When I did a test stint and Papa John’s, I noticed that entering the credit card number manually took quite a bit of time. You can also take debit cards with the wireless terminal. But man, terminals are pricey. And I worry about how rugged they are. Drivers are out in all kinds of weather and the equipment is gonna take some abuse. Still investigating…
You may not have lost any but you havent gained the people that do use debit cards and want to order from you but cant! So I guess you really have lost some…
Actually, what we’re losing is the people who are a bit worried about giving their CC # over the phone to an unknown person - I’ve run across a fair amount of these people over the years, and the number seems to be increasing all the time. One thing I’m in the process of doing is integrating CC purchases into my POS so that a customer only will have to do it once.Their number will then be encrypted on the POS so that the phone person will only have to ask “Do you want that put onto your credit card which ends in 4586?” The rest of the number will inaccessible to me or my staff. I also would not mind having the mobile terminal, but have worries about the reliability and durability for the price.
Huh? Who has a “debit card” that isn’t also a Visa or Mastercard? I haven’t seen a real “debit card” in probably 15 years.
Actually, what we’re losing is the people who are a bit worried about giving their CC # over the phone to an unknown person - I’ve run across a fair amount of these people over the years, and the number seems to be increasing all the time. One thing I’m in the process of doing is integrating CC purchases into my POS so that a customer only will have to do it once.Their number will then be encrypted on the POS so that the phone person will only have to ask “Do you want that put onto your credit card which ends in 4586?” The rest of the number will inaccessible to me or my staff. I also would not mind having the mobile terminal, but have worries about the reliability and durability for the price.
Saving credit card numbers in your POS certainly won’t work in a college town. You would have one roomate charging to the others card. And the people who are paranoid about giving their CC number over the phone will be the same ones who FREAK OUT when they realize you have saved their CC number to use over and over again. They would probably freak out over having the driver swipe their card in some cell phone machine they’ve never seen as well.
We run all cards as credit. A rule that has been shared before by companies that warn against credit card abuse always says
“If you call them it is ok to give your card info. Never give it to someone who calls you.”
In over 3 years in business, I may have had 2 or 3 people who felt uneasy about sharing the card info. We merely state that we enter in the info., bring the reciept, have them sign and give them the bottom copy.
One thing you need to understand and even share with the customer is the fact that the only one at risk in this venture is you --the merchant. If the customer would like to contest the charge-and they have 18 months- the credit card company sends you the chargeback notice and it is up to us to prove that the sale is legit.
Sometimes if I want to notice a trend in the industry, you look to the leaders. Does the big 3 use the wireless terminal? Yes or no and why or why not. I am not saying to follow them, but they have a lot more insight and knowledge as to trends and usages.
The bottom line is everyone’s situation is different and we all have learned knowledge and no one is right or wrong. It is just our view of a situation we only have limited knowledge of compared to you, who knows your situation fully.
Food for thought-digest it well.
Bubba
Huh? Who has a “debit card” that isn’t also a Visa or Mastercard? I haven’t seen a real “debit card” in probably 15 years
I don’t take ATM cards that have no Visa or MC logo even if card is swiped.
Bubba - where are you getting this 18 month time limit? As far as I know, the limit to dispute a charge is 60 days from the statement date that the disputed charge appears. Definately not 18 months.
Call your credit card processor. It is an automatic 18 months disputable time frame. I thought it was a bit much time but that is what the credit card company said to me only 2 weeks ago.
I take amx, mc and visa.
bubba
I agree some people do not like to have their CC information kept on file but as far as someone freaking out about leting a driver swipe their card in a 'some cell phone machine" doesnt make sense. Most people are used to technology and will know what you are doing if you bring a wireless terminal to the door. Even when I started with a wireless terminal over 5 years ago (we were the first ones in town to have a wireless machine) people knew what it was.
Maybe things up her in the far north (Canada) are different then what you have but we have debit cards that take the money straight out of your checking or savings account (buy now pay now) or we have the Master card and Visa which is a CHARGE card (buy now pay later) Debit cards cant be keyed into wireless machine and need a PIN number to work the Credit cards can be keyed or swiped and just need a signature. Hope that help explain the difference
Man, all the quoting 
In USA, we have branded debit cards as the overwhelming norm (we often call the check cards). Check cards branded by Mastercard or VISA (most are VISA) can be run as either debit or credit in the point of sale purchase machines. They take the money straight from bank accounts like you described, but also have the mega-bank assurances. There are also plain old bank debit/ATM cards issued by the bank where your money is deposited . . . but those are generally for those who actively chose not to have the VISA check card, or are “credit impaired”.
Look for the VISA logo on the card. If it is there, then you have what I am describing. If only the local bank logo, then likely a debit card rather than check card.
I did not expect this thread to turn into a CC debate. I will keep everyone posted on our experiences with it.
We started delivery today and only had three orders for delivery at lunch. Mondays are always slow, and everyone was pleased with the service and product. Overall the total sales for lunch were up a bit for a Monday.
I have my fingers crossed for a better dinner. I will keep everyone posted.
That’s 3 more deliveries than we had for lunch today! I hate lunches :x
Some advice I forgot to mention in my last post in this thread: Have two sets of eyes check the tickets before leaving for delivery. One is of course the driver, but have a manger or cook check the ticket and make sure the driver has everything the customer ordered. Having the driver go back to bring a forgotten 2-Liter or salad can set everything else back.
Along those same lines, always ensure your driver has a “bank” to make change with. You don’t want them to have to drive back because they didn’t have change.
Well we ended up with 5 total deliveries for the day. Two were regulars, and the other three were not. That is a big plus. Another big plus is that sales were up 50% over the last 5-6 Mondays.
The BIG surprise were calzones. We leaked to nobody tat they would be on the new menu which came out today, and it accounted for 15% of total number of sales for the day.
So overall is was a good day. Our Mondays/Tuesdays have been horrible over the last 8 weeks, so this is a plus. The downside is that the increase in biz is basically offset by the increased labor. If we can be up 20% for the whole week, it would be a BIG gain.
I just wanted to fill in those who were keeping up with the saga!
Keep us posted.
As for the labor…it is an investment. It just takes time.
Great job…I am excited for you.
Kris
Something we all probably know but need to put in foremost in our mind. The majority of our sales will come on Friday and Saturday. This should be about 40 to 50% of our weekly sales. Then the next 2 busier days will be Thursday and Sunday. Now before everyone gets on the bandwagon and wants to argue this fact…Yes there are exceptions to all rules. And yes you probably have one in your store, but…this is a rule of thumb for the restaurant industry. Numbers don’t lie, this is a fact. So, don’t try to fret to much on Mon to Wed sales.
We need to concentrate on operations and marketing for Thursday to Sunday. I have beat my head on the front counter so many times trying to change this fact and run specials on Mon to Wed. I spend the same money to do this and get a far less return. So…I spend Mon and Tues and Wed making my schedule for both stores, paying bills and all the other fun stuff that goes along with the operations of a rest. Use these days to take off 3 or 4 hours to spend with family, market outside of the store, whatever it takes for you to “think outside the box” and “decompress” from the business day in and day out.
Remember this…In order for us to grow as an individual and for the store to grow, we must work ON the business more than IN the business. Yes, we have all been there and need to work a position to save labor and train others, but it is imperative that we focus on the long run and get outside and try to view things longterm.
Just some thoughts.
Bubba
Nice post Bubba.
Well today our deliveries went up to 5 for the lunch shift, and the $ amount sales in total was 2x our average Tuesday lunch. I am not sure if is the extra hour of light, or people just talking about us. Even though we have only had around 10 deliveries so far, I think that it is possible that the service itself is creating a buzz. Time will tell. I will keep you posted after dinner.
Well we had 4 more deliveries tonight. That made 8 today, almost double yesterday. Our sales were double of what a normal tuesday has been.
I am very excited to see what the rest of the week has in store. An article in the local paper about delivery comes out tomorrow about our new delivery service. We have not received our menu’s yet (printed out some to get us by), so we have not even attempted doorhangings. Im hopeful that those will give us a nice boost also.
Also, as a side note, my food supplier recommended that I order some extra flour to be safe. He said that they (sysco of new england) ordered a truck, and only 1/3 was delivered. It appears that general mills is beginning to ration he flour…
Matt be sure to be ready for tomorrow, Thursday and Friday. You need to trust me on this. You want to give great and I mean great service. I would call in back up! Trust me!
Kris