My next business, in the early 90’s, was publishing a computer publication. He was able to prioritize the options he needed and add them as he saw fit. I left the company before the issue was resolved, but the remaining partner eventually implemented a simple FileMaker Pro-based system that allowed him build his own POS. We were ultimately stuck in an inertia of too much choice and not enough knowledge about the capabilities of each system. We called and requested the brochures from the major POS vendors and puzzled over the many options. It is just that in retail, most of the money is often paid immediately, so the POS gives you the ability to generate an invoice and get paid while the customer is still standing there. One way of conceptualizing a POS system is simply as a Sales and Accounts Receivable system.

Even at that early stage, there were dozens of options in the POS area. In the early 1980’s, IBM PCs and their clones were just starting to come on the scene. As the number of items grew in the store, and the number of stores increased, we started looking for a Point of Sale (POS) system to help us with this task.

It also meant that staff had to memorize these numbers, or look up each item on a printed list before entering the sale. These PLUs where the equivalent of product serial numbers in a database and were meant to allow better analysis of products sold. The register had Price Look Ups, (PLUs) so you could enter a code for each item. At the time things were pretty low-tech and we were running our system off of a cash register.

Bud was my company’s accountant when I was a partner in the retail furniture business back in the mid 1980’s.

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