We're a three year old small fishing tackle store - 800 sq ft, four employees. The store has done well and the outlook is good. I'd like to improve our method of re-ordering and of accounting for inventory using a barcode scanner.

My problem is I don't know what's available and reasonable for a very small business. Internet searches produce an overwhelming amount of detail, with no big picture (or little picture, in the case of our business). I have experience with systems and business processes and want to take baby steps and not get tangled up with technology or formal process.

My notion is to use a scanner to capture data and feed it to MS Access Database. A manual step to accomplish the data transfer would be OK. We'll also need a database that relates UPC codes to products. A combined scanner / register / software offering would be OK too, but probably would cost more than we're willing to spend.

I would be very grateful if someone who has done a similar thing could share their experiences and offer advice and counsel, the be-sure-to-do's, the look-out-for's and gotchas, and their conclusion about whether or not they realized the benefits they were after. We'd also appreciate any information and advice about products, suppliers, software, and so forth.

Thanks,

Quickbooks was the answer for us. Works great, is easy to set up and learn and inexpensive as far as POS systems go. Obviously it will talk to the QB financial software as well so at the end of the year we just give our accountant a cd with our QB info and they do the taxes with few questions.

I sold POS systems for about 10 years and am qyite versed in them.

I talked to, but never sold to a couple of tackle shops, mainly because they did not feel the bother was worth it in the long run. Now that was through the 90's, and things may have changed, but the biggest problem was 90% of their goods had no UPC code, or any easy way to attach a barcode.

I'll give you my standard speach here - a barcode is just a quicker way of typing in an item number. While everyone uses the term UPC code, many products with barcodes do not use UPC. The next most popular is 3 of 9, which you can print yourself on commonly available labels. Virtually all POS programs will do this right from the software. You can even (and I suggest this) print barcode/price labels when you complete a purchase order and then use the labels to check in the order. Extra labels - short order. Short labels, wrong items? or extra items.

I do not suggest QB POS. QBis an accounting program, not an inventory management program. You can get virtually no significant inventory data from QB. I won't go on and on about it, or get into a discussion with others who are happy with QB, but the fact is that inventory was an "add-on" for QB, which is an Accounting Program. POS programs are desigend to manage inventory, as well as sell. Turnover statistics, etc. Gross profit by item. Much more.

Anyhow, you can use Access. But I don't suggest it. You can program the scanner to do a Carrige Return after the scan - which moves it to the next field, or no CR which leaves it right where it is. But not much more.

You can buy good POS software for about a grand. A scanner, cash drawer and receipt printer about another $ 500, if that.

I suggest POSitive, which you can buy, without the actual computer, with the items I mentioned above in the $ 1500 rnage, about the same as the QB POS bundle, and you will get a much better product.

www.pointofsale.com will get you there. You can probably lease it, if you chose.

If you want to work up a file, scan into the file then edit access, you can. It would be just a text file that looked like -

12345, 2 <CR>
67890, 4 <CR>
87543, 2 <CR>
etc.

Again, the problem in your business is lack of UPC's, having to print your own 3 of 9 codes, and then sticking the labels on all those buckets and bins of bobbers and bait.

If you need a program for doing the 3 of 9 labels, check here -

http://forummembersservices.com/HTML/smartbuspack.html

Thanks Aaron Hats & Pete. Good info.

Pete, most of the items now have a printed barcode. Is there an easy way to tell if it's UPC or 3 of 9? It's okay if we don't capture each and every one of the doo-dads and gizmos, but I do care about high margin items, popular items, fad items, and the rate of movement of certain items. Walking around looking at blank hangers is error prone, time consuming, and it's hard to reliably tell that we've FINALLY sold out of that turkey item and can re-claim the display space and not re-order.

The reason for using Access is to produce summary reports, print order forms, etc. For now, anyway, Quicken kind of features aren't what I'm after.

UPC is always 1 23456 78901 2 format. Except on small packages like gum or certs/rolaids.

3 of 9 can be any size since it will code letters and numbers, virtually the entire set of keyboard characters.

It really doesn't matter, since the scanner will read both with no problem.

Best thing to do is "scan in" the item number into Access as the item number for that product. Or, if you're used to calling it a D-5, but the UPC is 2 34567 98764 2 you can set up a seperate field for the barcode. With 3 of 9, you could make the barcode say D-5.

If you're comfortable with Access, that is sure the least expensive way to go.

The POS software that I use is made for the tool business, but I will say that Pete's method of barcode label check in works for me. My software prints barcodes with every PO/Invoice, and when I apply them to the product, it is automatically checked.

I do not use the scanning capabilities with the software. I simply enter the part numbers into the computer. I don't see the advantage of barcodes for every day selling. It could be handy for inventory time, however.

Whenever the topic of QB comes up everybody knows Pete and I have different opinions. I respect Pete because he has sold POS systems. I'm simply a user who's happy with my QB Financial and POS software.

At least 95% of my inventory doesn't come with UPC codes so I have QB POS print out bar codes for me. This is very convenient for us.

Pete, you mentioned that you can't get detailed inventory information from QB. I'm not sure what else you would need in addition to what QB has for info. I can set up warnings for low inventory, it tells me how much I have on hand and what's on order. I also just printed a report that told me what items sold for the month before last Christmas.

The best thing for anybody to do is research all your options and decide what's best for your business. For us it was QB POS in conjunction with the Financial software. For others it may be a pen and paper or a custom POS system. Only you can decide what's right for you and your business.

Good luck with your decision.
__________________

Can you keep track of returned "alledged defective" items you have on hand, waiting for return to your suppliers? By supplier? Can you produce a "Returned Goods Invoice" when you ship those items back to your suppliers?

Can you look at a single screenshot and see all of the various price levels (up to 5 or 6) that you may offer on that item, how many are in stock, how many are commited to orders in progress, how many are committed to layaways, how many are on order and what your YTD sales of that particular item is?

Can you run a Gross Profit Per Item report, showing how much you made on each item by any of these - supplier, manufacturer, class, department or category?

Can you get a report showing sales by month for each item for the previous 12 months, plus a total for the 12 months prior to that?

And while I doubt that anyone would want to sell, or buy, a used hat, there are many used fishing poles and reels sold. Will QB POS allow someone to take items in on consignment and sell them, printing a receipt for the consignee when they drop off that $ 800 deep sea rig, and then calculating the split when the rig is sold?

Does it have the capabilities to price out 2-fers and 3-fers, etc. One for $ 1.99, 3 for $ 4.99?

Will it handle "matrix" items, like a tee shirt that comes in 5 sizes and 10 colors, all under the same SKU?

And does it have the capability to deal with items like cigarettes and beverages that come in cartons and packs, or case, 12 pack, 6 pack and each - all with the same barcode?

Does it easily handle items that are bought by the case and sold by each?

Can you get purchase information as easily as sales information?

Is there a simple method to correct inventory for loses and breakage?

Will it accept inventory counts from hand-held data collectors and produce a discrepancy report, allowing for double checking of outstanding differences between count and computer, before updating and finalizing the new (hopefully correct) count?

While not applicable to hats or fishing gear, will it accept electronic scales, check readers, etc.?

Can items be tagged for food stamp acceptance, age compliance, etc.?

Frankly, it's been a few years, a a version or two, since I looked at the WB POS. It may by now do all of these.

Frankly, my biggest concern with "anything QuickBooks" (which I do use myself 2005 Wholesale and Manufacturing) is that it comes from Intuit.

I am firmly convinced that after MicroSoft, Intuit is the second most evil company around. They have an insidious plan to take over small businesses everywhere. Like MS, they want to integrate everything needed to run a small business and then suck peoples wallets dry with unneeded upgrades and discontinuing support for versions that work perfectly well for people who do not need all of the bells and whistles that are unnecessary for just doing basic accounting.

One of these days you will be sprouting a sign reading "Aaron's Hats - a division of Intuit". And they will have a straw into your checking account.

I don't know if it can do those things because I don't need it to do them. That's why I said:

The things I do need it to do it does. It may take two steps instead of one but there's only ever been one thing I need it to do that it can't. That one thing is separate in-store and online sales and that is easily fixed by a journal entry at the end of the day taken from information on my end of day report.