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centenary publication

The future PERHAPS any look at the past is incomplete without a glimpse into the future. Even without the aid of a crystal ball it can be predicted that the use of credit cards will increase, and consequently market traders will have to be in a position to accept them. And that means accept them anywhere — in an indoor market hall, on an outside stall, or in the middle of a field or street at shows or fairs. The federation’s exclusive credit card scheme with NatWest Streamline, introduced in 1997, made it possible for members to accept cards at attractive commission rates. In centenary year the scheme took a major step forward with the introduction of the first truly mobile credit card terminals (right), which have no floor limit and virtually no restrictions on where they can be used. The major development of the nineties, the internet, is bound to grow even further in the next century as more and more people use e-mail as comfortably as they make a phone call. The federation launched its own web site — www.nmtf.co.uk — early in 1998 to give internet users the chance to learn about the federation and to send an e-mail for information on the benefits of membership. Since then it has been developed to include a database of markets, which means that at the click of a button visitors can find, for example, a particular market, or all the markets listed in an area, perhaps by town or county. Pages from the bi-monthly Federation News are also accessible on the web. We will develop the web site to keep pace with 21st century communications technology. That the markets industry will continue is certain, though the federation acknowledges it could be a leaner, but perhaps as a consequence fitter, operation. The NMTF will never cease its efforts to preserve and enhance the livelihoods of the many thousands of market traders who maintain what is, after all, the oldest form of retailing. 26


centenary publication
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