document.write("Note that are now in semi-retirement spending January to May at our North Carolina winter home. We have a limited amount of inventory there and will try to fulfill your needs as able. We normally check email daily except when we are on special excursions or a cruise.\<br>\<br>As of 31 March 2007 we no longer accept Visa or MasterCard. It was a simple matter of economics -- the discount rate and handling fees from the processing company have risen dramatically and based on our 2006 sales for credit card orders the cost to us in 2007 would be almost 30% of the few sales made to customers using credit cards.\<br>\<br>The card issuing and processing companies are now experiencing heavy losses. Much of it is their own fault for issuing cards to persons with bad credit. As the economy tightens, more people are either just going bankrupt and not paying their cards at all or are making deals to pay only half of their balance -- either way, the losses are being kicked back to companies big and small. The big ones may be able to take the hit as they can just raise their prices but the small ones are caught in the squeze.\<br>\<br>We welcome your personal check. I might suggest that you email your book(s) request and we will confirm availability and quote the shipping and tax (if to a NYS address). That way you will probably save over using the stock shipping chart attached to the online book order form.\<br>\<br>Basically, we have never changed the price of a book after it was issued, including some that were published over thirty years ago. We have always tried to offer books at a reasonable price; many of our books have only a 15-20% margin. Big business figures that they turn a dollar 3 or 4 times a year; in our case a dollar is often turned only once every 3 or 4 years.\<br>\<br>We made a decision a few years ago not to reprint any more of the old histories as others were putting them up on the Internet for free or on CDs that sell for a fraction of what it costs to print a book. I know many were disappointed in our decision, but it was also a matter of economics.\<br>\<br>We love to cruise and escort groups one or two times a year. We welcome you to join us on some fantastic adventures.\<br>\<br>Walt & Mary");