How are others that price by a decimal quantities working their charges?

[FarmMom]

We sell our farm's meat and poultry at farmer's markets, on farm and by delivery, and price mostly by the pound.  I'd love to have the ability to set the quantity to a decimal input, so I can enter the weight on the package meat and be able to have a set price on the item, but that is still not available.  So most of our items are just "variable" pricing, and I have to have a calculator in one hand, or go to back and forth from the calculator app on my phone to Square, to calculate the price on all our beef and pork.  The only other option I've been told is to set a price for .01 or .001 lb, and enter the decimal amount in as a whole number.  So if a Pork Shoulder Roast is $8.00/lb, and weights are in tenths, like 2.78 lbs, I'd have to set the price for the item as $.08 and input the quantity as 278, since it only takes whole numbers.  This seems like an expensive accident just waiting to happen.  And trying to explain why I have to do this to customers, and how it would show up on their receipts, just doesn't seem worth it, even if it would save time not having to calulate everything while inputing.  Are their any other farmers, butchers, or others who price by decimal quantities doing it this way successfully?  If so, do customers care?

[AlanA]

I work with programmers daily and I know how they can be. Maybe they do not understand what this is going to be used for and they just don’t feel that it is relavant. Someone needs to explain the user side to the programmers other than the ones doing it now. I have to bring in users of my software to explain And demonstrate the way they are using the software so the programmers are not just seeing the programming in code but real life uses. Or as I have said before they are just working on what they figure will make more money under subscription services. 

[AlanA]

I have emailed and have gotten the same responses back that I get on here. As my average sale amount is increasing now with wholesale ordering, clover is really starting to interest me more. I am going to another business Friday to take a look at their system. The rates are cheaper but they have a per swipe charge so if you are selling under $10 all the time it will be slightly more exspensive. If you have charges of 20 dollars and higher on average you will save money. I am also told that they can input fractional (decimal) quantities. 

[katieand]

Hi @AlanA & @Piglady - We closely track all of the feedback that we get in the community since it's always valuable to get customer feedback. I understand how frustrating it is not to see progress on a feature that you've seen requested in a thread like this from 2016.

I don't know if you got a chance to see the Q&A with our product manager for invoices, but Rohini talked a little bit about the complex process that happens for each feature request (it's on the second page). Specifically, she addresses moving timelines and unexpected issues that might arise, which can delay features like the ones you've requested.

@AlanA - If you have some specific feedback for our team on how you would like to see this feature, I'll make sure it's passed on. Additionally, if either (or anyone in the thread 😄) of you have other questions, please feel free to private message me. I'd be more than happy to chat in more depth about this. 

[ashamun]

Yeah, I'm with @AlanA on this one. It would really be very simple. The calculations are already in place. I think the fact that no one is acknowledging the simplicity is almost as frustrating as not having the feature.

I certainly understand that moving timelines and unexpected issues arise with development projects. I used to run a development department with more than 15 developers and 20 projects. But when something this simple came accross my desk, I'd have one of my devs knock it out just to get it off our plate. It would seem this practice would be beneficial here for the sake of shutting us all up.

[AlanA]

I work for a multi billion dollar company and we switch gears all the time to keep our customer base happy. When companies give the perception of not caring it hurts them. 2 years😩. When people ask me about square when I’m in the store I tell them the facts and I do bring this frustrating simple to fix problem up and if they are selling in the same manner I explain the hoops we all have to jump through to sell in the manner needed. I also let them know how long customers have been asking for this feature. I never sugar coat anything. Just the plain simple truth and will continue even when or if I leave square for a competitor. 

[tcmconsulting]

I like Square and am generally impressed with both the product and customer support. With that said, I'm perplexed and distressed that Square has found this issue to be either so difficult or low-priority that it has not been addressed after such a long time and so many requests for this functionality.

Could you help us better understand why this issue is either so difficult to address or such a low priority for Square?

Thanks.

[dhbuckley]

Yes, please, some substantive guidance as to why this is hard or not important or both would be HUGELY appreciated.

Respectfully,

David 

[RobFJ]

It’s nice to hear how seriously ‘Square’ takes this issue but, looking at the 2 year timeline on this extended conversation, it’s clear that the company could have taken care of the logistics behind the launching of a satellite into orbit in a shorter span of time.

The ability to work with decimal quantities is obviously important to many and, according to several people with relevant knowledge on this feed, represents an extremely simple adjustment to the existing program.

My question is no longer WHEN will a decimal value for quantity feature become available but WHY is it not being done?

[Piglady]

I am currently looking at other systems as well.  Criteria is they have to be able to calculate by the pound for me.  It takes too long checking out customers to calculate each item and then input into Square.  I am sure some have walked away when they saw how backed up I was at my booth.

[angelneo]

Our business is currently in the hunt for a POS system. We find Square to be a great fit but this decimal issue is major. Hope this is resolved soon.

[brittainfarm]

Thank you so much for asking this question!  We have the EXACT same problem.  I don't understand why fractional quantities are not available.

[Piglady]

Over the weekend I did some research and it appears PayPal has the ability to use decimals.  I am going to try it out.

[AlanA]

What features does PayPal have? What is the cost?

[ashamun]

No monthly charges or anything. They're just like Square - they take 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. It has all the same features as Square but you can also customize templates, add attachments, take partial payments, etc. Like I said, Square's UI is nicer and easier but you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Piglady]

Yes no monthly service charges the chip reader is about half the price.  I do only in person transactions on my phone so as long as I can swipe or read the chip it is supposed to be 2.7% and if you have to manually enter or using your website than that is a bit higher and a per transaction fee applies.  

[ashamun]

Yeah, PayPal is pretty good. I use PayPal for all my larger invoices that absolutely have to show decimal quantities. Square's UI is nicer but functionality beats asthetics. I'd certainly recommend PayPal.

[AlanA]

We desperately need the ability to charge by the weight while a decimated amount. Anyone charging by the hour never charges by the whole hour and nobody charging by length never sells by a full unit. We need a decimal pleeeeeeas!

[Zumbasan]

So today (April 19 2018), Square came out with a fully-free version of Square Appointments. Appointments allows bookings on the half-hour and quarter-hour. However I still cannot invoice for hours that are not whole numbers!  I just started using Square and see others have been asking for this feature for years now. I invoice using one lineitem with the total, and the math included in the Notes section. Looks pretty rediculous.

[FarmMom]

I'm starting to look seriously at other POS systems for our farmers markets.  It probably won't be until Winter again that I'll have time to really implement a change like that, but I'm seriously looking.  First one I'm looking at now is Clover.  They havehad decimal quantities from the start apparently.  And they can take EBT cards apparently, which we can do as a grocery-type vendor.  Has anyone else looked at Clover, or another competing system?

[angelneo]

Guys, if you have a better alternative that does decimals, please share here so we can seriously look into migrating to that POS system. Thanks!

[AlanA]

I am going to start a month trial of Cashier in May. They allow decimaled Quantities and I am sick of having my customers asking about there invoice or receipt and why it shows that they have been charged so much.