No cash or check – no service.

Though it might seem archaic to customers now immersed in a high-tech climate dominated by online shopping, mobile purchases and the virtual currency Bitcoin, Capps represents a portion of the small-business community that still doesn’t accept any plastic payments.

By avoiding credit cards, the owner of Capps Shoe Service in Martinez also avoids paying out-of-pocket processing fees to financial institutions that can run merchants an average 3 percent per purchase. For business owners such as Capps, who have a small customer-base and charge a minimal amount for their services, the fees would likely take a big bite out of their net profit.

“I would have to charge them another dollar,” Capps said of his customers. “I would have to go up on my prices.”

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