An ergonomically designed transactional terminal according to the
invention in one embodiment includes a housing having a top portion
partially defined by a touch screen, a base, and an enlarged head portion
extending forwardly from the base to define a lip. An insert style card
reader having horizontally oriented feed slot opening toward the front of
the housing is disposed in the lip of the housing. The feed slot may be
angled downward slightly to reduce build up in the slot and to encourage
a sweeping action by a card during card removal. The touch screen may be
angled downward in coplanar relationship with the feed slot to improve
visibility of the touch screen and to improve simultaneous observation of
touch screen and card indicia.