http://truthonthemarket.com/2010/01/20/the-problem-with-paper-payments/ Academic commentary on law, business, economics and more Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:19:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://truthonthemarket.com/2010/01/20/the-problem-with-paper-payments/#comment-8149 Dennis Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:21:50 +0000 http://www.truthonthemarket.com/?p=3783#comment-8149 What the retailer should have done wss to give one cup of free to everyone until the system comes back up again. It is at this kind of situations that a long term goodwill could be bought at little cost to the cafe. What the retailer should have done wss to give one cup of free to everyone until the system comes back up again. It is at this kind of situations that a long term goodwill could be bought at little cost to the cafe.

]]> http://truthonthemarket.com/2010/01/20/the-problem-with-paper-payments/#comment-8148 Geoffrey Manne Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:25:20 +0000 http://www.truthonthemarket.com/?p=3783#comment-8148 Yes, most definitely. Retailers are free to charge different prices for cash and credit, but only by discounting cash, not by surcharging credit (to me a distinction without a difference, but claimed by some (advocates of regulation, mostly--I leave it to you to decide the direction of causation) to be relevant). The fact that they do not suggests to me that claims of the enormous costs of credit relative to those of cash are overblown. Yes, most definitely. Retailers are free to charge different prices for cash and credit, but only by discounting cash, not by surcharging credit (to me a distinction without a difference, but claimed by some (advocates of regulation, mostly–I leave it to you to decide the direction of causation) to be relevant). The fact that they do not suggests to me that claims of the enormous costs of credit relative to those of cash are overblown.

]]> http://truthonthemarket.com/2010/01/20/the-problem-with-paper-payments/#comment-8147 antitrust guy Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:04:41 +0000 http://www.truthonthemarket.com/?p=3783#comment-8147 Doesn't the fact that nearly all retailers charge the same price for cash or credit "reveal" that the differential in costs between the two is not sufficient to justify the "cost" of having different prices, which presumably include some administrability issues but more likely the modest alienation of customers? If it's the latter, isn't that called "customer service", because it's basically no different than providing costly in-store support services (can you show me where the soup aisle is) as opposed to telling customers to figure it out for themselves? Doesn’t the fact that nearly all retailers charge the same price for cash or credit “reveal” that the differential in costs between the two is not sufficient to justify the “cost” of having different prices, which presumably include some administrability issues but more likely the modest alienation of customers? If it’s the latter, isn’t that called “customer service”, because it’s basically no different than providing costly in-store support services (can you show me where the soup aisle is) as opposed to telling customers to figure it out for themselves?

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