Salvation Army Bell Ringers To Accept Credit Cards

No Change?  No Problem.  This year, the Salvation Army is going digital with Square, a hardware and software package that allows people to accept credit cards via their mobile device.

The program is being tested at 40 locations throughout the country - 10 each in New York, Dallas, Chicago, and San Francisco.  The Salvation Army bell ringers will carry Android phones equipped with the Square device and app.  The phones were donated by Sprint Nextel.  Donators can swipe their card just like they would at any terminal, and the money is deposited into the Salvation Army account.

Both the Square reader and the Square app (which works on Android, iPhone, and iPad) are free.  This makes it very easy for small businesses and individuals to process credit cards.  To monetize their product, Square keeps a 2.75% commission of all sales.  Considering that over 80,000 businesses process more than $2 billion dollars per year using square, that is a pretty healthy commission.