Different discounts for different items?

[RoadHazard]

I’d like to apply two discounts simultaneously, with one discount applied to certain items and the other discount for other items. 

For example, our employee discount is 50% off on merchandise but 60% off on wine. Ringing up merch and wine together in the same transaction and then tapping both discount buttons does the wrong thing. Our olde tyme cash register handles this situation with a Subtotal button, but there’s no equivalent on Square POS for iPad. 

My current workaround is to ring up the two transactions separately, but I’m hoping for a more elegant solution. 

[TheRealChipA]

Hi @RoadHazard.  We have to quit meeting like this! 🤣😂. Anyway….

There are two ways to apply discounts — at the transaction/check level which you are doing now, and at the item level.  What you want to do is apply your employee discounts at the item level.  To do this, before you add the item to the cart scroll all the way to the bottom and you’ll see a discount section.  Select the discount that applies and then add it to the cart.

Keep in mind that, currently, Square only allows percentage discounts at the item level, and not dollar discounts. 

[RoadHazard]

I promise to get better soon… 😁

I think I’ve stumbled across the same technique that you describe. Tapping each item allows tweaking its quantity, taxability, notes, etc. including sliders for which discount(s) apply. I can turn discounts on or off for each item. It’s a bit fiddly, but it works. Thanks. 

[TheRealChipA]

There’s are absolutely no worries! Keep asking questions. Trust me, we’ve all been where you are. That’s why i and others are here, now. To help each other. I have a feeling one day m you’ll be paying it forward here in the Community. 

Now… you bring up an interesting alternative to applying discounts. I’m going to think on it for a while and maybe get back to you via private messaging. It seems to me there is an intriguing feature request for discounts in your overall question. Maybe we can refine it and propose it to the team after it’s more fleshed out.

I agree that doing it on an individual item basis is clunky. And automatic discounts aren’t appropriate, either. But you’ve got me thinking. We can chat more after I’ve slept on it for a day or two — if you’re up for collaborating on some ideas for Square enhancements, that is. 

[RoadHazard]

For what it's worth, I see a couple of ways this could work. 

0. It doesn't *need* to be fixed, in the sense that I can already add/remove discounts and/or taxes from each item individually by tapping it and toggling each discount on/off. It's not ideal, but it works. 

1. Having said that, I think a better solution would be to have a "subtotal" button that draws an imaginary line under everything you've rung up to that point. A discount applied to anything above that line gets applied to everything in that group. The process might be: Item A, Item B, Discount X, Item C, Subtotal, Item D, Item E, etc... The first three items (A, B, C) all get the discount, but all subsequent items (D, E, etc.) do not. 

2. A slight variation of this would use the discount button itself as the dividing line. That is, everything rung up before tapping the discount gets discounted; everything after does not. This avoids adding a new "subtotal" feature but forces the cashier to be very careful about when they tap the discount button. Option #1 above allows you to be a bit sloppier about timing and sequence. 

[TheRealChipA]

@RoadHazard I appreciate you following up on this.  For the record, about a week after our last exchange my main ice cream machine decided to die after 11 years.  This time, repairing it was out of the question.  I can’t complain.  Eleven years is a long time.  But I’ve been scrambling to find a new machine, get it financed, and all the rest.  And, since I had the extra “vacation time,” I decided to visit my mother for a few days.  Anyway, your post was timely as I’m back in the saddle again as far as this Community goes!  So….

I see where you are going with this.  Unless I misread you, you are wanting the option to make the Square POS work more like a cash register — ie - in a top-down fashion.  As appealing as this could seem, it is an extremely different approach than most computer POS work, especially these days.  Even if Square were to offer your workflow as an option, it would have to be only an option.  I think there would be mass rebellion from the masses were they to implement this universally!  So there’s that, for what it is worth.  

Option 0 seems the most likely scenario.  I say that for two reasons.  First, I doubt there are many sellers who have a complicated employee discount policy.  Most, like me, just offer a fixed discount on everything.  And, if that discount is limited to certain products, we restrict those products from the discount definition.  But we don’t have different discount levels for each seller.  it is possible that Square might want to entertain changes, but without a critical mass of sellers also wanting this, it is pretty unlikely to get much traction.  From Square’s point of view, you might have a solution here that is looking for a problem.

Option 1 & 2.  I could see some value in this, if Square were to give us multiple ways to apply discounts.  But it could get complicated quickly, especially from the viewpoint of training cashiers/employees to be careful and thoughtful.  That kind of work ethic just doesn’t exist much anymore.  If it involves thinking rather than just pressing buttons, all sorts of mischief will ensue!  At least that has been the experience of this 62-year old Boomer Dinosaur.  LOL

I’ll add an option 3.  What would you think about an option similar to a restaurant “split check?”  We could split a transaction into multiple parts, apply discount(s) to each part, and then close out the transaction from there?  To me, this satisfies the “asynchronous,” “stream of consciousness” workflow that in inevitable when human employees and equally human customers are involved!  Items can be added to the check.  Then items can be grouped and discounted as a group.  If mistakes are made, even they could be fixed with a few buttons.

Thoughts?

[TheRealChipA · Accepted solution]

@RoadHazard I have another possible implementation idea to submit, too.  How about this?

What if we could specify for each discount what items and/or categories those apply to?  We can do this for automatic discounts, but what you are wanting is not an automatic discount.  So, I see you being able to create an “EmployeeMerch” discount and another “EmployeeWine” discount.  Then when you add those to the transaction, items that are in those categories or items lists would get the discount applied, no matter when they were added.  

I think this might be the most elegant solution.  You?

[RoadHazard]

> What if we could specify for each discount what items and/or categories those apply to?

Oooh, yeah, I like that option best of all. It requires no conscious input from the (largely unconscious) cashiers; it applies itself automatically to the correct items; and it doesn't bork the existing workflow that Square POS sellers are accustomed to using. 

[TheRealChipA]

I’ll submit that sometime today or tomorrow. I’ll post the link here so you can give it your support and comments. I know Square has been given lots of suggestions on beefing up the usefulness of discounts and coupons. I know because I’ve submitted my fair share of them! Hopefully they will put this on that roadmap!

 Thanks!

[TheRealChipA]

Hey @RoadHazard.  Here’s the link to the feature request.  You probably already got a notification that I had @mentioned you in that, but I wanted to put it here too for other sellers to hopefully see and support.

Thanks!

[Candlestore]

@RoadHazard . @TheRealChipA ;

I have been reading through these comments and have a 4th and 5th option.

4th, What if for employee Discounts that are complicated like this with 2 different % rates, if these were behind a Sign in (manager Code) to enter to apply the employee only discounts.  So for example with automatic discounts all Items in Say wine automatically gets the discount, then ALL customers may get this discount not just employees.

5th  Or maybe instead of the Managers pin for the discount be able to apply discount based on Customer.  That way Square users could also use their Customer list to apply Whole Discounts automatically to wholes sale customers.

[DinaLRosenberg]

These are really good ideas..