The price is pretty efficient in this industry, what's really inefficient is the experience for both the businesses and consumers.
The price is pretty efficient in this industry, what's really inefficient is the experience for both the businesses and consumers.
Another thing that makes me think "Commodity."
And the square "dongle" is anything but a good experience. I travel a lot, and I dread every time I return to the Bay Area and have to deal with Taxi Drivers and their attempts at getting credit cards to swipe on the dongle - about 5-10% of the time we just have to enter the numbers in, paying usually takes 30-40 seconds all in, and I don't get a paper receipt which adds another hassle when doing expense reports.
Compare to Singapore where my transaction time with comfort cabs is <5 seconds and I get a decent receipt. (Of course, I also end up paying 10% admin fee for using a credit card, so I pay for that convenience)
Part of this is skill - swiping the card through the square dongle takes a lot of skill - I note when I pay at a food truck (100% square in Redwood City) - they seem to be able to do the transaction in about 10 seconds.
Price gouging is when you use a monopolisitic position to charge an unreasonably high amount.