I don't want another account!

We've all done it, want to make a simple purchase at a web site. Something small, off some small site that you'll probably never come back to or even remember down the line. And they want you to create an account with a new username and password. Why!

When I go to a physical store, I can walk in, pay with cash and buy something without them even needing my name. But on-line stores, I usually can't buy anything until I setup a new account, confirm my e-mail address, setup yet another username and password that I will forget. All for what should be just a simple one-time purchase.

More than once, I have returned to a site to purchase something and I did not have my original username and password and I couldn't recreate my account because that e-mail address is in use. This is annoying. Just let me make my purchase and move on.

Please, think about your customers before haphazardly creating policies and processes that annoy them. You really do lose sales by creating bureaucracy.