This is the first edition of Payments Roundup, the first and only newsletter focused on payments and designed expressly for merchants. Payments Roundup is brought to you by MDDT Innovations, LLC. MDDT Innovations is responsible for the creation and content of the newsletter.

MDDT Innovations is a partnership consisting of four senior payments experts, three of whom worked at prominent U.S. merchants in a variety of roles, including roles responsible for payment acceptance.

Today, the cost of payments is typically one of the highest costs for merchants, with only the cost of goods sold and payroll exceeding the costs of payment acceptance.  The rising cost of payments is alarming to merchants, especially since it is largely due to the efforts of a payments industry responsible for a “broken market” over which merchants have little input or control. 

Faced with a broken market for payments, merchants have few means to address or mitigate their rising costs. Litigation, education, and merchant collaboration focused on sharing best practices and innovation constitute the most effective approaches. This newsletter is intended to foster all of these approaches. 

Another feature of the newsletter is to familiarize the readers with the history of the card business, since history is often our best teacher. One article, FrankenCard, reflects on the dawn of the card business and suggests that today’s card business bears little resemblance to the business first envisioned in the 1960s.  Other articles are focused on the present, including commentary on surcharging and discounting, current events that impact payments, advice from legal professionals, innovation, and merchant case studies.

We are happy to introduce you to Payments Roundup and look forward to receiving your feedback as we move forward with the first merchant-centric payments newsletter.

By Mark Horwedel