Electronic Payments

I enjoy shopping at Goodwill stores in Hawaii because of the great deals I can find.  The prices are far below retail and many times the clothes will still have tags on them and are unused.  When I get to the register, I am always greeted with a smile as they ring up my transaction.  I have noticed that all the Goodwill Stores used Point of Sale (POS) systems.  A POS system is a cash register that not only acts as a cash register, but it can also process checks and credit cards and report sales to a local server or a corporate server.  A POS system can help a retail manager keep easy track of daily sales, but also can break the sales down to departments so those can be tracked too.  I used to wonder how the retailer can process the checks and credit cards, also called Electronic Payments. 

The electronic payments begin at the POS terminal, when the cashier either swipes the credit card, or feeds the check through the receipt printer.  After that, the transaction is processed electronically by a credit card and check processing company.  The processing company checks that the credit card and check are valid and then approves the purchase if the buyer has an adequate balance on their card or in their checking account.  These Electronic Payments can greatly speed up the payment to the seller’s bank account, and they don’t have to worry about accepting bad credit cards or returned checks, and that saves money.  The next time you go shopping, take a look at the POS system and you’ll know how your transaction is handled.

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