Does Square prompt you to deduct tare weight when using the integrated scale?

[scoopseattle]

I've called into support and am having trouble getting an answer to this question. All of our products are pay-by-weight and we need the capability to deduct the tare weight of the container from the total weight after weighing it on the integrated scale. This is the only way that this scale would make any sense for our business, so I can't justify making the purchase without knowing the answer to this question. I don't see "tare weight" mentioned anywhere in any articles or product descriptions, so I'm a bit worried that this software just doesn't have that capability, but I am hopeful!

[#2]

We are a bulk store and found a scale that had a tare function---where we can type in the weight of the container and hit tare, and it only gives us the weight of whats inside the container for entering on Square. This works for our zero waste store!

[Valentina · Accepted solution]

If we take a look at this scale in the Square Shop, there is a Tare button on the bottom right-hand side of the face of the scale. This is the button you'll use to tare out the weight of a container prior to weighing the product to be sold.

I used to work at a loose leaf tea shop, where we had a big scale that we used to weigh out teas into varying sizes of containers. Sometimes, we used the Tare function before filling containers with tea - we typically did this for oddly shaped containers that we didn't have presets for. Most of the time, we used a couple of preset Tare buttons that we had set up on the scale itself. 

If you already know the weight(s) of your container(s), the preset Tare weight sounds like it's the feature you're looking for. You are able to input 5 different preset Tare weight values using this scale. If you set up preset Tare weight values, you will be able to deduct the weight of the container from the total weight of what's on the scale by using a button on the scale.

If your customers are bringing in containers of all shapes and sizes, you would follow the same steps I followed with oddly shaped containers at the tea shop. @LocavoreStore similarly explained how a yogurt shop would ring up yogurt in a container without charging customers for the container here ✨

[Valentina]

Hi there, @scoopseattle! 👋

I believe you're asking about the scale we introduced in this product update post. Taking a close look at the image of this scale in the Square Shop, it looks like there is a Tare button on the bottom right-hand side of the face of the scale. I opened the image in a new window and zoomed in to confirm this. Please let us know if I'm missing something here!

[scoopseattle]

Thank you for your response. I am not asking about the tare function on the scale, I am wondering if we already know the tare weight of the container, does the software have the ability to deduct that weight from the total weight that it receives from the scale. I am guessing that it must not since no one from Square has been able to answer this question for me. This capability is essential for any bulk food business.

[Valentina · Accepted solution]

If we take a look at this scale in the Square Shop, there is a Tare button on the bottom right-hand side of the face of the scale. This is the button you'll use to tare out the weight of a container prior to weighing the product to be sold.

I used to work at a loose leaf tea shop, where we had a big scale that we used to weigh out teas into varying sizes of containers. Sometimes, we used the Tare function before filling containers with tea - we typically did this for oddly shaped containers that we didn't have presets for. Most of the time, we used a couple of preset Tare buttons that we had set up on the scale itself. 

If you already know the weight(s) of your container(s), the preset Tare weight sounds like it's the feature you're looking for. You are able to input 5 different preset Tare weight values using this scale. If you set up preset Tare weight values, you will be able to deduct the weight of the container from the total weight of what's on the scale by using a button on the scale.

If your customers are bringing in containers of all shapes and sizes, you would follow the same steps I followed with oddly shaped containers at the tea shop. @LocavoreStore similarly explained how a yogurt shop would ring up yogurt in a container without charging customers for the container here ✨

[scoopseattle]

Hi Valentina, 
I really appreciate you taking the time to try to figure this out for me! The reason that this probably won't work is because we need to be able to deduct custom tare weights. Our customers bring in containers of all shapes and sizes, and each one we encounter has a different tare weight. This sounds more like the function that, say, a Fred Meyer has, where they can deduct the tare weight of a mushroom bag or a bulk bag or a produce bag but don't have the ability to enter a custom tare weight. 

[Valentina]

And thank you for getting back to me here, @scoopseattle! When I worked at the tea shop, we sold many oddly shaped tins that we didn't have presets for; customers would also bring in their own tins. In these cases, we'd place the container on the scale for a moment and use the Tare button to quickly zero out the weight of the container. We would then fill the container with tea, place it back on the already tared scale, and get the weight of the tea without the weight of the container. This whole process was extremely fast and efficient.

If your customers are bringing in containers of all shapes and sizes, as you mentioned in your more recent response, you would follow the same steps I followed with oddly shaped containers at the tea shop. @LocavoreStore similarly explained how a yogurt shop would ring up yogurt in a container without charging customers for the container here.

You asked in an earlier post: "I am wondering if we already know the tare weight of the container, does the software have the ability to deduct that weight from the total weight that it receives from the scale." In these cases, you could have preset buttons for the containers with known weights.

Searching a bit on the internet, I wasn't able to find any software that supports deducting a custom weight - only known weights, in which case using preset buttons is probably easier. I would imagine this is because scales already support this functionality by offering the Tare function. Are you currently aware of a software that offers the ability to deduct a custom weight from the weight calculated by the scale? If you are, it could be helpful information for our product team to look into if we decide to build out the scale integration feature any further.

[greenbriar_mkt]

I am looking to start a new zero-waste/refillery store and am considering Square, however, customers would need to be able to get their tare weights ahead of time on their own containers, shop the store (filling their own containers) and then come pay for their total purchases. At this point we would need to be able to weigh their purchase and have a button on the Square app to deduct the different tare weughts from each item that would have been pre-recorded. 

Is something like this possible or in the works?

[isabelle]

Hey @greenbriar_mkt-

Hmmm. I'm a little unclear on what you're looking for aside from tare. 

Are you referring to an automated tare per item? Let me know so I can look into this further. 

[greenbriar_mkt]

Here is an example....

A custoemr walks into your refillery with their own containers.  All are different weights which you provide for them. Container A weighs x grams, Container b weighs y grams and Container C weighs z grams. You take note of these and the client takes their containers and goes to your refill station and fills each of their containers with different products. 

When they return to you at the cash desk with their purchases (in the mean time you have rang through several other clients) you weigh each item. Container A now weighs t grams you need to remove x grams from the value they will pay. And so on for the other two containers (i.e. Container B needs to be u grams - y grams and Container C needs to be v grams - z grams) where you have to deduct DIFFERNET container weights for each item for each client as they bring multiple containers back to you at one time and are not fillign and registering as they go.

What we need is a way to weigh a container once filled, have it register on the square POS and then be bale to deduct different weights from each filled item (coresponding to the original weight of each different container).

As the client is taring all their different containers before they shop and returning after with all the different weighted containers you simply cannot wiegh the item, tare to 0, fill that container and continue. This would be the case for any bulk or zero-waste refillery store that allows their customers to bring their own containers.

I hope this clears things up!

[AshleyK]

Hey @greenbriar_mkt I'm stepping in for Isabelle while she is out of the office today!

The best way to do this would be to have a variable priced discount (you can name it Tare Discount) in which you could remove the tare weight at the time of checkout. As far as your customers giving you this information before walking around your store, you can consider creating an open ticket for each customer that comes in and marking the tare discount before they walk off. The only hiccup is you cannot have a negative transaction, so you may need to consider adding the container's weight in a note before saving the ticket as you cannot have an open ticket with just a discount active.

You will be able to view the note when opening/viewing your open ticket, but the note will not appear on receipts. 

I hope this makes sense, but let me know if I need to clarify anything!

[radishandrye]

I'm not the original poster, but want to throw out there that this is a vital function for us and adding a discount is simply not a time-effective/workable solution.

Clover allows you to manually set the tare for each item from the weight screen, and there is an app in their marketplace that allows you to specify pre-set container weights you can associate with an item.

A large percentage of our customers are bringing their own reusable produce bags, and all of our produce items are priced differently. We'd have to be individually calculating discounts for bag/item, which is 1) time consuming and a terrible customer experience, and 2) difficult given that Square won't allow you to add more than one instance of a discount to a transaction.

This is a vital function for us.

[Lori4]

Agreed. This is a vital function for us as well..

May I ask, did you ever find a solution via square or opt for another POS company? 

Thanks

[greenbriar_mkt]

Ended up going with Clover and adding the “Unit Tare App” for about $6/month. 

[LimeRickey]

Is there a way to preset the tare for individual items without having to tare the scale prior to every item being weighed that uses a different bag / container ?

[AshleyK]

Hi @LimeRickey! I've merged your post with an existing thread that will help answer your question. 🙂

[2zeroPlastic]

Before I start a new thread...

Has there been any resolution to this issue?

Does Square support custom taring with an integrated scale?

This is an imperative feature for us bulk zero-waste stores.

[refilleryqs]

We also have this question and need. We are a refillery and need to either be able to manually enter the tare weight of a container at the time of checkout on the scale, or be able to deduct the tare weight from the transaction on square.

It seems as if square is not considering this as they havent been able to answer the question in many months for many customers.

Will square be integrating with any scales that allow for a manual tare weight entry? The ones you currently support do NOT allow for this functionality.

[earthglc]

We just spent two days of vital time trying to find the answer to this very question. We just purchased a nice $500 scale off Squares website and it does not seem to do much other than accurately weigh individual tares. Software like Filljoy is vital to any refillery or bulk store! Come on Square- get on the tare game!

[Lori4]

We have run into this same thing and I'm happy we are not alone!  I don't know why this seems to be so difficult to explain to Square's customer service.

We are looking into FillJoy as well... We used Revel before and it was compatible with a really nice Honeywell scale that allowed us to manually subtract tares.  If there was a scale available (similar to a butcher's scale) that is compatible with Square, I would return the Brecknell in a heartbeat.

I second this notion:  Come on Square, get on the tare game!  Also worth noting, Canadian Square software is behind in the US software it seems.  We are waiting on Betas for certain features (like forward-facing display that you don't have to spin)

[Daniel72002]

The new update still doesn't allow for a manual tare weight to be deducted from the weight of the item when using a connected scale. Is this in the works?

[nika]

Hi @Daniel72002- I moved your post to this thread where some chat about tare weight is discussed and how to implement. Hoping this helps.