Regardless of age, income, or location, everyone’s lives have been disrupted — some more than others, due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a business owner in the medical industry, I know how lucky I am to still have my business. Growing up, my parents worked in the restaurant and hospitality industries. They worked hard, and to realize that many people like them in our community and across Missouri have lost their businesses and livelihoods is devastating to me. While my business is still afloat, the coronavirus pandemic has not been without its unique challenges, and we’ve had to innovate on the fly.
Even before this crisis, we’ve increasingly relied on credit and debit cards to conduct our transactions because they offer several advantages to my business. First, they ensure we’ll receive our money. Watching my parents operate their own small business before electronic payments became the norm, I saw first-hand the headache created when payments didn’t come through. It cost money and, possibly even more important for small businesses, time. Cash takes up valuable resources to handle and track. Not to mention how many individuals are rightly hesitant to use cash right now because they’re wary of the virus. Finally, and maybe most importantly, electronic payments are secure and offer great fraud prevention. Of all the things I need to worry about for my business during normal times — and even more so during a pandemic — fraud should not be one of them.
Many of our traditional business practices have transitioned over the past two months. We’ve conducted much of our business, such as meetings, research, and financials online and over the phone. Thanks to electronic payments and the support of my bank — the payment aspect of our operations has proven to be seamless both for our customers and employees.
This system takes a lot of investment from financial institutions like banks and credit unions along with the credit card networks. To support those investments, they collect a small fee on sales called interchange. It’s important to note that interchange fees are only collected when I make a sale; without a sale, I don’t have to pay a fee. Recently, big merchants have reignited a years-long policy debate over whether these fees should be capped on what they pay credit card companies. These are price controls, plain and simple, and another example of big businesses lobbying for special carve-outs. As a small business, I’m already at a disadvantage, and if this policy were adopted, it would only add to it.
In a time of enormous uncertainty, we shouldn’t adopt policies that would strip me of choices for how I operate my business. Today, more than ever, I need technology like this to help me operate, and this policy would damage that system and, in turn, my business and future.
As our society begins to normalize again, several innovations we’ve made, such as the increased use of electronic payments, are undoubtedly here to stay. I hope our leaders in Congress will recognize and adopt policies that encourage increased adoption of innovative payment methods, not burdensome mandates that hurt small businesses such as mine.
EDITOR’S NOTE: For up-to-date information on coronavirus, check with the CDC and DHSS.
Karan Pujji is a St. Louis businessman working in the health care field and a candidate for state representative.
