That's funny you should mention the 1200... The only place I've ever even seen a Tandy 1200 is at Radio Shack stores. I don't remember them selling that well :-(
As for the 3000, when I worked part-time for Radio Shack in the early 90's, we had a 3000 in the back, running Xenix, as the "terminal server" for the store. All of the terminals in the front hooked into this unit, and every night at closing, we'd have to connect to corporate and transmit our inventory.
I worked for Radio Shack as well (in the mid 90's) using the same system, but I also worked for them when I was 18 (back in '82), and things were a bit different. We wrote receipts manually throughout the day, and at the end of the day, we had to sit down at a model III, and enter the (first) ticket #, then the tax and total for the sale. We did not enter the item sku number though, so inventory continued to be done manually by the manager, and simply ordered using a separate application. No computer based inventory was done back then (just sending the order to Ft Worth). After entering the daily report info, I'd (manually) call a phone number and initiate the connection manually at 300 baud, and upload the daily report information. Payroll and the inventory (ordering) was done, and at the end of the day, after the daily (5:00pm was considered end of day), any and all info would be transmitted when the daily transmitted. Radio Shack was definitely one of the earliest companies to start adopting the usage of computers due to the fact that they were so early into the market with them.
The newer system they had in the 90's (and are still using to this day) was more or less an extension of the older one. All data (ICST's, ISCT's, payroll, labor transfers, inventory orders, outgoing inventory data (to be shared with the other stores), etc) is collected throughout the day, and 'pushed' to Ft Worth with the daily report (at or around 5:00pm local time). The major difference is that now, the computer itself tracks the inventory sales as each item is scanned, and the computer (not the manager) generates the orders. This is a major thing since, prior to that, they had to hire managers with strong accounting skills, whereas now, the Store Manager is now titled the Store
Sales manager. The newer system also processes credit cards, (automatically, but via the phone line, not via the net or satellite dish), and the inventory not only of the store itself, but the various stores in the area as well are exchanged daily so that if a customer is looking for a particular item, and your store is out, the closest store's inventories can be queried as well. A useful feature, if not for a salesman's sale, but a quick way to locate an item. Overall, the current system, while dated, is still pretty decent, but I'm thinking it IS getting a bit long in the tooth, and could stand an upgrade, both hardware and software. Although they should retain the current POS system software and just update it and add features. Overall, it's one of the best POS systems I've ever worked with.
