-The cash register at Gino & Carlo's Cocktail Lounge in San Francisco's north beach neighborhood outdates most of the patrons.
-It's solid.
You can't pick it up and run away with it.
It's reliable.
It never breaks.
It's simple.
It looks cool.
My father used that register when he was a teenage.
-But registers like this from the 1930s could make the endangered species list as more and more businesses favor modern
technology.
-You wanna sign that with your finger?
-Yes.
-Cheryl Burr, the owner of San Francisco's Pinkie's Bakery is testing out Square, a credit card reader that plugs into the audio jack of a tablet or smartphone for point-of-sale purchases.
-They have a lot of things to work out still, but in general, it's a good program.
The customers really seem to enjoy it.
They think it's kind of a cool tech thing that we're doing.
It kind of adds to the buzz about Pinkie's Bakery.
-But there are some drawbacks.
Square takes 2.75% per transaction.
There's no option for paper
receipts, only e-mail and text, and the system depends on a strong, reliable internet connection.
-We'll give it a chance for probably a full year and see how they can make more improvements.
-But if they don't then we may go back to the old way.
-If I have the Square app open on my phone, I will sense when I'm closed to a Square-enabled establishment popping my profile up on the iPad and making the transition that much smoother and quicker.
-Square definitely has been making some strides.
It's got the 4 million dollars a day in daily transactions but still a really small
portion of credit card transactions locally, but it's making headway.
-Do you ever consider switching to something more modern like the--
-Why?
For what reason?
We love our register.
-In San Francisco, I'm Cara Savoy, CNET.com for CBS News.
