> Pardon me for asking what might be a dumb question but why not use Visa or
> Master Card? We do tons of foreign business and almost never get into bank
> stuff. If you just pay with a credit card all that is taken care of invisibly.
>
> --Dick
But that's the problem, Dick -- you do "tons of foreign business" and I do
a few $24 subscriptions. The minimum account at my bank for Visa or Master
Card is $1000 a month. (I'm not selling *platinum*, you know.)
There are firms that will LEASE me equipment with no monthly minimum, but
that becomes a very complex operation, not to mention the ultimately
greater cost. Remember I haven't got *minions* working for me, I'm trying
to juggle this whole operation myself, and I'm only superhuman.
Even with all the *wonderful* support I've gotten, and believe me it is
most touching and gratifying, P-F promises to be the ultimate non-profit
operation for a long time to come, if not permanently. (Even Tina Brown
loses 11 million dollars a year.) My 15 years experience in small-press
publishing have shown that selling advertising for this level of
circulation is not profitable, even if possible. And my tentative decision
is in any event not to accept or solicit advertising except with similar
or like-minded operations. I'm not sure I wouldn't pull my punches for an
advertiser, and that's not what I have in mind.
My thought therefore was that, given all the givens, and given the
fabulous bargain of so much info, beauty and *purity* for so few dollars,
it was OK to ask readers of the world to pay a small money-changing fee.
I'll add though that a subscriber tells me that Wells Fargo bank, which
operates out west, will take foreign checks just like Visa. The minute
they open a Wells Fargo in the west village, I'm a customer.
Judy