Hi All,  I need to post a retraction.  I made a mistake when I said
it was a Federal Law that prohibited charging more to credit card
users [010309 MMDigest].  Actually, as was pointed out by Ken Vinen,
it's the credit card companies (or merchant banks) who made the rule.

(In researching the matter a little further, which I should have done
initially <sorry>, I found that the Fed was trying to put a cap on
the interest rates charged to credit card customers by the credit
card companies.)

Ken also suggested an easy way around the rule was to offer 'more'
of a discount to those paying by cash or check.  Some of you might
remember that I used to do that at Player-Care when I first started
taking credit cards.  I offered a 20% discount for cash and a 15%
discount for credit cards.  During the two-year period that followed,
I watched -- with some surprise -- as sales by cash or check sales went
from 100% to 60%.  Then when I started offering 20% discount on all
sales, I saw cash sales drop to less than 10% in the year that
followed.  Now, almost no one pays by cash or check.

I suppose what I should do now is point out to all my customers that
although the information at the website says they're getting a 20%
discount, they're actually getting a 22.25% discount if they pay by
credit card.  And accordingly, I should install some little note on the
web page which reads, "If you would prefer to pay by cash or check, you
can save an additional 2.25%."  I wonder how many people will take
advantage of the lower price?

Musically,

John A. Tuttle