Cup deposit refund to cash

[LannLannLannah]

Hi

We are part of a community wide reusable cup scheme where customers pay a £1 deposit for a cup and then are refunded when the cup is returned. Most of the cup deposits are paid by card along with a drink, but when the customer returns the cup some days later we give them back £1 cash. It isn't practical to look through all the till logs to find the original transaction and refund to their card, so at the moment we just give out £1 form the till,. which just looks like a loss.

Is there a way to refund to cash immediately after the transaction, which is then kept in a pot for later? There is only the option to refund to the original card or gift card and I couldn't find anything in the settings to change this. Or is there another way to manage these £1 refunds I've not thought of?

[Breffni]

Hi @LannLannLannah - thanks for your post. 

Currently, Square doesn’t offer support collecting deposits and as you mentioned, if a customer pays by card then you will only have the option to refund the original card. It would be a feature request to have the option to choose the refund tender. 

I think you would need a manual workaround here - you could potentially create a cash float each month and manually reconcile the cash in the float with the recorded cup deposits and returns to ensure accuracy. 

For example: 

1) Create a Cup Deposit Item: In your item library system, create a new item called "Cup Deposit" with a price of £1.

2) Include Cup Deposit as a Separate Item in Transactions: Whenever a customer orders a drink and the cup deposit, add the "Cup Deposit" item separately along with the drink. This way, the £1 deposit is explicitly added to the transaction.

3) Use a Cash Float or Till Float: Maintain a float or petty cash fund specifically for cup deposits. This would be a set amount of cash that you allocate for refunding customers when they return their cups. For example, you can start with £50 in the float.

4) Refund from the Cash Float: When customers return their cups, refund them with cash from the cash float. This cash can be taken from the float and given to the customer as their £1 refund.

I hope this helps - I know it may not be an ideal solution - but hopefully some other sellers can hop in here too with their suggestions. 
 

[recirculate]

Hi @LannLannLannah this is exactly what my business does! I would really love the opportunity to go through how we can help. I can be reached on ali@recirculatesystems.com

[Sam_400º]

@recirculate Hey Ali, it's worth looking at the developer side of Square if you're in a position to integrate into the systems. 

As of now, looking at your website I can't see what you actually do? 

[recirculate]

Thanks for getting back to me. We certainly have integrated into squares and many other POS. Here's an over view of what we do.

The circular economy means the sharing of products. Sharing in the digital age is hard; it relies on apps and subscriptions, sharing user locations and bank details. All of which prevents adoption of circular practices, and slows down transactions.

Recirculate Systems Limited has removed all of these barriers to sharing that currently exist.

We have developed a codebase for payments that allows any purchased item(s) to be instantly linked to a transaction. No apps, no sign ups, no subscriptions, no held data at all. We are the only people in the world currently able to do this. This SAAS (software as a service) opportunity will unlock the vast potential of the reuse economy and underpin the system itself. Any single use item is our market.

So far, we have put this code to use by developing the world’s first coffee cup deposit return system that uses no app, and is cheaper than single use. We call it Delete Cups.

[Sam_400º]

Hey @recirculate - sounds really interesting! 

Have you reached out to the Square dev? As there is a full list of integrations and if it's something 'ready to go' then I'm sure it would be well received 👍🏻

[recirculate]

They have been great. It is fully operational across Roo sites in the UK, now just looking to get more interest from other cafes and networks.

[recirculate]

(Roo is an small coffee brand with sites in Braintree Village Retail Outlet)