Hi Paul:
First, I want to tell you how much I enjoy The Green Sheet. I read every issue cover to cover. Thanks for providing such an informative publication.
Money Tree, Inc., recently informed its reps (I am one) that it had sold part of its portfolio to FUSA/Paymentech. How can I find out what the effective date of the sale was and what multiple the sale was for, i.e., 25X, 30X, etc.?
Thank you for your help.
David
David:
Unless they disclose the multiple in a press release, which I doubt, you will be left to ask them.
Paul H. Green, Editor-In-Chief
Good Morning:
I am working on an article regarding checks in the retail industry for the Shrink Prevention Breakthroughs newsletter. I am looking for statistics on numbers of checks written versus electronic (ATM, credit) payments. I am also interested in check writing trends. I am looking for information covering trends for the last five years and also for the next five years. If your study can provide me any information, I would appreciate it.
Thank you,
Christine M. King,Trax Software & Consulting, Inc.
Christine:
I am attaching the draft of our fifth Check Study. I believe that it will have some information of value to you. Over the last few years, we have covered a variety of different elements, from raw bank and federal check data to retail, consumer, and loss information, as well as comparisons to other payment mechanisms.
Hope this is of some help.
Paul H. Green, Editor-In-Chief
Dear Paul:
Recently I sent you a thank-you for your book, Good Selling!SMwhich is the Bible of the industry. I am re-reading it today, as I need to. Thanks again!
I have lost several customers, which I know happens in our industry, and I understand that "SW,SW,SW, Next!" is much needed to survive. But, in this case, I have bent over backward for my merchants (especially the ones who come back to me or send me business.)
How am I to compete with Discover? They constantly send their MID numbers to me late (three months) and sell their equipment for next to wholesale prices. Now they have another company that will help their little ploy to sell equipment at wholesale prices on a referral basis. I know that the woman selling these through NBA is not the one at fault, but why would Discover send these call-ins over to a wholesale equipment provider? This rots, and should not be allowed in our industry. If merchants can buy wholesale, we aren't making any money!
This is not the first time I lost to them and probably won't be the last time, but this should be known.
Thanks,
Jill
Jill:
I have had a number of similar messages from ISOs, and they all feel the same way: that they should go out of their way to make merchants understand that they really do not need Discover to be competitive. I will share your message, and hopefully more will follow. You're right, their marketing efforts stink.
Paul H. Green, Editor-In-Chief
Hi:
This note is to let you know how much we enjoy The Green Sheet, both the regular edition and the quarterly glossy issue.
Merchants' Choice Card Services
Hello:
Is it true that address verification is used mostly for MO/TO merchants and not for retail and restaurant segments? Is it true that many processors do not support AVS ?
Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
Paul Hagan, Schlumberger Test & Transactions
Paul:
Yes, you are correct on both fronts. I know that a number of companies, including TBR and eBit.net, Inc., from Hazlet, N.J. are planning to bring both AVS and other bankcard validation/security to retail.
Paul H. Green, Editor-In-Chief
Paul:
I have been asked to provide a trend of the number of personal checks that have been written at the point-of-sale (POS) over the last five years. I noticed that the 1998 U.S. Check Study mentions several statistics on retail checks on page 14, stating that checks currently account for 23 to 24% of retail sales.
Question: Do you have any additional data that could assist me in my inquiry, such as number of retail/POS checks written over the last five years, or percentages of retail sales/number of total retail sales over the last five years?
Any assistance that you could offer me would be very much appreciated.
Thanks, Paul!!, David Magnuson
David:
We have not maintained any historical data on retail sales, which has always been speculative, based on surveys. From survey data, both our own and that of others, the percentage of retail sales continues to stay in the same range over the last five years, varying greatly by type of business.
Good Selling!
Paul H. Green, Editor-In-Chief
