The Plastic Nightmare: Securing Your Sensitive Customer Data

– Don Capman, President, J.D. Associates

So, what’s all the commotion about with credit cards and PCI DSS compliance? As a matter of fact what is PCI DSS compliance anyway and what does it have to do with me, the retailer? PCI DSS stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard and, if you don’t adhere to the standards, you could be subjected to fines that could very well put you out of business. Yes, no matter how large or small your business is, if you are not in compliance with these standards and your customers’ credit card information is compromised, you could be on the hook in a big way. [Get the full story]

Clerks, Jerks, and Retail Pros

– Doug Fleener

One night as I was flipping channels, which is pretty much how I watch television, I stopped for a minute to watch Jeff Foxworthy do his trademark “You know you’re a redneck” bit. Even though we don’t have a lot of rednecks here in the northeast I still find him pretty funny. Not that I equate salespeople with rednecks (except for back when I used to open outlet stores two hours from any city that served real Chinese food) but it did get me thinking about where retailers and rednecks intersect. So with apologies to Jeff Foxworthy, I present: You know you’re a Clerk, Jerk, or Retail Pro when…
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