Hey, this is Allen Kopelman with the B2B Vault. So we’re here today going to go over the news Roundup for the week. There’s a lot of stuff going on, some crazy stuff, which maybe we’ll talk about in another week when things kind of settle down with that, but let’s get into the three stories of the week.

So first thing, a lot of people are talking about QR payments. So QR payments, are they good or are they bad for the merchant? So there are quite a few restaurants that are out there and they print out a receipt and then they bring you a QR code and you get out your phone and you take a picture of it. You’re able to make a payment on your phone. So is this good or bad for merchants? Merchants are finding out that these are noncard present transactions and it’s costing them anywhere from 50 to a hundred basis points. So maybe it’s good if you can’t get to the tables fast enough to facilitate payment. But you know, it’s also, uh, because it’s noncard present, there could be charged backs that you won’t be able to defend. So people need to get educated about this. Also, there’s a lot of third-party services that offer QR codes, but there’s probably a way to do it within your existing point of sale device. And QR codes are really easy to make and we’ll post the link down in the, in the, uh, in the notes, in the show notes. So you can see how to make a free QR code. Okay.

Our next story, alternative payments. Everybody’s talking about alternative payments and how are they going to reach the everyday business so that it’s all consolidated, you know, and your credit card processing. So buy now pay later cryptocurrency, um, Venmo, PayPal, since they’re like partners together. Now there’s a lot of talk from a few different equipment companies and some credit card processors on how to facilitate that. So at the point of sale, somebody wants to pay the merchant with Venmo or pay with PayPal. I mean, some people have PayPal credit cards, so that’s easy to do, but more, I think that in 2022, we’re going to start to see a lot more options at the point of when you’re checking out at a store. I mean, right now we’re currently offering buy now pay later and we’re offering cryptocurrency. So those are available now from NPS bank, but there’s more to come. It’s gonna depend on, you know, how quickly the equipment companies move, you know, slash software companies, how they moved to get that going.

So the next thing we’re going to talk about this HR 3 8 1 6, which is the American choice and innovation act. Okay. This thing is completely out of control. I got to tell you there this, between the infrastructure bill and three bills surround this choice, this, this bill, this could crush small business, medium business, forget what it’s gonna do to the large players. You know, Google, Facebook, you know, YouTube, you know, how does that all gonna pan out? Amazon is on the hit list. Microsoft, they’re talking about outlawing how these platforms, uh, offer services and separate them. Okay, well, I understand big tech is kind of a problem, but maybe they should be addressing the free speech aspect of what they’re doing and not look at this right now, because this is going to harm small businesses, because they’re going to take away Google. They’re going to ban Google my business, Google Maps, YouTube videos from showing up in search results. Um, the ability to effectively use these services mostly for free. There might have to start charging for these services. Also geotagging is how you connect your social media to your website. So, and your business. So people can find your business and, you know, get to your business and all these things that they’re talking about. The eliminating that, I mean, this is, uh, this is, this is crushing. It would also cause these platforms to delete data from their systems. Nobody’s like thrilled about that. But when you’re talking about where you could go find somebody whose business, I mean, we would be back to the dark ages of the printed yellow pages at that point. I mean, I don’t know the, you know, another act is this American innovation, uh, innovation act, these things that’s, you know, it’s just crazy. So they’re talking about destroying competition, but these acts, they go, they go more into not just what they’re going to do to these large platforms and eliminating whatever monopolies that they feel that they have, but they’re gonna, they’re gonna lose. They’re gonna have all kinds of, that’s going to cause all kinds of problems for small businesses. Uh, you know, the apple store, the Google play store, all the services you get from Google companies like Yelp, TripAdvisor, third party listing services, the Amazon marketplace, and other marketplaces where people sell their goods and services, they could all be affected by this. This is a huge problem. This is a huge problem. Um, this is something, you know, you have to, you have to get after your congresspeople and tell them, say, Hey, we don’t want you to pass these, these acts and with such sweeping measures, right. That there. So that there’s, that they’re so broad, right? It’s a broad stroke. Okay. Now I can see my hands, but it’s a broad stroke. They’re taking a broad stroke and that could trickle down to the point where they could say, oh, well you operate, uh, you know, you operate a restaurant, a catering company, and you also deliver food. Uh, Mr. Business owner, that’s three separate businesses. So now you’re gonna have to break up your business or you have a bar and a restaurant and then a catering all. And then they’re gonna say, no, that’s three separate businesses. I mean, that’s an accounting nightmare for somebody to deal with. So these measures, they don’t just reach into the reach up and grab like, oh, here’s all these big platforms. Let’s go, you know, do some stuff to them. All the stuff that they’re talking about doing to them is now going to trickle down cost, business owners, more money, not have a way to find them online, and all kinds of crazy stuff that would mess up. E-commerce mess up, you know, searching in your phone to find a place, get directions. All your social media marketing will be messed up. I mean this, you know, I don’t, I try not to be like political about things, but this is the thing. These are things that can, that affect business owners and not big businesses. They make it sound, you know, like, oh, we’re just going after, you know, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, et cetera, et cetera. That’s not what that’s where it starts. And then it all trickles down to the small, medium-sized business owner and the mom-and-pop business. And we’re going to be, you know, we’re to be the ones that are going to pay the price on this deal. This is not the same as when they broke up at and T and said, oh, you got to break up the phone system because there’s too much of a monopoly going on. Now that phone is more it’s open, but there’s no way they’re going to be able to straighten this mess out. At least not the way they’re talking about doing it. That’s not, it’s not going to work, but if you don’t contact your Congresspeople, it’s going to be a problem. Cause this, these bills will get passed and it’ll be a real big problem. B2B Vault. Thank you very much for listening today, brought to you by Nationwide Payment Systems, NPS Bank, and The Payment Advisory Board. Watch out for more episodes and tune in for new episodes of The News Round Up each week.