POS system crash left me stranded with no cash last Friday night

I was at a food truck festival in Austin and the payment network went down for 45 minutes. They wouldn't take cash because their tablets were the only register. How do we fix being totally locked out when tech fails?

3 comments

3 Comments

sethfoster1mo ago

Wait, were the tablets really "the only register" or were they just the only way they'd accept payment? I've seen a lot of food truck setups where they have a separate square reader or a little zippered cash box hidden under the counter, but the owner is just too scared to use it because of some new policy or fear of mistakes. It's honestly pretty common for small vendors to forget they have a backup plan when the tech goes down, especially if they're running everything off a single tablet. Food trucks especially should have a paper menu and a calculator ready to go, even if it's just for emergencies. Maybe they didn't want to deal with the hassle of counting change or taxing cash sales, but that doesn't mean the system actually locked them out completely.

claire_young761mo ago

Oh totally, I watched a taco truck guy whip out a calculator from under his hat once.

susansingh1mo ago

Keep a paper backup list of prices and a basic calculator in the glovebox, saved me more than once.