POS Flags

POS Flags

POS Flag Overview


A POS Flag controls several properties of an item during the sales process by default the department level, but it can be directly applied at the item level. The POS Flag holds several unique properties such as age restrictions, food stamp eligibility, tax group assignments, and sales level excise taxes if there are any.

Ex. Tobacco products will have an age restriction of 21, so this is set to 21 on the POS Flag. That POS Flag is applied to the entire tobacco department. Some grocery products can be paid for via food stamps, so those products are assigned a POS Flag that has the food stamp toggle set to true.

How POS Flags are configured under FTx Cloud Retail: Point of Sale > Maintenance > Tax Rates > Tax Groups > POS Flags > Departments > Products fall into the specific departments
  1. Tax Rates: The raw values that will be used to calculate taxes, and these rates will be location specific.
  2. Tax Groups: Tax Rates will be added to the Tax Group. Whatever tax rates (single or multiple) are to be applied to the items sold; they are assigned to the Tax Group.
  3. POS Flags: If applicable, the tax group, as well as age restrictions and excise tax, will be assigned to the POS Flag. It is possible that one Tax Group could be assigned to multiple POS Flags.
    (This is explained in this KB Article.)
  4. Department: The POS Flag will be assigned to the department so that the products that fall into the department will be classified into a specific tax group, age restriction, and excise tax if applicable. It is possible that one POS Flag could be assigned to multiple departments.
  5. Products/Items: Only one department will be assigned. The department is to classify the products into specific tax groups, age restrictions, and other options.


Reaching the POS Flags Module

To reach the POS Flags module: 
  1. Step-1: Log into Control Center 
  2. Step-2: Choose Point of Sale
  3. Step-3: Choose Maintenance 
  4. Step-4: Choose Taxes
  5. Step-5: Choose POS Flags

                                                                                                                                    Figure A

Understanding the POS Flag Main Page

By selecting the "POS Flags" from the drop-down selection as shown in above Figure A, the POS Flags page will be redirected as shown in Figure B below.


                                                                                                                  Figure B

1. You will see the list of the existing POS flags in the grid view.
2. From the grid view, the Tax Group column represents the specific tax group that is assigned to the POS Flag. The tax group that is not assigned to the POS Flag yet will be indicated as - (dashed).
3. Age Restriction column represents whether an age is required for the POS Flag. If the age restriction option is enabled, it will be indicated with the green tick mark. 
4. The Age Required column specifies the minimum age for product sales. 
5. Edit POS Flag: This button helps the user modify the details of the POS Flag.
6. Delete Tax Group This button helps the user remove the POS Flag.
7. Add New: This button helps the user add a new tax group.

Adding a New POS Flag

Follow the steps mentioned below to add a new POS Flag:
  1. Click the "Add New" button highlighted in Figure B to add a new POS Flag.
  2. After clicking the "Add New" button, the form highlighted in Figure C will appear on the screen.

Fields: You will see the following fields of the POS Flag

1. Name: Enter the name of the POS Flag.
2. Tax Group: Select the tax group from the drop-down selection. You will see the list of the tax groups in the drop-down selection. Tax rates will be pulled from the selected tax group.

                                                                                                                        Figure C

About Negative Flag and Food Stamps

3. Negative Flag: If the "Negative Flag" is enabled, the money will be taken out of the cash drawer when an item assigned to the POS Flag is sold. This field is specifically used for giving coupons, lottery/lotto payouts, among other various reasons to have a "negative" dollar value. See Figure D below.
When a customer pays for an item, the store receives money. It means the transaction will show the amount as positive. However, if the customer has a discount coupon or needs to pay for a winning lottery ticket, the money will be debited in both cases and the transaction will show the amount as negative.
Note: By enabling this feature, a user can assign the POS Flag to a payout-specific department. For the item that is in the payout-specific department, the system automatically displays a negative amount for that transaction.
As a result, you will not require a manual setup to calculate the payout type transaction. The inventory will automatically be updated with related deductions when the payment is made by the store to a customer.

                                                                                                                              Figure D

4. Allow Food Stamps: If this field is set to "Yes" (enable), it will allow the store to accept the food stamp tender from their customers. See Figure D above
- About Food Stamps: Food Stamps, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is a federal benefit designed to assist low-income US citizens in supplementing their grocery budgets and purchasing healthy food. The government provides a food stamp card (also known as EBT- Electronic Benefits Transfer card), which is preloaded with funds. So, when any food item is scanned at the POS and the "Allow Food Stamps" field is enabled for the POS Flag that is assigned to that item's department only, the store will be able to accept food stamp cards from their customers.

Age Restriction and Grandfather Policy

5. Has Age Restriction: If this field is set to "Yes" (enable), it will ask for age verification when the product is being scanned at checkout. See Figure E below.
6. Age Required: This field only appears when the parent field "Has Age Restriction" is enabled. Insert the specific age value to restrict selling the product to customers whose age is below the inserted age. See Figure E
Age Verification is mandatory on certain types of products, such as tobacco, alcohol, etc. Different states have different age restrictions for selling the product to the customer. When a product is scanned at checkout and it is in a department with a POS Flag set to "Age Restriction," the age verification will be requested in order to sell the scanned product. 
Note: The age value entered in the field will be applicable to all locations.

                                                                                                                              Figure E
7. Use Grandfather Policy: This field provides you with an additional age restriction rule in certain states. By enabling this field, the "Grandfather Policy" and "Grandfather Policy Date" fields will appear. See Figure F 
8. Grandfather Policy Age: Insert the value of age.
9. Grandfather Policy Date: Select the date to verify the age of the customer before that date. You will get a tiny calendar to select the date.
Grandfather Policy Age and Date fields are to verify the customer's age as per the specific date whether the customer's age is above or below.

                                                                                                                              Figure F

Note: Grandfather Policy will be applicable only in certain states. If you disable the "Use Grandfather Policy," the system will consider the age that is entered in the "Age Required" field.

10. Excise Tax: Enter the applicable excise tax value. The entered tax value will be applicable to all the locations.


                                                                                                                              Figure G

Manage Excise Tax Locations

For specific products, the excise tax values differ between states. You can enter the applicable excise tax values at exceptional locations under "Manage Excise Tax Locations". See Figure G above
11. Add Location: Click the "Add Location" button to enter the excise tax value for the specific locations. By clicking on it, the "Select Location" and "Excise Tax" fields will be added in a row.
12. Select Location: You will get the drop-down selection of the Locations. Select the location from the list where the excise tax is different.
13. Excise Tax: Insert the applicable excise tax value.

As shown in Figure H, you can add the exceptional excise tax values for specific locations. So, the excise tax value will be $ 2.00 (20%) for all the locations except the locations that are added under the "Manage Excise Tax Locations" ($ 3.0 and $ 1.50)


                                                                                                                              Figure H

Manage Age Restrictions Locations

There will be different age policies at some of the locations. So, you can enter the applicable age values at locations under "Manage Age Restriction Locations". See Figure I
14. Add Location: Click the "Add Location" button to enter the age value for the specific locations. By clicking on it, the "Select Location" and "Age Required" fields will be added in a row.
15. Select Location: You will get the drop-down selection of the locations. Select the location from the list where the age value is different. See Figure I

As shown in Figure I, you can add the age restriction values for specific locations. So, the age value will be 18 years for all the locations except the ones that are added under "Manage Age Restriction Locations" (15 years).


                                                                                                                              Figure I

16. Buttons: Once the POS Flag is configured, save the POS Flag. See Figure I above
  1. Save & Close: Click on this button if you want to save the POS Flag details and close it. After that, you will be redirected to the POS Flags listing page.
  2. Save & New: Click on this button if you want to save the POS Flag details but also want to add another POS Flag.
  3. Save: Click on this button if you want to stay on the POS Flag details page after saving it.
  4. Cancel: The POS Flag will not be added (saved) and you will be redirected to the list of the POS Flag page.

Once the POS Flag details are saved, the new record will be listed on the POS Flag page. See Figure J below.
  1. In the "Tax Group" column, an assigned tax group will be shown. Here, the State Tax is assigned to the newly added POS Flag (PHARMA).
  2. If the POS Flag is age restriction enabled, you will see the green tick mark and the age value in the "Age Restriction" and "Age Required" columns, respectively.


                                                                                                                              Figure J

Excise Tax Value on Price or Cost

As per requirement, you can apply the excise tax to the product's "Price" or "Cost" from the POS Global Settings. See Figure K below.

For that, navigate to Maintenance > Settings & Panels > POS > POS Device Global Settings > Register Settings > you will see the "Excise Tax Applied To" option under the Misc POS Settings.


                                                                                                                              Figure K

Assigning the POS Flag to Department

You need to assign the POS Flag to the department to apply the tax rates, age restrictions, and other options to the product that is assigned to the same department. See Figure L.

A separate KB Article on Departments explains everything you need to know about them. 



                                                                                                                              Figure L

POS Flag for Product

By default, the POS Flag is pulled from the department, but if you need to change the POS Flag of the product as per need, you will have an override option to select the POS Flag for the specific product.

For that, you need to follow the steps below:
  1. Navigate to the product details page, where you will find the "Additional Information" button under the Quick Tools menu.
  2. By clicking on the "Additional Information" button, the Additional Product Information pop-up will appear on the screen as shown in Figure M.
  3. You will see the POS Flag drop-down option, from which you can select the POS Flag that you want to apply to the product and save the product.
So, when the POS Flag is assigned to the product's department, it will be considered the selected POS Flag from the "Additional Product Information."


                                                                                                                              Figure M

Editing POS Flag Details

Follow the steps mentioned below to edit/update the POS Flag details:

  1. To edit and modify the POS Flag, click the "Modify" button that is highlighted in Figure A or simply click on the POS Flag name from the list.
  2. In both cases, you will be redirected to the POS Flag details page. See Figure N below.

                                                                                                            Figure N

1. You can see the existing POS Flag details. You can modify the details as per need.
2. You will have an additional "Delete" button on the editing page of the POS Flag.
  1. Delete: By clicking the "Delete" button, you can delete the POS Flag record and remove it from the system. If you click, a warning message will pop up on the screen to confirm the deletion.
3. Buttons: Once the POS Flags details are updated, save the details. (Save button explanations will be similar to “Adding a POS Flag”.)

Deleting a POS Flag

Follow the steps mentioned below to delete the POS Flag: 
  1. Click on the "Remove" button highlighted in Figure A to delete the POS Flag. You can delete the Tax Rate record from its editing page as well (See Figure N).
  2. In both cases, a warning pop-up will ask you to confirm the deletion. See Figure O below.

                                                        Figure O

Deleting an Assigned POS Flag

You cannot delete the POS Flag if you have already been assigned to the Department. If you try to delete it, you will see the notification message as shown in Figure P.


                                                                                                 Figure P

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