Taking the POS Plunge: Merchants Tell Their Success Stories

Merchants who decide to modernize their stores with modern point-of-sale (POS) systems do so for a variety of reasons. 

• Simplify business operations. 

• Grow their business – improve performance. 

• Manage their entire business from a single platform. 

• Some old-school shopkeepers grudgingly install one because their accountants use software to do their books and want the daily transactions to flow into their programs. 

• Some wouldn’t think of running a business without one. After all, it’s standard equipment nowadays, right? 

Whatever the reason, any business that sells products, takes payments, records sales, places orders, or manages inventory, customers and employees can benefit from digitizing the processes they use to make their store go. Here are a few examples of businesses that decided to add POS solutions to their stores and how their performance improved. 

Simplify Business Operations 

Business: Crosby Drug 

Location: Crosby, North Dakota 

Years in business: 45, 5 under current ownership 

Joyce Woodward, manager of Crosby Drug in Crosby, North Dakota, has seen first-hand the difference adding point-of-sale technology to a retail pharmacy can do. She worked at J. Co. Drug for 13 years when it operated on a cash register. When Gabe Gratz and his partners bought the place five years ago and modernized it with Paladin Data Corporation retail technology, Joyce took over as manager. The change in operational efficiency was like going from night to day, she says.  

“Before we got Paladin, we had a regular cash register. Things we sold went into different categories – Hallmark cards, over-the-counter items, school supplies, cleaning supplies. You had to know what category they fell into and know the price when you rang it up. Big headache. With Paladin, it is so nice to be able to scan products and have the system know what category they are and the prices,” she explains.  

Paladin’s Market Driven Inventory Management™ system makes it Joyce’s best friend when it comes to managing the store. Paladin manages customers’ charge accounts and keeps all their OTC items properly stocked, categorized and priced. It also drastically simplifies year-end inventory and reduces labor costs.  

“Starting in December, we used to go through the store and write down everything we had and the price. It was a pain,” she says. “Now, inventory is a lot quicker. Not as big of a headache. With the cost of wages being so high, I don’t have to hire people to help us do inventory, so it saves us money.”  

Joyce also appreciates the reports Paladin provides to measure her store’s success. 

Manage All Aspects of Business 

Business: Miller’s Pharmacy 

Location: West Henrietta, New York 

Years in Business: 16 

Before Miller’s Pharmacy in West Henrietta, New York chose Paladin Data Corporation to provide its retail POS technology, it was doing business in much the same way it did when its doors opened in 1995. Staff used a simple cash register and a separate credit card terminal that produced a receipt that would be stapled to the register receipt. 

Signatures were collected and documented in a pharmacy software system for things like HIPAA compliance and insurance proof-of-pickup. The software could log signatures and dates but wasn’t able to process payments. Since payment and signatures were separate, this called for extra work instead of a one-step process. 

When owner Michael Welsch chose Paladin to supply his POS system and pharmacy integrations, all that changed. Paladin technology allows Miller’s Pharmacy to: 

• Acquire automated price updates through a link with wholesaler RDC (Rochester Drug Co-op.) 

• Recognize all OTC and Rx products through scanning at point of sale 

• Integrate its IPS Pharmacy System and its wholesaler 

• Require manager approval for check-out discounts

• Generate proof of pickup and filled versus pickup reports 

• Collect and store electronic signatures for audit purposes 

• Generate suggested order reports to simplify the ordering process 

• Provide integrated payment processing which nearly eliminates human error 

• Decrease wait times at checkout by streamlining operations 

“Miller’s Pharmacy is now equipped to automate the ordering process and keep better tabs on pricing and margin control,” Michael says. “With so many regulations and requirements involved, Paladin made everything simple and effortless.”