Tariffs...what to make of them.

I threw a vid in Spencer's thread. Long and starts out slow. It ends with the best way you or a country should act

Well try this one. You think you know what you know?

 
UtahJoe said:
The big companies are trying to hold off on price hikes as long as possible....plus nobody wants to be the first one to hike prices....but this whole thing is unsustainable....prices will be going up. Oh top of the fact that once our govt sees the hundreds of billions this new tax is bringing in....they will NEVER get rid of it.....no chance...we are stuck with this forever
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This really only applies to the industrial segment. No one seems to have any problem raising retail pricing. Just look at all the idiots that charge me additional percentage for CC purchase. This has always been the CC model but they just seizing the opportunity to offload that cost to the customer.
 
one piece crank said:
This really only applies to the industrial segment. No one seems to have any problem raising retail pricing. Just look at all the idiots that charge me additional percentage for CC purchase. This has always been the CC model but they just seizing the opportunity to offload that cost to the customer.
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the CC surcharge came around because cash customers were complaining they are funding the CC customers and the CC contract language does not allow for cash discounts - only cash pricing, cc pricing, or CC surcharge. now the retailers love this, because someone will not use their CC to save $3 on a $100 purchase - and some percentage of that cash goes under the mattress, or they pay their supplier with cash (see how they investigate pizza places - ever wonder why the box changes 4x a year?)
 
one piece crank said:
This really only applies to the industrial segment. No one seems to have any problem raising retail pricing. Just look at all the idiots that charge me additional percentage for CC purchase. This has always been the CC model but they just seizing the opportunity to offload that cost to the customer.
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First i like to say that i don't accept CC in my business, just cash or checks and these days its 99% checks! I would have to raise my prices by 3-4% if i started to accept CC's. You make it sound that every business (especially the small ones) can just absorb them. Not every business makes a 25+% profit margin.
And another myth is about miles, points, cashback! You don't get them from the Credit Card Company! That's from percentage the vendor pays.
So if a business for example works with a 6% profit margin a CC sale versus cash sale cuts their profit in half!
Maybe you employer should just start paying you by CC....... what's a 3% pay cut! Who cares.
Maybe Bike N Gear has some input about how much $ he Pay'd for the "privilege" of accepting CC's ?
"Or maybe the margins in the bike business are so great that it doesn't matter"!😉😁
 
PRus said:
First i like to say that i don't accept CC in my business, just cash or checks and these days its 99% checks! I would have to raise my prices by 3-4% if i started to accept CC's. You make it sound that every business (especially the small ones) can just absorb them. Not every business makes a 25+% profit margin.
And another myth is about miles, points, cashback! You don't get them from the Credit Card Company! That's from percentage the vendor pays.
So if a business for example works with a 6% profit margin a CC sale versus cash sale cuts their profit in half!
Maybe you employer should just start paying you by CC....... what's a 3% pay cut! Who cares.
Maybe Bike N Gear has some input about how much $ he Pay'd for the "privilege" of accepting CC's ?
"Or maybe the margins in the bike business are so great that it doesn't matter"!😉😁
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Not sure how I got thrown in here as I closed 378 days ago, not that anyone else is counting. From the day we opened we offered a discount for cash for bicycle purchases. Lots of people took us up on that. For some time PNC actually charged a percentage for depositing cash and checks. Not sure if they still do.

CC fees suck as a small business owner but when you sell toys that cost thousands of dollars there really is no choice.
 
My conspiracy buddy is convinced after no rain for weeks, and the house never having water come in before, now has a water table problem from some building a mile away up the hill.

I told him he has a bad condensate pump and no tray under his air handler... He said no way, cause he knows things.

He is in on all of them too. Sound bite machine.
 
Santapez said:
I won't get lured into the political dumpster fire of this thread...

But you should be using a reseller tax certificate and not paying taxes at Home Depot if you're a legitimate business if you're reselling the tile.

Sales tax is only for the end customer.
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NJ materials are taxed to contractors.
We then itemize them and don't tax the tax.
Also we don't tax the labor on capital improvements.

There are cases where I can use a tax certificate. Just not building material.

That said, I could use my certificate cause nobody is checking. I just don't.
 
Patrick said:
NJ materials are taxed to contractors.
We then itemize them and don't tax the tax.
Also we don't tax the labor on capital improvements.

There are cases where I can use a tax certificate. Just not building material.

That said, I could use my certificate cause nobody is checking. I just don't.
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I guess I'm a weird case because I'm not really a contractor, I'm a vendor. Although I'm really a contractor. If that makes sense. 🙂 95% of my work is government tax exempt contracts anyway and we charge sales tax to our industrial customers.

We actually just suck it up and pay tax on purchases we make from Home Depot because 6% on a Home Depot purchase is a rounding error on our projects and NJ Taxman is a PITA when doing audits. Same with Amazon. Nobody else do we pay tax to, we use reseller certificates for tax exemption.
 
PRus said:
First i like to say that i don't accept CC in my business, just cash or checks and these days its 99% checks! I would have to raise my prices by 3-4% if i started to accept CC's. You make it sound that every business (especially the small ones) can just absorb them. Not every business makes a 25+% profit margin.
And another myth is about miles, points, cashback! You don't get them from the Credit Card Company! That's from percentage the vendor pays.
So if a business for example works with a 6% profit margin a CC sale versus cash sale cuts their profit in half!
Maybe you employer should just start paying you by CC....... what's a 3% pay cut! Who cares.
Maybe Bike N Gear has some input about how much $ he Pay'd for the "privilege" of accepting CC's ?
"Or maybe the margins in the bike business are so great that it doesn't matter"!😉😁
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Did you ever check if you could raise your prices and get more business because you took CCs?

That was the idea.

And I remember when the banks charged small businesses for everything. I switched to a credit union. I had online cc, in person, checks.
 
Patrick said:
And I remember when the banks charged small businesses for everything.
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Every few months I'd get a call from the new PNC business manager introducing himself and asking if I needed anything. Each one I would tell that the last manger promised to get the $3 monthly fee removed from my account but nothing ever happened. Each one would promise to do the same and then I'd have the conversation again in 3 months.
 
PRus said:
First i like to say that i don't accept CC in my business, just cash or checks and these days its 99% checks! I would have to raise my prices by 3-4% if i started to accept CC's. You make it sound that every business (especially the small ones) can just absorb them. Not every business makes a 25+% profit margin.
And another myth is about miles, points, cashback! You don't get them from the Credit Card Company! That's from percentage the vendor pays.
So if a business for example works with a 6% profit margin a CC sale versus cash sale cuts their profit in half!
Maybe you employer should just start paying you by CC....... what's a 3% pay cut! Who cares.
Maybe Bike N Gear has some input about how much $ he Pay'd for the "privilege" of accepting CC's ?
"Or maybe the margins in the bike business are so great that it doesn't matter"!😉😁
Click to expand...
Patrick said:
Did you ever check if you could raise your prices and get more business because you took CCs?
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That is exactly the point.

I understand a cash-only business, but that has limitations. If your business fits within those, then good on you. But if you can’t hide the CC fee in the cost of your product, still offering a cash discount, the you’re foolishly flying the middle finger and looking the fool. Think about it. I know every time I see that middle finger I re-think my spending, giving the finger back whenever I can.
 
one piece crank said:
That is exactly the point.

I understand a cash-only business, but that has limitations. If your business fits within those, then good on you. But if you can’t hide the CC fee in the cost of your product, still offering a cash discount, the you’re foolishly flying the middle finger and looking the fool. Think about it. I know every time I see that middle finger I re-think my spending, giving the finger back whenever I can.
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All the local restaurants on the receipts have a cash price and cc price. My local bike shop does the same thing.
 
John the Plumber said:
All the local restaurants on the receipts have a cash price and cc price. My local bike shop does the same thing.
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My memory (not great) is that gas stations started this. It is difficult to hide money at a gas-only station - so much comes in, the pumps do a good job of measuring what goes out and how much money should come it. If gas(cash) is missing, they are digging up the tanks!
(there are other ways to steal gas/cash at a gas station) I guess this is NJ oriented now - since we don't pump our own.

It is more the last 5ish (?) years that there is a separate price (or charge) for CC on the receipts at different shops.
Basically covering the cost of the fees plus a bit.
Now if you work at one of these places, did they stop removing the processing fees from the tip amount?

If I plan, I'll have cash in my pocket for something - most times i'm not carrying that much - like sub $50.

--on the business owner side

WIth cash, ya also have to trust the workers. A leak could quickly destroy the CC cost avoidance.
also it isn't just punishing the business.
Consider a 'tip pooling' restaurant. is the person serving a table turning in all the cash to the pool, especially if they see their service is rewarded at a higher rate.

I'd take a credit card now over a check next week any day.
 
Patrick said:
I threw a vid in Spencer's thread. Long and starts out slow. It ends with the best way you or a country should act

Well try this one. You think you know what you know?

Click to expand...


Solid vid. For further reading "Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)" by Tavris and Aronson or, if you have infinite time and focus for twice the word count, "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Kahneman.

I prefer memes, doe.

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one piece crank said:
That is exactly the point.

I understand a cash-only business, but that has limitations. If your business fits within those, then good on you. But if you can’t hide the CC fee in the cost of your product, still offering a cash discount, the you’re foolishly flying the middle finger and looking the fool. Think about it. I know every time I see that middle finger I re-think my spending, giving the finger back whenever I can.
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The worst is when it's a cash only business and they have an atm in the place to take an extra 5% from you lol.
 
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