stop a waiter voiding his own bills, reports that compare sites by the hour, and a works council and data protection officer who can sign off what the till records about employees and loyalty guests, and where it is hosted.

The Fee-Conscious Merchant v1.0

Sells ice cream from a shop in spring and summer and from a market stall at Christmas, mostly in amounts under five euros, and more of them by card every year. Wants the fee per girocard and credit card payment on the price page, a terminal he can choose rather than the one the till insists on, hardware that runs off a battery, no monthly fee in the closed months, and the real cost of "free".

The Skeptic v1.0

Has seen a "free" till paid for twice over in card fees, printers that work with one vendor's software only, a TSE charged by the year on top of the licence, and a cancelled contract that left ten years of fiscal journals behind a login. Reads "100 % finanzamtkonform" with no TSE provider named and "DATEV-ready" with no export format — and asks what leaving would cost.