No Such Thing as “Free” POS Hardware

4/21/2022

No Such Thing as “Free” POS Hardware
Aldelo Provides Merchants Freedom from Proprietary POS Solutions

4-minute read ---

Restaurant owners seeking to acquire a new point-of-sale solution tend to struggle to make confident decisions. This is because solutions and features beyond basic POS functionality are often priced separately or intertwined with varying (and confusing) credit card processing rates and fees. And if this isn’t confusing enough, many POS providers tout “free” POS hardware that is often bundled with the entire solution, making it difficult for merchants to quickly and accurately compare one POS solution to another.

Merchants purchasing a new software solution may believe they are getting a better deal up front when they choose a POS system with “free” POS hardware. But, in the long-run, they tend to pay much more than the fair market value.

Restaurant owners that reconcile their “free” hardware with increased costs often believe they are simply amortizing the cost of the hardware over a period of time at a fair rate. However, the actual cost of “free” hardware often ends up costing the merchant much more, since they are really paying for their hardware through higher credit card rates, monthly POS payments, or feature and service fees. Eventually merchants conclude that there really is no such thing as “free” POS hardware.