David Kluskiewicz

I’m looking forward to this event, which is new to Connecticut. One of the things that tends to be lacking in so many presentations I see is preparedness. With this, presenters will have no choice but to be prepared. Each slide is only going to be up for 15 seconds. And after 5 minutes, they’re done.

New Haven – PechaKucha Night.

Connecticut recently repealed a statute that prevented gas stations from offering discounts to patrons who pay cash. The excitement lasted only briefly as we witnessed a handful of stations posting 10 and 11 cent per gallon discounts, presumably because they could avoid the credit card fees imposed on every card-based transaction. Unwilling to lose business, most stations immediately offered a slightly lower equilibrium price, “cash or credit”.

In spite of the short-lived discount, this little price adjustment begs the question: “How much of the price we pay for goods is compensating for the credit purchases of everyone?” Shouldn’t my grocery store give me a discount for using greenbacks? Is every merchant that takes credit cards factoring in this expense? While I’m sure a number of people need to use revolving credit to purchase a load of groceries now and then, the majority of folks I observe use a debit card. It’s convenient and safer than carrying around bills. But, is it worth an extra $3 fee to MasterCard on $100 of groceries. Probably not. Time to start asking.

“What you can never outsource, is responsibility.” These were the sage words of Soren Lund, marketing director at LEGO on the In Business podcast from the BBC. Their exodus from Connecticut wasn’t good for the local economy, but their ability to focus their business strategy on something that customers are willing to pay, even in a flat world, is something we can learn from.