| Small businesses can chop through the forest of credit card fees
Small businesses accept payment cards because it's easy for their customers. But with fees tacked on by as many as 12 intermediaries – from the equipment provider to the card issuers themselves – payment processing is often the third- or fourth-highest expense for a small business. "Small merchants are eaten alive by all the middlemen," says Bob Carr, chief executive of Heartland Payment Systems Inc., a large payment processor based in Princeton, N.J. It's a burden most accept, partly because nearly 60 percent of consumers ages 18 to 25 use cards as their primary payment method, according to Visa USA Inc. Still, many business owners feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the fees and the bills that list them. MasterCard and Visa have a forest of rate categories: MasterCard says it has about 170, Visa fewer than 100.
RFID company struggling with revenue slump
RFID Ltd. Inc., a radio frequency identification system integration company, is considering going private or selling some of the company's assets to avoid insolvency. The Denver-based company (OTCBB: RFDL) said Friday the cost of remaining publicly traded was too great, and it is not generating enough revenue to cover expenses. "RFID Ltd. has undergone a major resource loss of both operating capital and human capital," the company's written statement said, noting that the trend has hurt its ability to generate necessary revenue. The company's share price plummeted 58 percent in morning trading Monday, to 0.012 cent per share. RFID Ltd. Inc. was formed and went public in 2005 through a reverse merger with Packaged RFID Inc. It mainly relied on contract labor.
Justice Seeks Delay in Court Challenge to Immigration Plan
The Bush administration said Friday that it will modify its planned crackdown on U.S. companies that employ illegal immigrants, asking a federal judge to delay hearing a lawsuit brought by major American labor, business and farm organizations until the new strategy is completed. In papers filed in San Francisco late Friday afternoon, Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey S. Bucholtz told U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer that the Homeland Security Department is making unspecified changes to its plan to pressure employers to fire as many as 8.7 million workers with suspect Social Security numbers. .
Small firms fuming over consultants
PHOTOS BY J. ALBERT DIAZ/MIAMI HERALD STAFF Jose Muñiz was scrambling to keep up with orders at his Tamarac company, which ships live monarch butterflies for release at weddings and funerals, when he got a call from International Profit Associates. IPA, a business consulting firm with 1,800 employees and $250 million in revenue, said one of its analysts might help him identify obstacles to growth at Amazing Butterflies. One year later, Muñiz says he has a new hurdle: staying afloat as he continues to pay off $90,000 in debts split between IPA-related bills and fees on a risky loan he says IPA should have warned him against. Muñiz and 39 other small-business owners -- including two others from Florida -- are suing IPA executives in Chicago federal court, claiming that they engaged in racketeering and fraud to sell millions of dollars in often unnecessary consulting contracts.
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