4 ms·

Just because you find your culture tends to shady things does not mean that others do. I worked at a service station in the early 90s, the owner was honest but

Just because you find your culture tends to shady things does not mean that others do. I worked at a service station in the early 90s, the owner was honest but going broke. We made $0.10/gallon on average, the sales of cigarettes, chips, and soda kept that station going. We had service bays but as more cars became proprietary and needed dealer service we had less service business. When the US invaded Iraq it really removed any profit that small station owners made from gas. That station no longer exists, it was removed and in the space is now a small medical office.

addicted 5y ago
The idea that all the Indian run businesses in the US do shady stuff is beyond fiction. If this random HN guy knows this, you can bet the IRS and a variety of state agencies would also know this and target them very effectively. The reality is that in a business where gross profit margins are around 2% at best, you don’t need to go to tax evasion to understand why they would choose to encourage a payment method that does not incur a 2.6% + 30c cost on every transaction.
- annoyingnoob 5y ago
  Right, the implication that cash based businesses, particularly Indian based businesses, are doing the wrong thing is offensive. Yes, its makes sense for some businesses to be mostly cash based for valid reasons beyond cheating the system.
- annoyingnoob 5y ago
  Also wanted to point out that if you have a brand name gas station franchise, that brand name has a lot of say in what you do. You will be taking their credit cards, and pretty much any other card, etc. The brand name wanted the station to close the service bays and turn that space into a junk food store. The station owner believed in the service bays but really couldn't pull in the business. Had it become a junk food store it would probably still be there.

4 ms·

Just because you find your culture tends to shady things does not mean that others do. I worked at a service station in the early 90s, the owner was honest but

by annoyingnoob 5y ago

addicted 5y ago
The idea that all the Indian run businesses in the US do shady stuff is beyond fiction. If this random HN guy knows this, you can bet the IRS and a variety of state agencies would also know this and target them very effectively. The reality is that in a business where gross profit margins are around 2% at best, you don’t need to go to tax evasion to understand why they would choose to encourage a payment method that does not incur a 2.6% + 30c cost on every transaction.
- annoyingnoob 5y ago
  Right, the implication that cash based businesses, particularly Indian based businesses, are doing the wrong thing is offensive. Yes, its makes sense for some businesses to be mostly cash based for valid reasons beyond cheating the system.
- annoyingnoob 5y ago
  Also wanted to point out that if you have a brand name gas station franchise, that brand name has a lot of say in what you do. You will be taking their credit cards, and pretty much any other card, etc. The brand name wanted the station to close the service bays and turn that space into a junk food store. The station owner believed in the service bays but really couldn't pull in the business. Had it become a junk food store it would probably still be there.