EPOS

acronym Also written Epos or epos (Business World) (Science and Technology) Short for electronic point of sale, a computerized system of stock control in shops, in which bar-codes on the goods for sale are scanned electronically at the till, which is in turn linked to a central stock-control computer. Etymology: The initial letters of Electronic Point Of Sale; its inventors probably chose to add E (for electronic) to the already existing POS, point of sale. History and Usage: EPOS was introduced in the early eighties and by 1990 was widely used in the larger chains of stores. In order for EPOS to be used, all goods must carry a bar-code and special electronic tills must be installed, making the changeover an expensive business; one large chain even uses EPOS as a verb meaning 'to convert (goods, a shop, etc.) to an EPOS system'. The barcoding of books by their publishers is crucial to the success of the WHS epos system. Bookseller 1 Mar. 1986, p. 819 All of the supermarkets (except Waitrose) now have some branches with the EPOS [Electronic Point of Sale] system. Which? Feb. 1990, p. 69 I Eposed Oxford--that's where the grey hairs came from. Bookseller 26 Apr. 1991, p. 1232 See also EFTPOS