US Coffee Store Owner Unveils New Credit Card Payment System
Andrew Heppner, a 23 year old native of Bay City in the US and owner of his own, newly-opened coffee shop, Populace Coffee, is combining some traditional brewing techniques with the latest and greatest technology at his premises.
Crafting his coffee by hand with hardly any or no use of machinery, Heppner uses just boiling water, carafes and filters. As well as selling coffee in store, the young Bay City Central graduate also supplies his coffee via the social networking site Facebook. In terms of payment options at Populace Coffee, Heppner has a device called Square – this attaches to his iPod Touch and also facilitates his tracking of sales, tips, taxes and other such data.
Square can be plugged into the headphone port on an iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad or Android phone. At his store, Heppner uses the device to swipe a customer’s credit card and then, rather than using a pen, the customer can sign the touchscreen with his/her finger, also having the option of requesting a receipt of purchase to be sent via e-mail.
The Square device, launched in October 2010, is targeted towards anyone who wants to take credit card payments and is said to particularly appeal to service providers or small businesses. The technology is reportedly free for business owners, but charges 35 cents as well as 2.75 per cent of the sale value by way of a card-swiping fee – apparently lower than the typical processing fees associated with credit cards.