Many of you would have already received letters similar to this, cannot say I am very happy about it, what about you? It's good to know that my Optus stuff is safe but...

From the victims' point of view.

Here is the information that was stolen which includes:
-Customers' names
-Dates of birth
-Phone numbers
-Email addresses
-Addresses
-ID document numbers such as driver's licence or passport numbers

This information is enough for someone to get through most security checks over the phone, e.g. ATO, banks, etc. I doubt I can change my driver's licence number; the passport number is possible, but I cannot change my date of birth or address. I would be reluctant to change my email address. The other problem is that the old numbers are still valid in most places. Many ID checks will accept the old info.

What is troubling is that the hack started in 2017. Did anything weird happen to you with your accounts?

Probably the quickest way to check is with a free credit report

To guard against this, you can ask for a FREE credit report from any of the 3 Credit Report Agencies:

• Experian

• Illion

• Equifax

Since they each collect slightly different information, you may want to check all of them.

From Optus's point of view

Although still under investigation, this Optus breach is likely human error, as almost all my experiences are successful hacks. If so, it would have been avoidable with proper procedures. If so, there is no one for Optus to blame, so it will probably have to bear much of the cost besides the bad publicity.

Now multiple by 9.8 million people (high-case scenario) to get a feel of the potential costs. This cost is on the low side. It is estimated that a hack in business costs much more than this, more like $200 a person.

From your business point of view

Considering the size of this hack, there is no doubt that new laws will be coming to Australia. 

Currently, for a small or medium-sized business (SMB), the average cost of a breach in the US is $108,000. In Australia, it will be more. Just a lawyer and barrister for a few days will cost more. Do the figures yourself; an SMB business with 1,000 customers on its books at $200/account, and you have $200,000.

Some simple security checks could help to reduce the problem.

-Passwords stuck on the walls are not a good idea.
-Change passwords frequently.
-Implement security on your systems.
-As much as possible, never leave computers unattended.

For people who want better, we set up our users with an encrypted disk drive using VeraCrypt.

Anything under VeraCrypt without the correct password is unreadable. Doing this has a significant advantage because no one can read your information if your computer is lost or stolen.

It is so secure that I doubt anyone in Australia could break it.

Also, you may want to consider cyber insurance, but that is a story for another day. 

It's a public holiday in Victoria, so support is being directed through our interstate offices.

Both teams are outstanding. I think most people now underestimate the Swans. The Swans dominated most of the game but what kept Collingwood in was their accurate kicking that almost gave them the game. Still, I doubt the Swans can control the game this week against Geelong, so Geelong looks like the team to beat.

Please, if you can avoid using support at the actual game time itself, our guys on support would appreciate it. But if you have to call, they are available.

May the best team win, enjoy!

Our office will be open on skeleton staff. As today is the Queen's National Day of Mourning, support will be done on our after-hours numbers today.

Tomorrow is a Victorian Public holiday, the "Friday before the Grand Final". Help will be as usual. The phones will be diverted to our interstate support bays.

If you need it, it is available.

Many thanks and have a lovely long weekend from all at POS Solutions.

It's always a problem as the Grand Finals are coming up, most people's teams are out, and although the football sales should be good, it is only for a short time. If it does not move, you may be stuck with the stock, which is often unsellable. Who in 2023 will want a stock with a 2022 label?

What is a good idea is to ring your supplier and see what can be done. If the problem worries you, it is much more for them.

Stick a sign-up, make a Grand Final Sale and try to move it.

Interestingly, I have noticed that most of the items offered in their Grand Final Sales have nothing to do with football. As long as you have a few products for football, there is no reason why many other products can be added to your Grand Final Sale.

As always, I recommend marking the sale on your computer to see how it does.

The recent Fine Food Show brought up the subject of coffee, which is a massive industry in Australia, about 9 billion dollars yearly. There is no dominant player with plenty of room for small to medium players to break in. Have a read of this report by IBISWorld here. 75% of all Australians drink at least one daily. Most of us consume much more. Why more of my clients do not get involved in it is a puzzle to me. It costs cents to make and sells for dollars. It also often has high add-on sales.

Now before I begin, I claim some expertise in coffee, being a certified barista.

​Now let's go through a few factors. Firstly like everything you have to work at it, a coffee seller is a restaurant and retailer. Its no pot of gold just waiting to be picked up.

Can you put coffee in some places like shopping?

In some places, you will not be allowed.

I do not recommend going in with a franchise.

Why share your profits? Do it yourself.

Do you have the space?

The excellent point of coffee is it can live in the dead areas of the shop. They do need access to electricity. Plus, these machines are often messy, so I recommend you be careful with the nearby goods.

The machine

I recommend walking outside your shop and researching the competition around you. Only once you have an idea of the pricing can you decide on the machine. 

The minimum manual machine you could get away with commercially would be $1,500 for a second-hand machine and a decent grinder (if you are going to do it commercially, I recommend a separate grinder). That could get you about $4.5 a cup in a good area. If you look new, you are probably about $10,000, which can often get you more per cup.

An automatic machine costs about $2,000/year, but these only give you cheap coffees. Still, it said much that people make money on $1 a cup.

I recommend you get a machine from a place that fixes them. These machines frequently break down. Check their support. These machines often break down. If you cannot get it fixed, you will soon have a piece of unusable junk.

Beans

Do not buy the caterers' special beans. You can get good beans at reasonable prices for a little more. Australians are extremely serious about their coffee. They have a high standard for their coffee.

Training

I do recommend that you do a course. It does not take long, a couple of mornings. It takes a while to get the skill.

The software

This is important because a good coffee shop POS technology will make your accounting and management easier and more efficient.

Everyone in coffee is cost-conscious. You have to be. You need to know your cost margin exactly. These change with every delivery from your suppliers, so prices must be suitable for each recipe. This is not easy as each recipe has many options, e.g. cow milk or dairy-free alternatives. Then there is decaffeinated or not. Plus, stock control is vital; not having one ingredient can bring your coffee business to a stop. The shop has to be shut while the owner is running to a supermarket is a common story.

So most of you readers are lucky as your software is now being used in cafes where it is highly regarded.

It has clear navigation and a user-friendly screen

Tracking of customer data and honour loyalty schemes

Good cash management functions like dual cash drawer tills

Look into it, please.

You must register your new business domain name now if you have not yet done it. With the new rules coming into effect, a shortened domain name is expected to take over. As in most of the world, Australia is switching over to allow people to register the shorter .au domain for their website. This will replace the existing websites from .com.au or .net.au to .au. 

Anyone could have grabbed our new domain name if I had not registered it. You have till tomorrow.

Do not believe that people will not try and steal your website domain name if you let them. I can tell you from personal experience that some maggot will do it. I had a client who had in his small town an office supply company named after that town. Well, a rival grabbed his name when he was slow to re-register. 

The cost is trivial or free, depending on your domain name provider company. What you do not want is someone else coming in and directing customers to their different websites. 

Put a redirect on the name, and then like everyone else, can choose what to do after a year.

Check here for more details.

If you want to see something unbelievable, look at what is called *The Queue* to see the Queen's casket. 

People camped for two nights even before it started moving. Now it is moving, and it is 4 miles long.

If you want to see the Queue where no one can sit down as they have to keep moving, look here

And they do not even get to view her. After 11 hours of the Queue, what they see is a flag over a closed coffin which they are shuffled past in about a minute and a half in total silence without stopping because nothing can be allowed to slow down the Queue.
 

Nice lady and I have great respect for her, but ......

Here’s a link to send a virtual condolence message to the Royal Family, I did.

Three-in-ones are computers designed for a retail shop.

-They have a small footprint
-They can take dirty environments
-Very fast for retail transactions
-They look good, something essential for the front counter where people see them.

This is the newest model of the three-in-ones that just came.

These are a bit dearer than the others I talked about here, but I think better.

Once you see them, I am sure you will be impressed.

Note: For the budget conscious, we have only a few of the older models left. Once we sell out of these, we cannot get any more of these models.

Our system can accept PayPal, so there is something that is a common fraud that you should be warned about if you accept PayPal about their buyer protection program. It was told to me by one of our suppliers who got badly burnt. 

A person rings up and places an order for a laptop. They then paid by PayPal. Shortly afterwards they came and picked up the item. A short time afterwards, they opened a dispute with PayPal that they never got the laptop. The seller had no proof of purchase, so PayPal refunded the buyer their money, and the seller is short a laptop.

If you sell an item with PayPal, you need proof of delivery. 

Actually, proof of delivery is a good idea for any payment method.

A special edition of both New Idea and Woman’s Day will be published on Thursday, 15/9/2022, and no issue will be published on Monday, 19/9/2022.

There are no changes involved in its handling. We have put together a help sheet to guide you through the steps to handle this change.

Click here on how to handle it.

​I did meet a few, but I was surprised that more of my clients did not go to Fine Food Show. Food is always a hot seller. With so many now interested in gourmet chocolate, this was the place to go to check them out. Check out the listings. It was packed with companies trying to market their products.

There was a wide range of different foods too.

What I did like is that most offered samples to try out. Labels do not fool the public with food. It is always important to taste the product offered. With one bite, for example, the public can taste the difference between high-quality artisan and mass-marketed chocolate. If you want them back, your product has to be good.

Plus, there was a lot in technology, ever heard of a sushi machine, I had not. This sort of technology is important if you do not have the skill developed over years in food preparation. 

If you get a chance, I recommend you check out this show. I am sure you will get some ideas.

Australia will mark the death of Queen Elizabeth with a public holiday on Thursday, September 22nd 2022. It will be a National Day of Mourning.

She was a remarkable woman who did a great job. An inspiration who, incredibly, was still working at 96 years old!

Like anyone else, I love a day off work, but this unanticipated public holiday is challenging. I had a client who booked a medical appointment well in advance that day, but it was cancelled. As few doctors will open and do not want to pay penalty rates, many more are in the same position. The same is true of many other organisations, debating now whether to stay open or close on that day. The cost of this public holiday for Australia will be in the billions. I wonder if the money could be better spent on a specialised hospital in her name. 

As it is a public holiday, many are now questioning whether it will be worth keeping the business open on this day.

Before you start planning and organising your staff, please research how busy you are likely to be. Look at the last Queen's birthday and a typical Thursday. Here is a video explaining how to do this with your POS System. Please click here.

Today almost every retailer offers customers a loyalty card to encourage shoppers to return to their store. About 88% of Australians are enrolled, of which 46% are classed as active users as they use four or more programs.

This is a lot of shoppers. The problem is that many people who think they will be only infrequent shoppers will ignore your loyalty program because they feel it is worthwhile. Well, a trusted and tested solution is to give your members an option to use their points to donate to charity. Studies show that 40% of Australians are happy with that.

So you have the same product as someone else, but if they buy from you, you will donate x points to charity. So offer them a chance to contribute their points to a charity. Most of my clients are local businesses, so select a local charity. Make sure it is apolitical. I recommend something to do with medical or kids from a registered charity. Stay away from anything controversial. You are not in business to campaign for causes.

If you need some ideas, click here.

Everyone is trying to save cash flow. In the past, we all worked with the post and cheques. Today we send electronic invoices. Most customer payments with online banking payments are scheduled in advance.

Have a chew. Is the traditional 30 days system above even relevant today?

One of my clients did a rush job for someone. It was a sizable job, and they sent them an invoice once done. Accidentally it had a 30-day payment term on the payment terms on the invoice. The customer immediately preyed on the delay. Instead of getting paid in a few days, it dragged out to two months.

These are the facts; in general, putting a person on:

Look here at this report.

One month means payment in about two months.

While one week generally means payment in about two weeks.
Two weeks means a payment in about three weeks.

Conclusion: Short payment terms mean you paid faster!

Here are some tips.

1) Do your billing as quick as possible. If you must do it in cycles, make them as short as possible. In my experience, the longer a debt is outstanding, the harder it is to collect.
2) Set your billing cycles as short as possible.
3) Ensure your customers have the appropriate billing cycle; this is easy in our POS system.
4) Switch your customers to online payment if possible. People want today to pay electronically, so give them your BSB and bank account details. 
5) Do not be afraid to follow up if bills are not paid on time. Use your outstanding debt reports in your POS Software. They can be individualised to your needs.

Cashflow is the number one killer of businesses.

So we all need to work smarter.

Today with RU OK Day, it is worth considering that even in the best times, people have traumatic incidents. These incidents can have lasting effects as they go through life's ups and downs. I am sure we all know of someone with a tragic record of suicide, depression or anxiety. Today many people, because of lockdowns, were locked in their homes. Feeling lonely and isolated and are now finding the strain of trying to return to everyday life challenging. Just trying to get to work on time after three years is an effort.

It is not just a personal issue as an employer. You do have a legal duty of care.

If you have any doubts about an employee's mental condition today, ask if they are OK! I know that they will appreciate someone who cares enough to ask. Please be diplomatic. If you want to hang up a poster click here. {link removed]

If you have doubts or are unsure what to do, I suggest you contact your employee group to find out what you can do. Remember this problem, its a potential legal nightmare so find out what you can and cannot do to help. They often have mental health experts to advise you. I had one client who had a possibly violent guy, which brings up another problem he was responsible for making a safe workspace.

We're fortunate to be living in Australia, with access to high-quality mental health care, resources and support services. Much of which is free.

Note: I saw a great film that I enjoyed on mental health and suggest if you are interested in this, The Sunset Limited. If you are interested in this sort of stuff, I think you will enjoy it too with a beautiful story and great actors. 

Financial analysis can say, "what not calculated cannot be managed." besides, working from a gut feeling is stupid if you can get exact figures from your POS System.

This is how you can calculate how your shop travelled over Father's Day 2022; so let us get some facts.

In your POS software

Go to reports and click on sales.

Now select the last seven days. For the first run, ignore all the extra options you can examine here. Once you see what it does, you can expand for more detail. Use for the previous date the week before.

A report with the simplified options is here.

Now there are lots of details for you to examine. I think the most important is the $Profit column.

If you want to look at one department, click on the left.

What can also be an interesting view is to compare this Father's Day to a previous Father's Day. If so you need to consider the official Australian inflation rate is 6.1% which is the highest recorded since 1990.  

Let me know how you travelled.

Efficient Inventory management means you have the correct amount of stock when needed while ensuring that your funds are not tied up.

And today, you should order with a computer as a partner for your Inventory management. 

Although changing your inventory management might seem like an enormous undertaking, once you get the hang of it, it will not be with your POS System.

I suggest you do it not to start from scratch; it is much easier to work with something there. It saves a lot of time as the more the computer does, the less you have to do.

So if your stock levels are correct, your POS Software knows how much inventory you have instead of second-guessing like people often do. Plus, it uses the automatic focus system to determine the sales fluctuations over time. This allows you to stay ahead of the peaks and troughs to maintain the right inventory balance. This is your advantage as you have an integration with the point-of-sale system and accounting software.

Then once the computer does the initial order, you change and adjust to what you see as your needs. This is much faster to do.

You will find that you can get faster and more accurate ordering with less workload. 

Plus, you will find it all on a single screen, making it faster.

Our system has AI in, and were currently trying to extend it. Currently, as far as I know, we are the only ones in our market space with this type of advanced technology. As part of our research, we applied and were accepted into the Dall-E program. Part of what it does is draw computer pictures. This part excited us as it meant that even people with no skill in art could draw high-quality posters. This could be very useful for our clients.

Now a sister program to Dall-E, Midjourney made a picture that won first prize in a prestige art contest. A computer drew this.

What you do is enter some expression like a google search, and the program will draw a picture. admittedly this one, the *artist* made many attempts first.

Now I decided to test Dall-E by drawing some pictures showing you its capabilities. See what you think. I think it shows potential. An excellent graphic artist would charge you hundreds of dollars for something like this. If anyone wants me to demonstrate, let me know.

I decided to use "sunset over a paper shop with newspapers and magazines"

Here I decided to use "sunset over a pet shop with dogs, cats"

Then I decided to do some marketing images for posters.

So I said, "Father's day sale gifts."

Here is one I made for "Business internet network."

All pictures are in Hi-Res, so if you right-click and view the image to see the incredible detail. I think you will be impressed.

This is the future.

Imagine what it will do to the art industry.

Robotic companies frequently have offered us robots for retailing. , I think we could link these into our system. We are still waiting for pricing. I doubt they will be cheap as it is a quality item. If it were $100,000 and could replace one person, many would consider it a bargain as it would give them a considerable boost in productivity. So we have seen a few companies try to push robots into retail, so far, none has worked, but no one has given up on the mission.

Nor am I sure what the public would think of them. I have noticed that although many restaurants allow ordering without a waiter, few people do it.

Have a look and see what you think of something I am sure is the future in retail.

If anyone wants to know more please let me know.

Following the turmoil caused by the COVID pandemic in 2020, we had a semiconductor chip shortage and extended COVID-19 lockdowns in China and many parts of Australia. Also, the delivery system was in crisis. All this wreaked havoc on computer imports. So here we were all waiting for these new all-in-one units that were never coming.

Well, finally the new models have arrived.

It is a computer made for a shop running POS Software.

There are slightly bigger and more powerful, and the screen is better than the previous model. So these can run a shop faster and better too.

I took some pictures of the unit. Once you see them, I am sure you will be impressed with the small footprint on the counter.

It's a best buy, alright.

If you want the older model, they are available at a better price now for a short time as stock is limited. Once the Australian stock sells out, we cannot get any more of the old models.