Open Forum

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest is seriously looking at using Square as our point of sale system. We'd use it for everything - selling tour tickets, program tickets, store sales and online. Does anyone use this in a museum/historic house setting? If so, do you like it?

Thanks,

Jeff

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------

Hi Jeff,

We've been using Square for the past 18 months and have had a good experience using it. I can't speak to online sales options, but we've used it to handle tickets sales to events, admission to the museum, payment for private rentals, and as a counter for volunteer hours and attendance to free events. It's decidedly user-friendly (though perhaps a bit intimidating for some older volunteers), and I think patrons appreciate being able to pay at an HHM the same way they pay elsewhere.

In my opinion, the processing fees Square charges, while not the lowest, are worth the functionality you get in return. Depending on what you've been using, it could save you some bookkeeping headaches as well.

I know that's just a set of positive qualities, but, in truth, we haven't had any bad experiences using it. My only concern would be that at some point, it would start to make sense to use integrated museum management software depending on what volumes you're seeing and what data you need to gather.

Hope that helps! Happy to speak to other concerns, too.

Best,
Rowena

------------------------------
Rowena Houghton Dasch
Executive Director
Neill-Cochran Museum House
Austin TX
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2017 12:19 PM
From: Jeffrey Nichols
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest is seriously looking at using Square as our point of sale system. We'd use it for everything - selling tour tickets, program tickets, store sales and online. Does anyone use this in a museum/historic house setting? If so, do you like it?

Thanks,

Jeff

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------

We are using Square in our gift shop and at special events.  It's worked very well for us for the most part.  The interface is easy to understand and Square allows different 'locations'  to have their own identities, data tracking, inventory and so on.   The fact that Square can be mobile on a tablet is a plus as well.  
The only issue we've run into is that we have a ticketed fundraising event which generally sells out in 8 hours. Square's online store however has a lag between sales posting and inventory updates.  We are looking for a different tool since the lag would be a major issue with the high volume of sales in a short time.   

------------------------------
David Porter
Executive Director
Leach Botanical Garden
Portland OR
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2017 12:19 PM
From: Jeffrey Nichols
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest is seriously looking at using Square as our point of sale system. We'd use it for everything - selling tour tickets, program tickets, store sales and online. Does anyone use this in a museum/historic house setting? If so, do you like it?

Thanks,

Jeff

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------

We use Square at our remote site and at our special events. It works very well for these functions. The only drawback for us is that it doesn't dump into our main POS which is linked to our accounting software. This just adds another step in the accounting process. 

------------------------------
Diane Gutenkauf
Executive Director
Ella Sharp Museum Association of Jackson
Jackson MI
dianeg@ellasharp.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2017 12:19 PM
From: Jeffrey Nichols
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest is seriously looking at using Square as our point of sale system. We'd use it for everything - selling tour tickets, program tickets, store sales and online. Does anyone use this in a museum/historic house setting? If so, do you like it?

Thanks,

Jeff

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------

We use Square for our museum:  admission, donations, tours and museum store inventory and sales.  Several square unit are used for bar sales in our theatre and outdoor venues as well.  It's the best system available without paying the $10,000 + for a custom system.

------------------------------
Marusca Gatto
Director of Operations
Cornell Art Museum
Delray Beach FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-05-2017 03:57 PM
From: Diane Gutenkauf
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

We use Square at our remote site and at our special events. It works very well for these functions. The only drawback for us is that it doesn't dump into our main POS which is linked to our accounting software. This just adds another step in the accounting process. 

------------------------------
Diane Gutenkauf
Executive Director
Ella Sharp Museum Association of Jackson
Jackson MI
dianeg@ellasharp.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2017 12:19 PM
From: Jeffrey Nichols
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest is seriously looking at using Square as our point of sale system. We'd use it for everything - selling tour tickets, program tickets, store sales and online. Does anyone use this in a museum/historic house setting? If so, do you like it?

Thanks,

Jeff

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------

We've come to the same conclusion. We've been told that it's easy to export/import data (financial as well as visitor data) from Square. Is this your experience with it? we keep looking for flaws with Square, but they all seem surmountable so far.

Thanks,

Jeff

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2017 07:18 AM
From: Marusca Gatto
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

We use Square for our museum:  admission, donations, tours and museum store inventory and sales.  Several square unit are used for bar sales in our theatre and outdoor venues as well.  It's the best system available without paying the $10,000 + for a custom system.

------------------------------
Marusca Gatto
Director of Operations
Cornell Art Museum
Delray Beach FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-05-2017 03:57 PM
From: Diane Gutenkauf
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

We use Square at our remote site and at our special events. It works very well for these functions. The only drawback for us is that it doesn't dump into our main POS which is linked to our accounting software. This just adds another step in the accounting process. 

------------------------------
Diane Gutenkauf
Executive Director
Ella Sharp Museum Association of Jackson
Jackson MI
dianeg@ellasharp.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2017 12:19 PM
From: Jeffrey Nichols
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest is seriously looking at using Square as our point of sale system. We'd use it for everything - selling tour tickets, program tickets, store sales and online. Does anyone use this in a museum/historic house setting? If so, do you like it?

Thanks,

Jeff

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------

This is a really interesting discussion, and timely for me as we are looking at new POS systems right now. I have two questions for those who are using Square:

1 - Does anyone who uses Square for admission use it to collect any data about visitors? We ask every visitor for their zip code and I wonder whether there is a way to capture that kind of data with Square.

2 - When using it for retail and programs, is there any way to verify/record membership status? In other words, if your members get a  discount, can you confirm that they are eligible for that discount apart from a staff member physically seeing their membership card?  

------------------------------
Tony Millet
Chief Financial Officer
Natural History Museum of Utah - University of Utah
Salt Lake City UT
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2017 08:51 AM
From: Jeffrey Nichols
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

We've come to the same conclusion. We've been told that it's easy to export/import data (financial as well as visitor data) from Square. Is this your experience with it? we keep looking for flaws with Square, but they all seem surmountable so far.

Thanks,

Jeff

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2017 07:18 AM
From: Marusca Gatto
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

We use Square for our museum:  admission, donations, tours and museum store inventory and sales.  Several square unit are used for bar sales in our theatre and outdoor venues as well.  It's the best system available without paying the $10,000 + for a custom system.

------------------------------
Marusca Gatto
Director of Operations
Cornell Art Museum
Delray Beach FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-05-2017 03:57 PM
From: Diane Gutenkauf
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

We use Square at our remote site and at our special events. It works very well for these functions. The only drawback for us is that it doesn't dump into our main POS which is linked to our accounting software. This just adds another step in the accounting process. 

------------------------------
Diane Gutenkauf
Executive Director
Ella Sharp Museum Association of Jackson
Jackson MI
dianeg@ellasharp.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2017 12:19 PM
From: Jeffrey Nichols
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest is seriously looking at using Square as our point of sale system. We'd use it for everything - selling tour tickets, program tickets, store sales and online. Does anyone use this in a museum/historic house setting? If so, do you like it?

Thanks,

Jeff

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------

The rep from Square said that it was easy to import/export data into the system by using a simple CSV spreadsheet file. We specifically asked if we could import our members into Square and they said we could do so. The price is certainly right - free software, a couple of grand for hardware, and an additional $60 per month to upgrade to Square Retail - it adds a bit more functionality and reporting, plus it can hold up to 25,000 sku's. We are planning to us it for our store as well.

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2017 09:11 AM
From: Tony Millet
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

This is a really interesting discussion, and timely for me as we are looking at new POS systems right now. I have two questions for those who are using Square:

1 - Does anyone who uses Square for admission use it to collect any data about visitors? We ask every visitor for their zip code and I wonder whether there is a way to capture that kind of data with Square.

2 - When using it for retail and programs, is there any way to verify/record membership status? In other words, if your members get a  discount, can you confirm that they are eligible for that discount apart from a staff member physically seeing their membership card?  

------------------------------
Tony Millet
Chief Financial Officer
Natural History Museum of Utah - University of Utah
Salt Lake City UT
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2017 08:51 AM
From: Jeffrey Nichols
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

We've come to the same conclusion. We've been told that it's easy to export/import data (financial as well as visitor data) from Square. Is this your experience with it? we keep looking for flaws with Square, but they all seem surmountable so far.

Thanks,

Jeff

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-06-2017 07:18 AM
From: Marusca Gatto
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

We use Square for our museum:  admission, donations, tours and museum store inventory and sales.  Several square unit are used for bar sales in our theatre and outdoor venues as well.  It's the best system available without paying the $10,000 + for a custom system.

------------------------------
Marusca Gatto
Director of Operations
Cornell Art Museum
Delray Beach FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-05-2017 03:57 PM
From: Diane Gutenkauf
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

We use Square at our remote site and at our special events. It works very well for these functions. The only drawback for us is that it doesn't dump into our main POS which is linked to our accounting software. This just adds another step in the accounting process. 

------------------------------
Diane Gutenkauf
Executive Director
Ella Sharp Museum Association of Jackson
Jackson MI
dianeg@ellasharp.org
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2017 12:19 PM
From: Jeffrey Nichols
Subject: Square as point of sale in museums

Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest is seriously looking at using Square as our point of sale system. We'd use it for everything - selling tour tickets, program tickets, store sales and online. Does anyone use this in a museum/historic house setting? If so, do you like it?

Thanks,

Jeff

------------------------------
Jeffrey Nichols
President & CEO
Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest
Forest VA
------------------------------