The message on my answerphone said that David Ward, calling from East Barkwith Post Office in Lincolnshire, was thinking of taking debit cards, but wasn’t sure whether to go with Cardnet, Worldpay or PayPal and whom did I recommend?

By the time I got back to him a few hours later he had already made a decision - a good thing because I hardly ever recommend any company over another. It’s my superstition. Plus I didn’t know which would suit him best. All I could have offered him was a go in this column to ask other retailers whom they would recommend.

Turned out that it wasn’t for the post office because that has a simple system offering cashback from the counter which gains it a transaction fee and fewer bank charges. But David is in a business partnership with his mother Jennifer, who also runs a store five miles away in Donington on Bain, which so far just takes cash and cheques and has been managing without plastic for the past 43 years.

But, time to catch up. And it occurred to David that, as a subpostmaster, he was meant to be pushing Worldpay anyway and that he would be able to pay himself a commission for getting it installed at Jennifer’s premises.

I thought I would throw this out to readers anyway. You never know when the next call will come on the same subject. So, if you have tried more than one card processor and can pass on your experience it will be very welcome.