after 2 plus decades i made a decision (yesterday) to pull the plug on
my credit card swiper. it's been a long time coming. back in the early
to mid 90s, installing it was a license to print money atmo; folks would
use plastic to buy components, apparel, and even pay off the rare
balance due on an invoice. oddly, with the website sales diverting all
shopping cart purchases into paypal, it's a rare month that anyone
even uses the words credit card in a sentence with me. i think last
year i swiped, or keyed in the numbers from, 4 cards at most. the
service bank that holds my account gets me for $20 per month, and
bills me $50 annually to be "member". accccccck. and there are the
routine one-time compliance fees for things they want me to be in
compliance with. all of the fees don't surpass $500 a year, but there's
a certain smugness i was getting from the sales team about why i
should be billed all of this when my terminal is so rarely used. it's
a sign of the times, and yesterday's invoice from merchants services
put the knife in the wrist. we'll see where the decision takes me
from here. typically, the bicycles and frames are paid for with checks,
and the website stuff is paypal-centric. we'll see where fate takes
it from here atmo.

anyone else have a similar story?