Feb 7, 2011, Olympia, WA The Roadshow http://www.rms-ontheroad.com/ is a grassroots customer service campaign that will take RMS Vice President of Operations, Chris Gage, around the country for the next 2 years in her RV to personally meet our customers. The goal is to ensure we truly hear, understand and address their needs.
While technology has improved our lives and businesses in many ways, it has also created communication barriers. Anyone who uses email has probably experienced a situation where their words were misunderstood or their messages went unread. The Roadshow pays tribute to “old school” service where nothing could replace actually standing inside the walls of your customer’s business, having a face to face conversation and then shaking hands until next time.
The idea for the Roadshow was conceived by Chris in April of 2010 after completing a personal and professional development program called “Live a Thousand Years”. RMS’ CEO Brad Jones had seen the creator of the program, Giovanni Livera, perform at a pharmacy industry trade show and was so inspired that he gave all employees at RMS the program and served as a mentor to see them through it. From this, Chris was able to envision a plan where she could combine her personal goal of seeing the country with her professional goal of establishing stronger relationships with her customers. She presented this plan to Brad in May of 2010 and by October she had sold her house and moved into the 40 foot RV she now calls home and office.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Debit Cards -- Changing Landscape
Feb 1, 2011 As you may be aware, last year, the pin debit networks all dramatically increased their pricing structures and eliminated the cap on their fees....at the same time that Visa/MC lowered their signature debit interchange rates (particularly on sales under $15).....taking away the cost advantage for merchants when customers use pin activation....there is a great savings for NON-PIN debit transactions under $15.
As part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act passed last year by Congress and signed by President Obama, the government is now required to put limits on debit (signature and pin) interchange fees. The Federal Reserve is responsible to gather information from the public and establish the rules.....they have announced preliminary guidelines, which must be finalized by the end of April and implemented at the end of June.
Currently, debit (pin and signature) interchange fees range from approximately 1% of the value of the sale plus between $.16 and $.24 per transaction...there are variations between Visa/MC and the pin debit networks, but they are all pretty close.
The PRELIMINARY recommendation by the FED is to limit debit interchange fees to between $.07 and $.12 (a number of variables for the range and smaller issuing banks would not be subject to the interchange limits) and not have any percentage......these do NOT include fees charged by processors (like First Data/CTS) for their services.
If the recommendations are anything like the final rules, merchants will save significantly. It is unclear what will happen to the pin debit networks as they do not have other revenue sources to make up the shortfall.....we are already seeing banks institute new fees to make up for the billions they will lose when the interchange is regulated.
As part of the Dodd-Frank financial reform act passed last year by Congress and signed by President Obama, the government is now required to put limits on debit (signature and pin) interchange fees. The Federal Reserve is responsible to gather information from the public and establish the rules.....they have announced preliminary guidelines, which must be finalized by the end of April and implemented at the end of June.
Currently, debit (pin and signature) interchange fees range from approximately 1% of the value of the sale plus between $.16 and $.24 per transaction...there are variations between Visa/MC and the pin debit networks, but they are all pretty close.
The PRELIMINARY recommendation by the FED is to limit debit interchange fees to between $.07 and $.12 (a number of variables for the range and smaller issuing banks would not be subject to the interchange limits) and not have any percentage......these do NOT include fees charged by processors (like First Data/CTS) for their services.
If the recommendations are anything like the final rules, merchants will save significantly. It is unclear what will happen to the pin debit networks as they do not have other revenue sources to make up the shortfall.....we are already seeing banks institute new fees to make up for the billions they will lose when the interchange is regulated.
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