POS Peripherals

In this part of our Buyers Guide for POS systems, let's look at a few add-ons you may want to go with a POS system for your storefront.

A printer at each station will let you print out receipts and also credit card slips for customers to sign. Dot-matrix printers are inexpensive, though noisy; thermal printers are a bit more expensive but they are durable and quieter.

The cash drawer gets a lot of banging, so make sure it's solidly built.

A customer or pole display shows the customer what you're ringing up, and the total.

Check readers can be useful if you get a lot of personal checks in your business, since they let you scan in the check and quickly verify it, reducing fraud.

You need security control for access to the POS terminal. Options include simple PIN numbers, or magnetic cards, or fingerprint ID devices — this last is much harder to trick than PINs or cards, which can be stolen.