I thought it was interesting that the danger of untraceable drug dealers popped into the reporters mind when they were researching the article. After all, they don't tend to mention illegal problems when they speak about used car dealers or other services. Well, the article said that some of the phone store operators raised the issue, often defensively. Even if the reporter didn't know about the issue beforehand, they sure knew after that. Also note that part of the market for such stores is that NY Telephone has cut off some payphone service in certain areas, thereby sensitizing the reporter to such questions.