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The $1.50 lemonade stand

dontwalkhand

dontwalkhand

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jul 5, 2007
6,579
3,252
Phoenix, AZ
Saw a couple of 9-12 year olds who had a lemonade stand, $1.50 and took Square payments. They had an iPad setup. Interesting to see, but a credit card lemonade stand. What next? Interesting to see a POS system pretty much used at a lemonade stand now.

Just a funny Apple related sight I'd like to share. I guess due to the nature of taking cards, that lemonade was expensive.
 
It's actually quite cute and smart and cute. $1.50 is a bit much but they have to offset the fee Square charges.

A week ago I walked into a market and a little Cubs Scout asked me if I wanted to buy popcorn. I don't want to buy 4 oz of popcorn for $10 so I kindly said no. He said they took donations and I said I would see what cash I had in my wallet. Without hesitation, he informed me they took credit cards. Things certainly have changed. He got $2.00, I kept my credit card in my wallet.
 
GoCubsGo said:
It's actually quite cute and smart and cute. $1.50 is a bit much but they have to offset the fee Square charges.

A week ago I walked into a market and a little Cubs Scout asked me if I wanted to buy popcorn. I don't want to buy 4 oz of popcorn for $10 so I kindly said no. He said they took donations and I said I would see what cash I had in my wallet. Without hesitation, he informed me they took credit cards. Things certainly have changed. He got $2.00, I kept my credit card in my wallet.
Click to expand...

The fee square charges is 2.75% of the sale - if the lemonade were a dollar, about 3¢ of that would go to square. So it still is overpriced, regardless of being able to accept credit cards or not :p
 
ideal.dreams said:
The fee square charges is 2.75% of the sale - if the lemonade were a dollar, about 3¢ of that would go to square. So it still is overpriced, regardless of being able to accept credit cards or not :p
Click to expand...

I don't think I committed to the idea of it being overpriced or not. I was just saying. I'd buy lemonade from them. I appreciate kids trying to earn money.
 
Apple fanboy said:
Are you sure there isn't a minimum charge? Maybe that's why it was overpriced.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen a single provider ever list a minimum charge, whether it's Square, Blackbaud, Constant Contact's event management, Eventbrite, etc. from my research into such programs for my non profit organization's events, in particular processing auction and raffle sales.

It's either a flat rate (Swipe - $275/month OR 2.75%/transaction) or a fee + rate (something like $0.50 + 2%) per transaction.

Minimums are just nonsense bars and restaurants set, though their fees per transaction might skew things in such a way to promote such policies in the first place.

For now, we just rock these bad boys:
stock-photo-675825-credit-card-swipe-device.jpg


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For $1.50, I don't find that expensive. Just a little bit odd of a number. If I have cash on me, I doubt I have change. Credit it wouldn't phase me to swipe for $1.50. I guess they probably were well prepared with quarters or people paid $2 and didn't ask for change.
 
Peace said:
It's great kids still have lemonade stands but I'm not to keen on giving my card to a child.
Click to expand...

Then don't. :)
Any day of the week I can easily find $1.50 in change in my car. I wasn't saying I'd hand over my credit card, I was saying I'd buy a cup off them though. I think it's nice when kids try to earn money instead of wandering around bitching about not getting what they want.
 
Eh. Kids aren't selling you lemonade because they want to sell you lemonade. They're doing it because they want to make money, probably more blatantly than Donald Trump does!

I'd probably go the Square route with them. I keep $20 in my wallet but never spend it. I've really no reason to. Otherwise I have no cash on me. I'm sure there are many folks that run completely cashless. No harm in my opinion. They're just moving with the times!
 
malman89 said:
I haven't seen a single provider ever list a minimum charge, whether it's Square, Blackbaud, Constant Contact's event management, Eventbrite, etc. from my research into such programs for my non profit organization's events, in particular processing auction and raffle sales.

It's either a flat rate (Swipe - $275/month OR 2.75%/transaction) or a fee + rate (something like $0.50 + 2%) per transaction.

Minimums are just nonsense bars and restaurants set, though their fees per transaction might skew things in such a way to promote such policies in the first place.

For now, we just rock these bad boys: Image

---

For $1.50, I don't find that expensive. Just a little bit odd of a number. If I have cash on me, I doubt I have change. Credit it wouldn't phase me to swipe for $1.50. I guess they probably were well prepared with quarters or people paid $2 and didn't ask for change.
Click to expand...

You just contradicted yourself. The example of fee plus rate ($0.50 + 2%) is a minimum fee. As no matter what price you charge there is a minimum fee of $0.50.

Although from what I can tell square does not charge this fee.
 
The kids in my neighborhood will have lemonade stands off and on throughout the summer. I usually buy at a few of them.
 
That's rather cute, but handing my credit card to a child? I'm a little skeptical. :p

I hope these poor children don't run into trouble with thieves. :mad:
 
Tomorrow said:
You're afraid a child will scam your credit card, but you're not worried that an adult will do so? :confused:
Click to expand...

Indeed, at least it would be done in front of you. In the US I always hate it when the servers take my card in the back, that is far more troubling to me than some kids with a square reader.
 
MICHAELSD said:
It could be an accident with a kid. "$1500. Oh, forgot the decimal."
Click to expand...

I always check the amount before entering my PIN, regardless of the age of the cashier. Once the amount was out by a factor of ten but I caught it before confirming the transaction.
 
MICHAELSD said:
It could be an accident with a kid. "$1500. Oh, forgot the decimal."
Click to expand...
Exactly, minor mistakes like that.

Tomorrow said:
You're afraid a child will scam your credit card, but you're not worried that an adult will do so? :confused:
Click to expand...
Children aren't very responsible. With the amount of parental negligence, teen pregnancies and kids not knowing how to stick a darn condom on their pewee. Yeah, credit cards is a whole new level. Hell, they might have some sort of virus. ;)
I'm skeptical of human beings in general. I had plenty of waitresses that increased their tip higher than specified (even after tipping a healthy 20%).
 
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