What Does a Liquor Store…
…have in common with a bank?
First…
In the lighter part of the news, the US Postal Service is testing banking services in four cities: Washington, Baltimore, New York and Falls Church, Virginia, in an effort to find other revenue sources for the USPS.
Customers can deposit payroll or business checks of up to $500 onto debit cards for a fee of $5.95. This is essentially what the neighborhood liquor store does, except they give out cash, usually in small, unmarked bills.
This got me thinking… maybe the post office should sell liquor. At least the customers would feel better about standing in line.
Second…
I recently received an invoice from a vendor and it offered two options: ACH direct debit from my business checking account or payment by credit card PLUS a 3.5% fee to cover the merchant credit card expenses. So I did some investigation.
In a presentation earlier last week by Geof Kine of West Coast POS, he let the audience know that West Coast has a product that will pass on the merchant card fees to the buyer.
This essentially makes your merchant card service fee-free for your business.
You know that $35,000 Banking Fees Expense line item on your P&L? That can go away.
I expect that there will be resistance by consumers but as more businesses adopt it and add back 3% or 4% to their bottom line, it will become the norm. It will also test how badly people want their credit card miles. BTW, the DMV is an early adopter. Hmm, “early adopter” and “DMV”; not really two things that go together.
Finally, welcome to the next generation of check cashing. The Ingo Money app allows you to cash a check on your phone and then have the funds deposited into whatever account or gift card you choose, for a fee ranging from 2% to 5%. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I’m starting to think the local liquor store must have a very good business model; everyone wants to get in on the check-cashing business.
General Powell, Part Two
General Powell recounted a luncheon exchange he witnessed between President Reagan and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Reagan was commenting on how immigrant kids did so well when they came to the U.S. - they enter the school system and immediately flourish, especially Asian kids. In passing, Reagan said to Lee, “I wonder what would happen if American youngsters were dropped into a foreign country, would you see the same sort of acceleration and performance?” Powell called Lee Kuan Yew’s answer unique. “Mr. President”, he said, “you don't understand. It's not reversible. There is no other place where you can take a foreigner and plop them in and five years later out pops an American of hyphenated background who can go as far as his talents will take him. It can’t happen anywhere else.”
Take a moment and think about who said that and what it says about opportunity in the United States.
P.S. Today is November 1. If that sales prospect is not in the sales process pipeline, it’s a 2022 deal. You have 3 weeks to Thanksgiving and 8 weeks to Christmas. And a supply chain that is temperamental. Speaking of your sales process, let’s address that next week.
