It happens most days. Somebody fills their card, and in the same breath they are paying for something else. They do not want the reward right now, but they have earned it and they have just spent money, and both of those ought to count.
That is what Not this time is for. When you scan a full card the panel offers two buttons. Spend reward hands the reward over now. Not this time banks it for later and stamps the purchase they are making, so the new card starts with today’s visit already on it.
What to tap
- Scan the customer's card as usual.
- The panel says the reward is ready and names it. Ask whether they would like it now.
- If they would rather keep it, choose Not this time.
- The reward is saved and this visit is stamped. Say so out loud: it is the bit worth hearing.
If they are buying several things at once, open Advanced first and set the number. Not this time then saves the reward and starts their new card with all of those stamps on it.
What the customer keeps
- The reward, in full, until they ask for it. Nothing expires it and nothing spends it by accident.
- The visit they just paid for, as the first stamp on their new card.
Their card shows both. The stamps read as the new card they are on, and a small line under them reads Available rewards, with the number waiting. A card in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet shows the same line the next time it updates. That number is everything they can claim right now, so if they later fill the new card as well, it counts the finished card too and goes up to two. When you scan them, the panel says the reward is ready and shows the one saved for later beside it.
Every scan tells you
You do not have to remember, and neither do they. From then on, every scan of that card shows Available rewards until it is claimed, and while their new card is part way along the spend button reads Spend saved reward. If somebody keeps saying not this time, the number simply goes up, and they can claim them one at a time whenever they like.
Claiming it later
Scan the card, choose Spend saved reward, and hand it over. The stamps on their current card do not move: none is taken, because the ones that earned this reward were used when they filled the old card, and none is added, because a reward is not a purchase. If they are buying something at the same time, tap Award stamp as well, exactly as you would on any other visit.
If their new card is full as well, the buttons are Spend reward and Not this time again, and Spend reward spends the full card first: it empties that card and leaves the saved reward waiting for another day.
The two are separate on purpose. Spending a reward is handing something over, stamping is recording a purchase, and a visit where somebody claims a reward and buys nothing should not earn a stamp.
What gets written down
Under Reports, the Audit Log shows the moment as Reward Earned, with the stamp for that visit beside it. It is not counted as a reward spent, because nothing was handed over yet; that appears later, on the day they actually claim it, as Reward Spent. There is a Reward Earned option in the Event filter if you want to see them on their own.