That time my payment terminal crashed mid-transaction on Black Friday

Last year at my coffee shop in Austin, TX. Line out the door. Customer's card is halfway through. Then the terminal freezes. Blank screen. Just nothing. I had to switch to the backup paper imprinter. Old school. Took me five minutes per transaction. Lost at least $700 in sales that hour. Anyone else still keep a manual imprinter around?

3 comments

3 Comments

julia_carter7026d agoMost Upvoted

Oh man, I feel your pain SO much. That sounds like an absolute nightmare on one of the busiest days of the year? I cannot even imagine the stress of a line out the door and then having to pull out the old school imprinter. Ive been in retail for years and I always keep a manual one tucked in the back for exactly this reason. It collects dust most of the time but when the power goes out or the wifi dies, its a lifesaver. You are not alone in this, I PROMISE you. Those paper slips are a hassle but they sure beat losing hundreds in sales while customers walk out.

henry31526d ago

Keep that imprinter charged with fresh ink pads and test it once a month. The little rollers get stiff if you don't use them. I also keep a spare battery pack for my main terminal now. Learned that the hard way. You can get those paper slips pre-printed with your store info at most office supply stores, saves time writing it all out by hand. And train at least one other person on how to use it. I solo it last year and almost lost my mind.

julia_patel26d ago

Idk how you even functioned solo during that, did you have to keep running back and forth between the imprinter and customers or did you just park yourself at a side table and make everyone wait? That sounds like the kind of thing that would make me want to tear my hair out by noon. Maybe it's just me but I'd rather deal with a cranky terminal than have to hand-crank every single transaction.