On Feb 27, 11:19*am, Stephen Sprunk wrote:

US industry objects to pretty much anything that costs them money (eg.
new terminals) in the short run, even if it will quite obviously benefit
them in the long run.

Curious. My local convenience store, over the decades, has upgraded
its cash registers many times. When I started shopping there it was a
classic Monroe-Sweda electro-mechanical cash register*. Then, various
generations of electronic cash registers, eventually laser scanning of
products, and credit card and gift card acceptance with a customer
keypad; this includes the "Blink" touch-card option.

Also, although the store seemed in fine physical shape to me,
periodically it is closed for about a week, the interior gutted, and
it is completely redone.

One contrast between stores in 'good' and 'bad' neighborhoods is that
good stores get frequent upgrades. Bad stores aren't changed over the
decades, only with years worth of wear, such as plywood where linoleum
flooring should be, pieces of the checkout counter taped with duct
tape, etc.





*There was a Chinese restaurant that until recently had a beat up
1970s NCR electro-mechanical cash register. The cashier used a hand
calculator to add up the check, and only entered the total into the
register (she could've used the register to add up). The register is
now gone (I think new owners took over.)

The dining room in a Sheraton Hotel had the same arrangement. They
had a big silver NCR register.

I think simple electronic registers may be had for just a few hundred
bucks, the old NCR units cost a lot more, plus they needed
maintenance.

Entering amounts on those columninar keypads was slow compared to a
"10-key" numeric pad on a modern register (let alone scanning).