Ed Baker

Ed Baker, president of Universal Telecom Inc. of Alameda, owns 40 ATMs in Northern California, including machines at the Marriott hotels in Natomas and near the UC Davis Medical Center.

"Foreign transactions represent a small percentage of my business, but I'm literally giving away money for free from my machines," he said.

Universal machines are connected to a network run by an independent sales operator.The giant electronic funds transfer companies pay his network operator a modest fee for every foreign transaction performed at his ATMs, but none of that money is shared with him.

"I should be able to get something through a surcharge," he added.

Ed Baker, President Universal Telecom, Inc. ("UTC")e-mail: utc@utcinc.com