PLB (Product Level Blocking) Operation

 

Description

 

Used to restrict items being sold when finalising a sale with a Product Level Blocking (PLB) or also known as the DSS Welfare Card. Potentially up to 4 million of these cards are in circulation in Australia and can be used for payments in Hotels/Clubs for food. They cannot be used for purchases of alcohol, some Gift cards and/or for gambling. Some Gift cards are restricted, to avoid them being converted to cash to purchase restricted Products.

 

Every time a sale is finalised using PC-EFTPOS a flag is sent to indicate the presence of restricted items in the sale. If a PLB SmartCard is used and the flag is true, then EFTPOS blocks the transaction and invokes the Restricted Items Processing screen in Touch. Using this screen all Restricted items can be managed and removed from the sale.

 

Non-personally identifiable transaction details are sent to DSS to evaluate the effectiveness of Product blocking.

 

To Be Considered

 

  1. It is recommended that the EFTPOS (PLB associated) Media POS Key is used as the last Media when finalising a Sale. Note : Once the EFTPOS (PLB associated) Media is used in a sale, Price changes as a result of Campaigns, Discounts, Members Prices, Mix n Matches, etc will be blocked. Once a sale has been partially finalised using a PLB SmartCard, then any subsequent attempt to do one of the following will be blocked:
     
    1. Apply a Discount
    2. Apply a Surcharge
    3. Change Price Levels
    4. Sell at Members Price
    5. Splitting Balances
    6. Top ups of Gift Cards, etc.
    7. Transferring Table Items
    8. Trigger Campaigns
    9. Trigger a Mix n Match

 

Pre-Requisites

 

  1. Ensure PC-EFTPOS is configured as a Peripheral at all relevant Touch POS devices.
  2. Ensure a Sales Export > PLB Type Interface has been configured at all relevant Touch POS devices.
  3. Ensure an Finalise (#2-30) POS Key is added to the appropriate Layout using the Keyboard Designer.
  4. Ensure a Family has been created and the Products assigned to it, are to be Restricted when using a PLB SmartCard.
     

 

  1. Ensure the same Family is selected from the drop-down list of Families against the PLB Restricted Family setting in Global Preferences.
     

 

  1. Ensure a full update is sent to Touch.  Once you enable this option then any transactions relating to PLB SmartCards is sent back to the host server via the Sales Interface settings at the POS.

 

Operation

 

  1. in Touch make a sale.
  2. Select items that are NOT assigned to the selected PLB Restricted Family and add them to the sale.
  3. Select items that ARE assigned to the selected PLB Restricted Family and add them to the sale.
  4. Select the EFTPOS Media POS Key.
  5. The Restricted Items Processing screen will be displayed.
  6. Use this screen to manage the processing of Restricted items.

 

Restricted Items Processing Screen

 

 

This screen is accessed from here.

 

Grid

 

Not Restricted Items

 

The section of the screen list the Items in the sale that are NOT Restricted.

 

Restricted Items

 

The section of the screen list the Items in the sale that ARE Restricted.

 

Footer

 

  • Clear Remaining Restricted Items From Sale - Select to ensure that the Items identified in the sale as being Restricted (when finalising with a PLB SmartCard) will be cleared from the sale.
  • Move Remaining Restricted Items to a Separate Sale - Select to ensure that the Items identified in the sale as being Restricted (when finalising with a PLB SmartCard) will be included in a separate sale to allow for finalising using an alternative Media.
  • Mark Item as Not Restricted - Select to ensure that Items identified in the sale as being Restricted (when finalising with a PLB SmartCard) to be marked as NOT Restricted and thus able to be finalised with a PLB SmartCard.
  • Override All Restrictions - Select to ensure all Restrictions in the current sale are overridden. A prompt will be displayed to select the reason for the override.

 

 

  • Note : This option should ONLY be used in the following circumstances:

 

    • Incorrect Restriction - Items are incorrectly flagged as Restricted. That is, items have erroneously been included in the PLB Restricted Family. Select to continue with the finalisation of the sale using the PLB SmartCard as tender and ensure the incorrectly flagged items are removed from the PLB Restricted Family.
    • Intimidating Customer - A Customer responds in an intimidating manner to the imposed restrictions. Select to continue with the finalisation of the sale using the PLB SmartCard as tender.

 

  • Cancel - Select to exit without finalising.

 

Related Topics

 

  1. POS Configuration Index - Sales Configuration
  2. POS Operation
  3. POS Operation Index - Sale Features
  4. Touch Toolbar and Tools
  5. Device Settings

 

Published 06 Aug 2026