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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 1d

$80 million paid out to plaintiffs, and almost all of those responsible for the 35 year saga from start to building completion never paid a penny toward the settlements and only a trivial amount toward city legal fees.

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 1d

When I was a kid, our town fought tooth and nail against a proposed development.

I thought it was obviously legal and asked my dad why the city was fighting it.

He said by the time the plaintiffs won and got a huge payday, the politicians and voters would all be dead or in Florida. He was right!

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 1d

I, for one, do not welcome tax evasion and think it's bad.

Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 1d

It's also more labour intensive on a per transaction business.

There's a reason more new businesses are card-only than cash-only. Cash has very high fixed costs and medium-low marginal costs while cards have a low fixed cost and medium-high marginal cost. Accepting both is worst of both worlds.

Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 1d

Cash does not have a $0 transaction fee.

Transporting, storing and counting cash is actually quite costly, and emplouee skimming rates are much higher than they are with cards.

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 2d

Broke: Okie paradox
(Anti-)Woke: Buckeye Paradox

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 2d

I think electrification in Montréal was driven by necessity (getting through the Mount Royal Tunnel, rather than improving other lines), and that the tunnel basically bankrupted CNoR and led to its nationalization probably has something to do with why it didn't continue.

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 2d

I would call these "adaptive" rather than "actuated", but I might be weird.

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 2d

(Also I hate them.)

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 2d

Actuated traffic lights are extremely common in North America? (Montréal is in many ways an outlier.)

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you for your sacrifice.

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 2d

There is hope.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationa...

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 2d

Misaligned incentives. Every parking payment platform perceives (often correctly) that once there, you're a captive audience.

For example, it would at least be much easier if every parking site took Apple/Google Pay, but why eat the very small cost of making it easier when customers have no choice.

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 2d

mrs doyle - misery.avi

YouTube video by libspero

youtube.com

Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 3d

One notable thing is how much explicitly passing card costs on varies within the US.

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 3d

Hero credit card networks reducing tax evasion. 😇

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 3d

• Regulation of card processing fees is mostly a battle between retailers and financial institutions with minimal welfare implications for most consumers (except perhaps for credit card rewards optimizers)
• Claims that credit card rewards take from the poor and give to the rich are simply wrong

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 3d

More controversial card payment takes:
• Large retailers don't demand cash not just because they get better processing rates but because they know access to credit leads to higher tickets and that cash is itself expensive to process
• Small businesses consistently underestimate the high cost of cash

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 3d

I see 4% at a lot of restaurants. I am sure that they exceed 4% on some takeout orders but not on average.

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 3d

It used to be common for gas stations with cash/credit pricing to offer the cash price to debit cards, but I think that gas stations figured out that cash/credit pricing is actually a great way to hassle people who don't want to stand in line to prepay for their purchase.

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 3d

I've not seen 6% often but I see 5% a lot. 4% seems to be modal.

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 3d

5-6%

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 3d

I find it varies a lot by geographic market.

I know a lot of markets where everyone takes cards with no fee or minimum, and then there are markets like New York where there are lots of merchants that have fees that far exceed their costs and with legally deficient disclosure.

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 3d

(I also knew that I was playing with fire since the fixed cost on PIN debit would be especially bad in the specific example of buying donuts.)

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Ryan Hassett @ryanhassett.bsky.social · 3d

"No one wants to use PIN debit, everyone wants to tap their rewards card"

I know. But the piece implies expensive card transactions are the top payment method because of lack of financial plumbing when stablecoins won't fix the real issue which is that customers want to turn purchases into holdays.

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