The coffee giant is now offering Square's credit card reader–a small white plastic gadget that plugs into the headphone jack of an iPhone, iPad or Android device–for $10 at 7,000 of its cafes. And if you're new to Square you can apply for a $10 rebate, which makes it essentially free.
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So now, say your buddy owes you for the bar bet he lost, but he says he doesn't have any cash handy–ask him to take out his Visa card and swipe! It allows anyone with a smart phone or device, from babysitters, to the guy selling crap at the swap meet to accept credit card payments. Square, the company that Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is a board member on, will take a 2.75% cut of every transaction.
If you're actually considering this, note that you can order the Square reader for free directly from Square's website. No need to step into a Starbucks, unless you're going to be there to buy some Josh Groban CDs anyway.
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Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.