Cash Discounts
Core Product: Aloha Quick Service, Aloha Table Service
Complimentary Products: No
Separate License Required? No
Other References: Aloha Quick Service Reference Guide, Aloha Table Service Reference Guide
View/Download/Print: Supporting Cash Discounts Quick Reference Guide - HKS1742
About Cash Discounts
A cash discount is a way for a merchant to encourage cardholders to use cash for payments instead of credit/debit cads by offering a reduction in the listed, stated, or standard price displayed by the merchant.
What is the difference between a cash discount and a surcharge?
A cash discount provides an incentive to consumers to pay in cash for a discounted product or service from the merchant’s displayed price, saving consumers money on purchases.
A surcharge is a fee added to the total purchase amount when the consumer uses a credit card instead of another form of payment. Surcharging must follow card network rules and regulations carefully. For more information regarding maintaining a compliant surcharging program, please reach out to your account or relationship manager.
Note: While cash discounting is fully available with Aloha POS, credit card surcharges are only available in Aloha Cloud.
How are cash discounts supported?
The Aloha® Point-of-Sale (POS) system supports a cash discount program offered by the merchant. In addition to configuring the POS properly, merchants should consider a training program to help the employees understand how and when to manually apply a cash discount, and how to field consumer questions.
Applying a cash discount is similar to applying any other promotion to a guest check. When cash is presented to the employee for payment, the employee selects the appropriate discount to decrease the check amount.
How can merchants ensure their cash discount program is compliant?
The most important component of a compliant cash discount program is transparency. It is the onus of the merchant to ensure all door and counter signage, printed guest checks, menus, and base prices entered into the Aloha POS system reflect the non-discounted price. The cash discount is applied when cash is presented for payment.
- Consumers must be able to clearly see the posted cost of goods or services are for payments made via credit/debit cards and the discount pricing available for cash payments. You must display the rules of the cash discount program, as shown in the following signage example.
- The merchant may not inflate the standard price on display and must adhere to all legal and ethical standards for the cost of goods/services. The cash discount applies to checks that are fully paid in cash and is invalid if the check has a partial payment by a credit/debit card.
- Cash discounts cannot be used with other fee programs defined by the card networks, such as surcharging, convenience fees, and service fees.
Configuring Cash Discounts in Aloha POS
Learn how to configure cash discounts in Aloha POS.