• Survey of Rural Challenges
  • Small Town Speaker Becky McCray
  • Shop Local video
  • SaveYour.Town

Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

A row of small town shops
  • Front Page
  • Latest stories
  • About
  • Guided Tour
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • RSS

Square beats a merchant account in a crisis

By Becky McCray

What is your backup plan,
if your phone line is ripped
out during the busy
Christmas season?

Here is another reason to consider Square for credit card processing over a traditional merchant account.

Yesterday, the phone line was ripped off of the back of our store. (It looks like it was snagged by a truck and drug down the alley because the end that normally connects to our service box is laying about 200 feet away from our building.) Our phone line and DSL service are out, with no repair planned until at least tomorrow. This is Christmas week, a critical time for our retail business.

When we were using a traditional merchant processor, we could not process credit cards at all without a land line. How many customers would we have to turn away?

With Square, I took my Android phone to the store, plugged in the Square reader, and we’ve used it all day. Having that as a backup option makes a big difference.

Read our story about converting to Square for credit card processing.

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.

  • About the Author
  • Latest by this Author
Becky McCray wearing long braids and a professional outfit smiles as she stands on a rural downtown street with twinkling lights in the background.
Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.

www.beckymccray.com
  • Want to Open a Cafe? Start With Wing Night Wednesdays
  • Small town marketing secret: Have something to invite people to
  • More experience-based retail: the Charm Bar, Valentine's Rose Bouquet Bar

December 22, 2011 Filed Under: entrepreneurship

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Comments

  1. Paul Merrill says

    December 23, 2011 at 12:09 am

    Yay for Square!

    And merry Christmas, Becky.

  2. Becky McCray says

    December 23, 2011 at 12:20 am

    Thank you, Paul. The same to you!

  3. Linda Crim says

    December 23, 2011 at 11:42 pm

    Becky, I was wondering what device you normally run Square on..iPad??

  4. Becky McCray says

    December 23, 2011 at 11:46 pm

    Yes, we normally use an iPad. Like this: iPad with Square in the liquor store photo

  5. Becky McCray says

    December 23, 2011 at 11:47 pm

    Also, our phone line is back up! Yay!

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Meet our authors on the About page.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Partners

We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses. Logo with "Shop Indie Local"Move Your Money, bank local, invest localMulticolor logo with text that says "Global Entrepreneurship Week"Save Your Town logotype

More of the best of Small Biz Survival

Copyright © 2026 Becky McCray
Front Page · Log in