POS Flags Overview
A POS Flag controls several properties of an item during the sales process. By default, it is assigned to 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.
For example, 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 Yes.
How POS Flags are configured under FTx Cloud POS: Point of Sale > Maintenance > Tax Rates > Tax Groups > POS Flags > Departments > Products fall into the specific departments
- Tax Rates: The raw values that will be used to calculate taxes, and these rates will be location-specific.
- 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.
- POS Flags: The tax group, age restrictions, and excise tax must be assigned to the POS flag. It is possible that one tax group could be assigned to multiple POS Flags.
- Department: The POS Flag will be assigned to the department so that the products in that department are 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.
- Products/Items: Only one department will be assigned. The department is to classify the products into specific tax groups, age restrictions, and other options.
1. Reaching "POS Flags"
To reach the "POS Flags" module:
- Step 1: Log into Control Center
- Step 2: Choose Point of Sale
- Step 3: Choose Maintenance
- Step 4: Choose Taxes
- Step 5: Choose POS Flags
Figure 1.1 below will help you understand the navigation better:
Figure 1.12. Understanding "POS Flag" Layout
By selecting "POS Flags" from the drop-down menu, you will be brought to the main POS Flags page, as shown below.
Figure 2.1
1. You will see a 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. The 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 a 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: This button helps the user remove the POS Flag.
7. Add New: This button helps the user add a new POS Flag.
3. Adding a New POS Flag
Follow the steps mentioned below to add a new POS Flag:
- Click the "Add New" button highlighted in Figure 2.1 to add a new POS Flag.
- After clicking the "Add New" button, the form highlighted in Figure 3.1 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 tax groups in the drop-down selection. Tax rates will be pulled from the selected tax group.
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 and lottery/lotto payouts, among other various reasons to have a "negative" dollar value. See Figure 3.2 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. The inventory will automatically be updated with related deductions when the payment is made by the store to a customer.
Figure 3.2
4. Allow Food Stamps: If this field is set to "Yes" (enable), the store can accept food stamp tenders from customers. See Figure 3.2 above.
- About Food Stamps: Food Stamps, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is a federal benefit designed to assist low-income US citizens in supplementing their grocery budgets intended to be used for 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 3.3 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 3.3.
Age verification is mandatory on certain types of products, such as tobacco and alcohol. Different states have different age restrictions for selling products to customers. When a product is scanned at checkout and in a department with a POS Flag set to Has Age Restriction, age verification will be requested to sell the scanned product.
Note: The age value entered in the field will apply to all locations.
Figure 3.3
7. Force DL Scan for Age Verify: If this button is set to "Yes," the system will force the cashier to scan the customer's driving license. This means the cashier must scan the customer's driving license to sell the item.
- If you set this button to "Yes," this setting will be applied to all your locations.
- If you want to apply the Force DL Scan for Age Verify setting only for the selected locations, please follow the steps below:
- Set the Force DL for Age Verify button to "Yes." Click the "+Add Location" button in the Manage Force DL Scan Locations section.
- The Location Name drop-down and Force DL Scan button will appear, as Figure 3.5 shows. Select the desired location from the drop-down. The system defaults the Force DL Scan button to "Yes." You can use the "Add Location" button multiple times to select all desired locations.
8. Use Grandfather Policy: This field provides you with an additional age restriction rule in certain states. The Grandfather Policy and Grandfather Policy Date fields will appear when this field is enabled. See Figure 3.4.
9. Grandfather Policy Age: Insert the value of age.
10. 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. The 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 3.6
Note: Grandfather Policy applies only in certain states. If you disable "Use Grandfather Policy," the system will consider the age entered in the Age Required field. Figure 3.7
11. Apply Floor Price: This setting allows you to define and calculate the Floor Price for any item sold through POS.
- Floor Price means the minimum price at which a product can be sold, as set by the store or company.
- If you enable this setting, the "Floor Price Based On" setting will appear.
Please refer to Section 3.1. Understanding "Floor Price" to better understand the "Floor Price" concept and calculations in detail. 12. Floor Price Based On: This drop-down allows you to define the floor price based on two parameters: Margin (%) and Markup (%).
- Choose the required option from Margin (%) or Markup (%) and enter the required value in the Floor Price field.
- Once you specify the required value in the Floor Price field, use the Manage Floor Price Locations section to select the locations where you want to apply this defined floor price.
13. Excise Tax: Enter the applicable excise tax value. The value entered will apply to all locations.
Figure 3.8
14. Excise Tax Name: Enter the excise tax name in this field.
15. Excise Not Taxable: Set Excise Not Taxable to "No" if you want to keep the excise tax not applicable to this POS Flag.
Figure 3.9
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 3.9 above.
16. Add Location: Click the "Add Location" button to enter the excise tax value for the specific locations. By clicking on it, the Location Name and Excise Tax sections will be added in a row.
17. Location Name: You will get a drop-down selection of the locations. Select the location from the list where the excise tax is different.
18. Excise Tax: Insert the applicable excise tax value.
As shown in Figure 3.10, you can add the excise tax values for specific locations. So, the excise tax value will be 2% for all the locations except the locations that are added under Manage Excise Tax Locations (2.75% and 2.50%).
Figure 3.10
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 Restrictions Locations. See Figure 3.11.
19. Add Location: Click the "Add Location" button to enter the age value for the specific locations. By clicking on it, the Location Name and Age Required sections will be added in a row.
20. Select Location and Age Required: You will get a drop-down selection of the locations. Select the location and apply the age restriction required. See Figure 3.11.
As shown in Figure 3.7, 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 Restrictions Locations (21 years).
Figure 3.11
Manage Floor Price Locations
This section lets you choose locations to apply the floor price.

Figure 3.12
21. Click the "Add Location" button to add the location.
22. Select the location from the drop-down and specify the floor price parameters as explained in points 11 & 12, Section 3.1. Understanding "Floor Price."

You can add multiple locations and specify different floor price parameters for each.
Figure 3.13
Action Buttons: Once the POS Flag is configured, save the POS Flag. See Figure 3.13 above.
- 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.
- Save & New: Click on this button if you want to save the POS Flag details but also want to add another POS Flag.
- Save: Click on this button if you want to stay on the POS Flag details page after saving it.
- Cancel: The POS Flag will not be added (saved), and you will be redirected to the list of the POS Flags page.
Once the POS Flag details are saved, the new record will be listed on the POS Flags page. See Figure 3.14 below.
- In the Tax Group column, an assigned tax group will be shown. Here, the state tax is assigned to the newly added POS Flag.
- If the POS Flag has age restriction enabled, you will see the green tick mark and the age value in the Age Restriction and Age Required columns, respectively.
3.1 Understanding "Floor Price"
In a POS system, the floor price is the minimum price at which a product can be sold. It is set to protect profit margins and prevent items from being sold below cost. This control ensures that discounts applied by cashiers, or the system do not exceed a defined limit. Floor pricing supports store policies and agreements with suppliers, such as Minimum Advertised Price (MAP). Overall, it helps maintain pricing discipline and ensures profitability.
3.1.1 How does the system calculate the floor price?
The Apply Floor Price setting lets you specify the floor price.
Figure 3.1.1.1
- The "Floor Price Based On" drop-down and the Floor Price field will appear if you enable this setting.
- From the "Floor Price Based On" drop-down, you can define the floor price based on Margin or Markup %.
- In the Floor Price field, enter the percentage value.
The Floor Price will be calculated as mentioned below based on the “Floor Price Based On” and “Floor Price (%)” attributes. This will apply to all price types.
For Margin (%):
- For Margin (%), the maximum percentage you can enter in the Floor Price field is 99.99%.
- If you enable the Apply Floor Price setting but keep the value 0 in the Floor Price field, the system will not define any floor price for the POS Flag.
- The system will use the Floor Price = Cost / (1 - Margin (%)/100) formula. For example:
- If a product costs $8, you have entered 20% in the Floor Price field after choosing Margin% in the Floor Price Based on drop-down.
- Floor Price = 8 / (1 – 20/100)
- Floor Price = 8 / (1 – 0.20)
- Floor Price = 8 / 0.8
- Floor Price = $ 10
- The system will set the floor price to $10. If, after applying certain discounts and buydowns, the item's price reduces to less than $10, the system will automatically make it $10.
For Markup (%):
- For Markup (%), you can enter any percentage. However, you cannot enter a negative number.
- The system will use the Floor Price = Cost * (1 + Floor Markup (%)/100) formula. For example:
- If a product costs $8, you have entered 20% in the Floor Price field after choosing Markup% in the Floor Price Based on drop-down.
- Floor Price = 8 * (1 + 20/100)
- Floor Price = 8 * (1 + 0.20)
- Floor Price = 8 * 1.2
- Floor Price = $ 9.60
3.1.2 How is the floor price applied in various scenarios?
The floor pricing rules will be applied to the following:
- Buydowns
- System Discounts
- Manual Discounts (Flat or % Off)
- Temp Price Change in POS
- House Account Discount
- Department Level Discount
- Price Exception
Floor Price in various scenarios:
- Buydown, Multiple Discounts, and System Discount: If the item's price, after applying the buydown and all discounts, falls below the floor price, the system will adjust the item's price. This means the final price will be set to the floor price, ensuring it does not exceed that amount.
- Free Item Discount: If an item's price reduction makes it free, the system will not apply floor pricing to that quantity.
- Temp Price Change & Discount: If authorized store employees try to change the price of an item below $12.00, the system will not allow them to do so below the floor price.
- Price Exception: The system will also apply the floor pricing rules when the item's price falls below the floor price through the price exceptions.
3.2 Excise Tax Value on Price or Cost
As per the requirement, you can apply the excise tax to the product's price or cost from the POS Global Settings. See Figure 3.2.1 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 Misc POS Settings.
Figure 3.1.1
3.3 Assigning the POS Flag to the 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 3.3.1.
A separate KB article on Departments explains everything you need to know about them. Figure 3.3.1
3.4 POS Flag for a Product
By default, the POS Flag is pulled from the department, but if you need to change the POS Flag of the product as required, you will have an override option to select the POS Flag for the specific product.
For that, you need to follow the steps below:
- Navigate to the product details page, where the "Additional Information" button is under the Quick Tools menu.
- As shown in Figure 3.4.1, the Additional Product Information pop-up will appear on the screen when you click on the "Additional Information" button.
- You will see the POS Flag drop-down option in the "Overrides" tab, from which you can select the POS Flag that you want to apply to the product and save the product.
4. Editing the POS Flag Details
Follow the steps mentioned below to edit/update the POS Flag details:
- To edit and modify the POS Flag, click the Modify button that is highlighted in Figure 2.1, or simply click on the POS Flag name from the list.
- In both cases, you will be redirected to the Edit POS Flag page. See Figure 4.1 below.
1. You can see the existing POS Flag details. You can modify the details as needed.
2. Force DL Scan Locations: You can view the information about locations where the force DL scan is applied and modify the details as needed.
3. Information: You can view information about location assignments and location-specific age restrictions and modify the details as needed.
4. Cancel: Use this button to cancel the changes you have made. The system will not save any changes and will redirect you to the POS Flags home screen.
5. Delete: By clicking the "Delete" button, you can delete and remove the POS Flag record from the system. If you click, a warning message will appear on the screen to confirm the deletion.
6. Buttons: Once the POS Flag details are updated, save the details. ("Save" button explanations will be similar to Adding a POS Flag.)
5. Deleting a POS Flag
Follow the steps mentioned below to delete the POS Flag:
- Click on the Remove button highlighted in Figure 2.1 to delete the POS Flag. You can delete the Tax Rate record from its editing page as well. See Figure 4.1.
- In both cases, a warning pop-up will ask you to confirm the deletion. See Figure 5.1 below.
You cannot delete the POS Flag if it is assigned to a department. Prior to deleting it, you must remove it from all departments it's attached to.
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