In my 25+ years in the point of sale business I have never seen
anything as nasty as the inside of used point of sale equipment that
came out of a restaurant. Remove the cover and you will find a haven
for all sorts of vermin and the things that they leave behind.
Besides being a health hazard and requiring rubber gloves to touch all
this “stuff” just helps to shorten the life of the equipment.

Cash registers and point of sale equipment has an expected life of 3
to 5 years. That is one of the reasons why you don’t see manufacturer
warranties longer than 3 years. By the end of the warranty period it
is time to replace the equipment with newer, more reliable hardware.

Another reason that used point of sale equipment is not a long-term
solution is the obsolescence factor. We all know that the replacement
for the computer you just bought is already being built. What makes
this even more important is that the software being developed is also
keeping pace with the hardware technology. The hardware bought 3 to 5
years ago will have a difficult time running today’s operating systems
and the point of sale software that goes with it.

Not running the most current version of software means that your
restaurant will not have the latest features available to you and what
your competition is using to stay ahead of you. If you do try to run
software that is not compatible with your outdated hardware you will
find it slow to respond if it runs at all. This slow response will
certainly affect your customer through slower service. Is that
something you are willing to accept?

Used point of sale hardware simply is not a long-term solution to a
start-up restaurant. The only exception to this would be if you could
find a repossessed system that is less than a year old. In that case,
you might could get 2 to 4 years of life out of the system. However,
if someone is attempting to sell you hardware that is already 3 years
old you need to go somewhere else and find a better solution.

My POS
www.MyPosPrinter.com
www.MyPosTerminal.com