Point of Sale: Using a scale to sell items by weight

[saumaya]

Hey everyone

I'm Saumaya, Product Manager for Point of Sale. We're looking for insights into businesses that use a Scale to sell items by weight to better understand how Square Point of Sale can service your needs.

Does this sound like your business? We want to hear from you!

Some questions to consider (Note: We are working on the ability to support decimal places, these questions assume that decimal places are supported while using a scale): 
1. What type of scale(s) are you using today?

2. What made you pick the specific scale?

3. What are issues you commonly face while selling items by the weight? 

4. How could Square Point of Sale help you bridge the gap for these issues?

Thanks for your feedback!

[saumaya]

Does this sound like your business? We want to hear from you!

Some questions to consider (Note: We are working on the ability to support decimal places, these questions assume that decimal places are supported while using a scale): 
1. What type of scale(s) are you using today?

2. What made you pick the specific scale?

3. What are issues you commonly face while selling items by the weight? 

4. How could Square Point of Sale help you bridge the gap for these issues?

Thanks for your feedback!

[#3]

Hello everyone!

Saumaya and team have been hard at work and I'm pleased to announce you can now link a bluetooth scale to iOS devices to sell items by weight with Square! 

For more details on which scale is currently supported, and the steps to get started check out this post: Square now supports scales. 🎉

[salmon]

I would like to reiterate the most immediate need is for the ability to use a decimal place.  It seems so simple! That would be, by far, the quickest fix for both Square and user.  Connecting a scale or purchasing a scale made by Square seems like major overkill.

As of now I use square as a POS only and am only able to enter pre-determined total prices. If a decimal place was implemented I could then track inventory and use invoicing which would exponentially expand my square usage with retail sales and I would move all wholesale dealings in to it as well.

I would neither connect my current scale nor purchase a new scale as setup, interface and potential cost are a deterrent. It just seems potentially janky.

[sbbin105]

I need to be able for the pos to read the barcode the scale produces. I currently have it set to read a UPCA barcode, that I am able to define within the Hobart scale and then in the POS. In example this item code from my current POS '22212900000' has the item number from the scale embedded so that when I scan the barcode, produced by the scale and scanned into the POS where the item is defined as non-inventory perishable grocery, the POS knows this is a variable cost item and the cost is also embedded within the barcode as well. The Item code '22212900000' is the definition in the POS, the label for the item in example printed by the scale is '222129614793" where the 6 speaks to the weight and 1479 is actually the price of the item, which happens to have been a piece of cheese price 14.79. This is the level of barcode intelligence I require associated with my scale use.

So I set the item up within my Hobart and within my POS and I do not mind having it set up in the scale and in the POS, that is fine. I know others want more, I just want you to work across current UPCA standards. 

[Lilliwaup]

I sell Fuel. I do not need a scale but decimal/fractional pricing would alleviate me using QBPoS. (can't stand QBPoS) I only use square for credit card processing. Decimal pricing and EBT would allow me to use Square for all purposes. (Grocery store & Gas station)

[RainbowFoodCoop]

I manage a small scale food co-op and at least half of our items are self serve bulk. Half of those bulk items are very light (herbs and spices, tea, etc) and NEED to be weighed at the 100th of a pound. Not being able to scale items in <1.00 quantity or have decimals in my inventory tracking is a deal breaker.

I've tried all day to get something to work for me on the Square Dashboard, and am just getting more and more flustered. 

I'm perfectly fine using my current scale and typing the weight into the system. Please just give us a decimal to the 100ths!! All it would take is software tweaking.

I love Square, but I need to run my business with precision.

When can we expect this change?

[Helen]

Hello everyone!

Saumaya and team have been hard at work and I'm pleased to announce you can now link a bluetooth scale to iOS devices to sell items by weight with Square! 

For more details on which scale is currently supported, and the steps to get started check out this post: Square now supports scales. 🎉

[josephmacrino]

Hi @saumaya ,

Does Square have the ability to add / modify tare weights with the scale integration? It is critical in the retail grocery environment to have the common weights of empty containers readily available for cashiers, or at least the option to manually enter these weights.

Joseph

[saumaya]

Hey @josephmacrino 

Thank you for sharing your feedback! 

The Point of Sale app currently does not support setting up Tares but we are definitely aware of this gap and working on adding this feature in the near future. 

In the meantime, you can configure a Tare value directly through your Star scale. Once configured, the Star scale sends the net weight to the Point of Sale so you avoid the manual calculation step. 

Let me know if this is helpful. 

[josephmacrino]

How many tare weights can be pre-programmed into the scale? Can tare weights be applied on the fly?

[Needtotare]

Replying to this 3.5 year old thread… does the POS finally support setting up Tares? I need to deduct the container weight via the POS since customers fill their product up at a zero waste refill station in the shop. It’s not like I can set the empty container on the scale, Tare it, and fill the container while it’s on the scale. Thank you.

[JenD17]

I am so confused on the amount of people that want to make sure they "reiterate"  that most do not care about a scale. Whether you do or don't why is this something that must be reiterated over and over or even brought up? I DO need scale integration and I would not be starting my post with, let me reiterate that most do not care about decimals or not having a scale. I feel everyone "needs" something added or fixed and that it is equally important to each person that their issue is resolved. 

So, my comment is this. I DO need scale integration. I also need to figure out why on earth no one can make a negative modifier or even a discount that understands  how to apply itself as a simple discount and not multiply it by the number of ounces being weighed instead of just applying a straight up single discount. Tare weight is an issue and other than fooling around with the scale at every transaction it would be nice to have a simple discount set up to automatically apply to a specific item when added and not have it multiply the discount. A negative modifier would also be a very simple clean fix. Thanks

[wildocean]

1. What type of scale(s) are you using today?

Hobart HT scale

2. What made you pick the specific scale?

It can print barcodes and has dynamic printing

3. What are issues you commonly face while selling items by the weight? 

Partial weights aren't easy to input, it's too many buttons to press. IT would be nice if square could read dynamic barcodes

4. How could Square Point of Sale help you bridge the gap for these issues?

Have square be able to read different types of barcodes and apply it to items sold by weight

[Joe]

Thanks for adding your voice here, @wildocean! @saumaya

[RainbowFoodCoop]

Chiming in here again...... as the latest integration of Scales to Square is finally the direction many of us have been waiting for... but having to purchase a compatible scale from square is costly... the integration of MORE compatible scales such as Ours would be a HUGE Plus as this is still our current only work around upgrading from a Samsung cash register

1. What type of scale(s) are you using today?

Avery Berkel ( Weigh-Tronix ) 6720-15

2. What made you pick the specific scale?

its our only weight certified scale I use from our Samsung Cash register

3. What are issues you commonly face while selling items by the weight? 

ability to read weight directly from the scale without having to using a Calculator and figuring out the tared weights of items ....

4. How could Square Point of Sale help you bridge the gap for these issues?

ability to directly read the weight on the scale via connecting USB ... My scale has an RS232 ( Serial ) Port.... so the ability to just add in a simple Serial-to-USB Adapter and connecting that to Square Stand USB Hub would be a HUGE step to finally making Square Stand work for us.. without having to upgrade to Square Register and costing me more precious money

[RainbowFoodCoop]

Chiming in here again...... as the latest integration of Scales to Square is finally the direction many of us have been waiting for... but having to purchase a compatible scale from square is costly... the integration of MORE compatible scales such as Ours would be a HUGE Plus as this is still our current only work around upgrading from a Samsung cash register

1. What type of scale(s) are you using today?

Avery Berkel ( Weigh-Tronix ) 6720-15

2. What made you pick the specific scale?

its our only weight certified scale I use from our Samsung Cash register

3. What are issues you commonly face while selling items by the weight? 

ability to read weight directly from the scale without having to using a Calculator and figuring out the tared weights of items ....

4. How could Square Point of Sale help you bridge the gap for these issues?

ability to directly read the weight on the scale via connecting USB ... My scale has an RS232 ( Serial ) Port.... so the ability to just add in a simple Serial-to-USB Adapter and connecting that to Square Stand USB Hub would be a HUGE step to finally making Square Stand work for us.. without having to upgrade to Square Register and costing me more precious money

[peterlollo]

Would need the ability to manually enter tare weights during checkout, since customers bring their own containers, so we cannot preprogram tares.

[keithzimm]

Just an FYI, you do now have an approved app in your Marketplace that addresses most of the concerns on this thread. Label printing, variable weight barcodes, decimal points, Auto Print with scales for repetitive labels, it's all there. Check out Deli Label at Square App Marketplace

[HHFamilyFarms]

I have no problem weighing product on my scale and entering the weight. My issues is that inventory is then based on weight--not package. We sell meat and it comes back to us prepackaged. Adding a barcode to every package before adding it to inventory would be too time consuming, plus if someone ordered online, we would have to search for the specific bar-coded item  for their order. 

As it is now, when items are returned from the butcher, we enter the number of packages that we received of each item. If a customer purchased 1 package of boneless skinless chicken breasts and the total weight of the item is 1.25#, then 1.25 is removed from inventory. This really gets confusing when you are talking about whole chickens (weights between 3.75 -5.00 #) or a chuck roast that weighs 4.2#. When customers go online, they think that we are out of a product because "the web site says"...

I know this type of tracking would save so much time for me...I can't be the ONLY one!

[_Violet]

Hi Sellers! 👋

We’re excited to announce that you can now deduct tare weights from items sold by weight directly through your Square for Retail point of sale.

This new tare functionality allows you to remove the weight of containers or other packaging that shouldn’t be included in what you charge your customers; something that could previously only be managed on the scale itself.

After you place an item on your connected scale and select it to add to cart, you’ll see an option to Set tare. You can enter the container’s tare weight that will be subtracted from the scale’s measured weight. Once the tare is set, and the item is added, the cart will then display the net weight used to calculate the price.

Note: Tare weight can only be subtracted and cannot exceed the measured weight.

Additionally, the customer’s receipt will also display both the net weight and any applicable tare weight while your inventory will be decreased by net weight only.

We hope this will streamline how you sell items by weight, and speed up checkout for you and your customers.

To learn more see our Help article.

Note: This feature is available to all sellers using Square for Retail and a supported scale. The new cart experience must also be enabled on each of your devices in Settings > Favorites.