Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: RTS POS system

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Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 03-20-2017, 02:06 PM:

Hello,

I would like to know if anyone on this forum uses Ready Theatre Systems (RTS) as thier point of sale system. Additionally, I have questions regarding any type of problems they have had with this system (if any). Especially if you have had any problems on a busy weekend.
I am curious to see if similar things are happening at other theatres using this software.

Thanks and feel free to DM me about this, or e-mail me.

(I did go through the previous threads on this topic. I wanted to start a new one to see if anything has changed with the people using it)

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 03-20-2017, 03:16 PM:

We've used it for about 5 seasons now. No huge issues with it. Coming from a supermarket background, I find it a little limited on things like sales/item reporting. Also, there's no real "god" setting to where you can fix mistakes of staff easily. The only thing we ever ran into when busy was likely due to internet issues which we resolved. It's still a little funky to me, but the "drones" (our box office stations) must have internet connectivity to the server (concessions till) or they constantly reset and/or we lose the ability to sell tickets. That's new to me, most systems I've used can "stand alone" and report to the server later. Other than that, it can "choke" with ticket printer issues and not sell, but usually that's just because we've run out of paper. People seem good to deal with. Sensible Cinema always seemed interesting, possibly more up my alley, but then momentum and all our data exists in RTS.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 03-20-2017, 03:26 PM:

Our drive-in switched to Veezi last year after using RTS for a number of years. I can't say I ever had any major problems with RTS, but almost everything was more complicated that it needs to be. The system doesn't offer much customization for how screens are set up and configured beyond where items are placed on a grid.

We have been using Venue by Retriever at our cinemas for nearly 20 years, and it is far more robust and far simpler to use.

Veezi is still a new system and has a way to go in development of things like the inventory system and reporting. However, it is very easy to set up and you can add additional stations without additional licenses - pricing is based on the number of tickets sold in a month and is billed monthly.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-20-2017, 05:48 PM:

We've used RTS here since the late 2003. It's a little complicated to figure out, especially entering the ticket prices (their manual sucks) but training people on it is easy once you get it figured out.

Almost all of the problems we've ever had with it have had to do with operator error (mainly, not knowing what to do about something, again because the manual sucks). Most problems are caused by computer hardware or internet problems, rather than the software.

Tech support can be grouchy and brusque depending on who you get, but they are uniformly knowledgeable. And they have the absolute worst sounding tech support phone line I've ever had the displeasure of being on hold with.

You don't want to put a computer novice on the phone with tech support, if possible...get somebody who is more tech-savvy.

On the aesthetics side, I wish it had a more attractive interface. The ticket-selling touchscreen is bland and ugly, especially if you only have one screen.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 03-20-2017, 06:41 PM:

We've had RTS since '03. We initially bought in to serve a 4-plex indoor. We moved it to our drive-in because they were, at the time, the only company willing to modify their system to provide a single ticket per car. That gave them huge points with us.

By far, RTS benefits from the fact its owners are theatre operators themselves. Initially, they developed the system to serve their own operation. We all came along later.

As noted above, one downside has largely been the interaction with their support people. Most of them are very computer savvy and, unfortunately, a few work on a mental plane that doesn't seem compatible with effective social interaction. I've had my run-ins with them, and came close a time or two to looking for an alternative because of that.

They've improved in the social area however, and their owner is frequently in the room when they're taking their daytime calls.

RTS works on a system that allows them to fix bugs quickly, pushing them out to your system or even their entire network. You don't need to do much to keep the system up-to-date... it does that automatically. They are well-equipped to deal with fixing small details their customers run into, but try to hold of on major feature additions until they've saved up a few. In our daily use, we've come up with a few items we've thought would make our lives easier, and if they agree, they've been able to add them in within a day or two.

The demo version of their software is fully operational, except for finalizing transactions and online ticketing. You can work with the software and see if it's "right for you".

For the price, they do provide a support structure that has always been available to us. Being a drive-in, that means our calls usually wake someone up. They've taken that with reasonable grace.

The off-side of the price is that it's not a buy-out system. You'll pay a yearly price, based on how many computers with the software can actually sell at the same time. For example, could have, say, 10 computers on your network with fully-operational software on them. If you buy a license for 5 sales machines, any 5 of that 10 can log in and make sales. This allows me to grab an available slot and do a quick gift or credit card transaction from my office without having to buy a full-blown license for that position. I understand they are now able to license on a monthly basis, possibly charging the recurring fee to a credit card. The license codes are pushed to the main office server, which then branch out to the individual sales positions.

I think I've said this in a previous post... most of this sounds familiar. If you have a single screen with what the industry might deem a "low average gross", this system might be overkill and too expensive. If you have a few screens and/or multiple locations, it's a good choice.

Since we computerized our POS, several other systems have hit the market. I'm not much motivated to move 13 years worth of data over to a new system, so I can't say much about what else is out there. It would certainly be wise to look around though. These systems are certainly set up to be long-term fixtures, once the choice is made.

As to Mike's comment about the way the ticket screen "looks": I don't have much to compare to, but nobody here seems to care. For us, the point of the system's look is to communicate what the buttons do. We're not really looking for resource-eating ornaments.

As for "busy weekend problems": The system seems to thrive on heavy workloads. If high transaction count brings out bugs, I'd be looking at the computers, network or internet structure, not the software.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 03-20-2017, 07:40 PM:

I think the problem we are having is a mixture of hardware, networking, and some other things.

I am meeting with them at CinemaCon to see what we can do to iron out the various problems we are having. Hopefully we come to a solution. I have two ten Plex locations that are extremely busy and they seem to have the most issues.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-20-2017, 10:56 PM:

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is, RTS handles all of your data transmissions to the studios for you, which is very nice. I shudder to think of having to put up with that nightly Rentrak phone call, which always seemed to come right in the middle of us eating dinner.

quote: Jack Ondracek
As to Mike's comment about the way the ticket screen "looks": I don't have much to compare to, but nobody here seems to care. For us, the point of the system's look is to communicate what the buttons do. We're not really looking for resource-eating ornaments.

We're only one screen, so I just wish there was something in that huge blank area due to us only having one title on display. Maybe our theatre's logo, or a picture. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or resource hogging. The other competing systems tend to have a much more attractive interface. RTS, being self-designed by a tech-savvy bunch of computer guys, doesn't go in for much of that sort of thing.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 03-21-2017, 12:25 AM:

I never get a phone call from Rentrak any more, now that I have the following system:

I send an email to them every night with: current date, title, total amount of ticket sales in dollars.

Once a week on Thursday night I log into their web reporting program and fill out the form for each day. Which takes about five minutes to do.

That's it.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 03-21-2017, 01:03 AM:

quote: Dennis Benjamin
I think the problem we are having is a mixture of hardware, networking, and some other things.

I'd agree (returned your message, btw).

quote: Mike Blakesley
We're only one screen, so I just wish there was something in that huge blank area due to us only having one title on display.

Point taken. We have 3 titles, but still have lots of room on that screen.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-21-2017, 12:26 PM:

quote:
I never get a phone call from Rentrak any more, now that I have the following system:

I had a feeling they'd updated the antiquated phone call system.

I suppose a good share of smallish theaters like ours aren't computerized to the degree we are, and RTS is kind of expensive, but it saves time and work for me and helps the accuracy of the boxoffice and concession, so I feel like it's worth it being computerized.

Posted by Martin McCaffery (Member # 37) on 03-21-2017, 04:44 PM:

quote: Frank Cox
Once a week on Thursday night I log into their web reporting program and fill out the form for each day.

What is this form of which you speak?
I do the nightly email, too. I've never had to do a weekly form for Rentrak. Is it a BO report?

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 03-21-2017, 04:57 PM:

Rentrak form

It's a box office report. It remembers your ticket prices and so on, so you just fill in the number of admissions in each category for each day.

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 03-21-2017, 05:05 PM:

I'd concur on most of the good points here. I like the data/reporting I have, with the exception of concessions (just can't seem to find how many hot dogs - or any item - we've sold on a date or date range). And as I say, I wish the "drone" stations could operate "stand-alone" when connection to the server is interrupted. But overall, just keeps on chugging and there's value in that.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-21-2017, 05:26 PM:

Dave - if you close your stations at night and then close the "deposit" station, that report can be configured to show your concession sales by item. There may be other ways to get that info but that's how we do it.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 03-21-2017, 06:47 PM:

Another way is to go to "reports - inventory - conc sales vs inventory"

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 03-22-2017, 10:27 AM:

Thanks Mike, and Jack, we certainly do close them each night and since I'll be at the theatre more this season I'll try to figure that out early on. Sheepishly, I will admit that we do not use the "inventory" function since we don't enter "receiving" into the system. I suppose that's a relic from my supermarket days, where you couldn't really do this with 40,000 "SKU's" (at the time anyway). The inventories we do are by hand, but mostly just to know what to order, so it's "my bad" on this. I appreciate the tips. If I can figure out a way to get this last bit of info, RTS is pretty darn bulletproof.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 03-22-2017, 12:02 PM:

Dave, the reports will show sales for your selected date range, even if you don't put received stock into the inventory module.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-22-2017, 12:05 PM:

We don't use RTS for inventory either, but we do have each of our items entered individually so the deposit report will show what we sold.

You just go to Reports > Deposit > Total and set the "Item sales" option to True.

Posted by Jay Glaus (Member # 6011) on 03-22-2017, 01:46 PM:

Just wanted to weigh in on this…

Back in the early 2000's I had RTS in my concession. I always liked it. It seemed to do what I needed it to, and probably even more. The only thing that was tricky about it if memory serves was it was tough to create an item and have it work with your stock room inventory, or at least it seemed it to me. I remember having support set up new items, but things could have changed. And maybe a good read of the manual would help. I wasn't a fan of the yearly fee, but I guess you get what you pay for. The only reason we quit using it was equipment failure. Those terminals can get pretty expensive and at the time we just went back to using our cash registers and kind of put this on the back burner.

We have added a lot of menu items since, and it is harder to keep an inventory the larger your menu gets and especially since we have 3 stand alone concessions on the property. So we recently have begun looking at point of sale systems again.

We use Sensible Cinema in the box office, so it made sense to give it a whirl in the stand. I like the interface and how easy it is to completely set up your items from scratch. All seemed well until I tried the inventory. Heres how the inventory works… You enter in a starting count. A week later you re count, enter in any additional items you brought in, any waste, and it will tell you what you should have made $-wise that week. Then you have to go back in and get your sales reports for the week, and compare the $ amounts to see if everything is kosher. Pretty much every other POS I have seen is capable of deducting sales from the stock room and giving you an updated count of what you should have. Obviously you would recount to make sure the numbers jive, but the system should be able to tell you what your stock room should contain. I like to use that updated count as a makeshift shopping list when I don't have time to count everything. But unfortunately Sensible cannot do this. It's inventory program is completely separate from its selling program. Quite frankly, I could do what it does with Excel, or even a piece of paper. Why the inventory was never incorporated into the sales portion of the program I will never know. POS can be a decent investment, so I want to make sure it can do exactly what I need it to, and unfortunately I need a running inventory.

I demo'd Vizzy (I think thats how its spelled) and it seemed like a nice program. It works off the "cloud", so I could be at home and build my shows for the box-office, and pull up any report from the box office or the concession stand without even setting foot on the property. I thought that was kind of cool. they have a monthly fee, but for drive-ins they reduce your rate in the off season, which is also kind of cool.

I also got in touch with RTS about pricing for getting them back in my concessions. I have acquired terminals now, so all I really have to pay for is the software. In the end, I'm probably going to go with RTS. The price is a little higher than some, and I'm not one for reoccurring fees, but I'm very familiar with the program, and I know it does what I need.

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 03-22-2017, 07:09 PM:

quote: Jay Glaus

I demo'd Vizzy (I think thats how its spelled) and it seemed like a nice program. It works off the "cloud"

https://www.veezi.com/

Found the page on the Vista site

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 03-22-2017, 11:05 PM:

Jack, you're a genius! (Your wife agrees right?) I have looked at that option a hundred times and assumed it needed inventory and never tried it. Mike, I'll try that when we open in May, I see my Item Sales is "true", likely I'll just need to pick a detailed report (we've always used "Recap Daily" which is pretty basic).

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 03-23-2017, 01:23 PM:

I think most of my customers use it with the exception of some Sensible Cinema systems here and there. I wish there were more Sensible Cinema and less RTS because it's a much better system with much better support. RTS does not interface well to the TMS and at locations where I did interface it the schedule has to be imported every day. Sensible Cinema interfaces much better and it's a once a week schedule import unless you need to change it.

Mark

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 03-23-2017, 02:09 PM:

One of the things that always bothered me with RTS was there was very limited data for real time reporting. For the most part you can't look at your sales until you close out. I'm used to working with systems which let me look up almost anything during the day, so I was frequently frustrated with RTS.

One example of this would be if we needed to look up whether a transaction was tendered or whether a customer was charged for a certain item. It's been almost 2 years since I used RTS, but my memory was this information was not available until after the station had been closed out.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-23-2017, 03:26 PM:

There is a 'monitor' function where you can watch transactions happen, but you have to click "Refresh" to see updated info and I don't think it tells whether the transactions are cash or credit card. That's a flaw.

Mark - I didn't know there was a problem with interfacing with the TMS - maybe you should write to them about that? They seem like they want to keep up with the times.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 03-23-2017, 07:18 PM:

The RTS system is a bit aggravating in this regard, especially while the day in question is "open". It doesn't aggregate information into "statistics" until they technically become them, which in the minds of the RTS folks, seems to be when you close the day from further transactions.

On the other hand, touching on Justin and Mike's observations, there are ways to look up individual transactions, including which station generated them and whether or not they were paid by card. It's just not intuitive to find that information until you close out for the day. My wife likens this to a cash register that hides the "X" function, while easily providing the "Z".

Dave: Was considered near god-like around here, until my job of 27 years was reduced to pressing "play" by digital technology. Now, I wander around, merely acting like I own the place. Unfortunately for me, the jig is up and my wife and daughter (boxoffice and concession operations) now beleve they fill the true seats of power.

Sigh... (whine)... [Big Grin]

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 03-23-2017, 07:32 PM:

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen
RTS does not interface well to the TMS and at locations where I did interface it the schedule has to be imported every day. Sensible Cinema interfaces much better and it's a once a week schedule import unless you need to change it.

All of my locations use RTS and all can import the weekly show schedule with no problems.

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 03-25-2017, 10:56 AM:

Yes, the lack of "real time" sales data is what freaks out an old grocery guy. It all depends on the mind of the initial programmer and then you're kind of stuck with that concept until such time as they blow it up and start new, which is unlikely.

Ha, ha, Jack...I don't even get to push play, though I've adjusted fairly well to being the "extra attacker" when things get busy. Occasionally I'm heard to sheepishly mumble something about "checking the projector", but nobody really buys that. Can't believe our first is putting herself through Uni running the place, but we're blessed to be able to do it. And I'm an expert on plumbing now.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 03-25-2017, 03:08 PM:

I don't know what was so difficult for you, Mark, on the RTS schedule. It will export as often as you like (every 5 minutes (I think about every 5-8 minutes is about as fast as it can generate the new schedule). It will FTP it to wherever you want. All of the major TMSes (including GDC) recognize its file and import it just fine.

If anything, Sensible was late to the table on their interface. At first, they had an optional app that would generate the file you needed but you still had to arrange to get it to the TMS. Now, I believe one can have it automatically fire off the schedule.

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 03-26-2017, 10:50 PM:

Anyone using a kitchen printer with RTS? I'd like to add one which would only print the kitchen a ticket if certain items are ordered. Our concessions layout makes it difficult to consider a 2nd POS station for busier times unless I can do this. If you do this, how does it work for you?

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 03-27-2017, 02:31 PM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
Mark - I didn't know there was a problem with interfacing with the TMS - maybe you should write to them about that? They seem like they want to keep up with the times.

I actually did try to work with them initially, but they were basically no help in regards to it. It's not an issue unless a show start is held for a bit so a large audience can have time get in place, or if the ticket person doesn't update the schedule.... It was just the fact that it has to be done every day and does not happen automatically as other ticket systems do... The people that tried it just decided that in four or five min they can program the whole weeks worth of TMS schedules anyway and they decided to skip it.

Mark

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 03-29-2017, 12:18 AM:

quote: Dave Bird
Anyone using a kitchen printer with RTS? I'd like to add one which would only print the kitchen a ticket if certain items are ordered. Our concessions layout makes it difficult to consider a 2nd POS station for busier times unless I can do this. If you do this, how does it work for you?

We have a kitchen printer at one of our busier locations. It does take a little bit of time to get it set up. But now that it is up, it works grest and is very helpful.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 03-29-2017, 02:56 AM:

quote: Dave Bird
Anyone using a kitchen printer with RTS?

We also do. As Dennis suggests, it does take some time to set up, but works well.

Each item you want to send to the kitchen gets flagged in the program. This way, the products your staff can sell from the front (popcorn, soft drinks, etc) don't go to the kitchen.

We use both a monitor (called the "pickup screen") and a printer. Completed sales transactions first show up on a portion of the pickup screen, along with an audible signal that indicates an order has been sent back. Orders line up on the screen, similar to a fast food restaurant. Fields are provided, showing how long each order has been in the system. When the order is completed, a "finish button" is pressed, clearing that portion of the window and producing a pickup ticket from the printer. The ticket is used to match numbers with the customer's receipt, which eliminates errors caused by not knowing "who gets the fries".

This functionality is a standard part of the system.

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 03-29-2017, 09:46 AM:

That sounds great, and I'm tempted on the screen as well. Right now, our cash prints no receipts and we manually do one for any "hot" order and scribble a name on it before we hang it up. Flagging the items so it happens automatically is perfect (we have one stubborn staff who likes to write the whole thing, saying she "forgot" or it's "faster", this'll fix her!).

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 03-29-2017, 11:09 AM:

Dave, if you have a spare computer laying around, you can get a demo copy of the software and try most of this stuff out. It might take actually licensing one machine to make use of the kitchen screen though, because a transaction would have to be completed to send anything back... and that would require that the computer doing the transacting be licensed. Otherwise, everything else should be fairly open to you.

For the kitchen window to work, you'll need a separate computer/screen/printer/speaker. Everything hooks together over whatever LAN you might already have around the place. It will work with wireless, though for security and reliability reasons, that wouldn't be a choice I'd want to make.

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 03-29-2017, 01:30 PM:

Thanks Jack, I actually have my computer here at home set up as a "station". Doesn't require license as I don't sell through it. I've had good luck this year as with 4 weeks to go until I'm actually at the theatre, I can still "talk" to the server. Our kitchen is still quite close to the POS during operation, I had always assumed I could wire a remote printer directly, but you're right, if we went to 2 points of sale, a kitchen station/license is likely needed.

Dennis, does your "printer only" location run directly from the POS, or it's own station?

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 03-30-2017, 07:48 PM:

quote: Dave Bird
Dennis, does your "printer only" location run directly from the POS, or it's own station?

The printer is set up as a network printer. Each POS station is mapped through Windows to print certain kitchen items to the printer.