[asterisk-biz] International DID provider and wholesale A-Z termination and Dedicated servers supporting moneybooker

[Alex Balashov]

On 08/13/2010 05:16 PM, Bret McDanel wrote:
> On Fri, 2010-08-13 at 17:04 -0400, Alex Balashov wrote:
>> On 08/13/2010 04:49 PM, Bret McDanel wrote:
>>
>>> It is weird that there is a higher processing overhead for a paper check
>>> (cheque to people on other continents) yet that incurs no cost whereas a
>>> wire has much lower processing overhead and its often much more
>>> expensive.  Almost like people in this country are being steered to use
>>> the ACH system one way or the other.
>
>> As a tiny company, we really can't afford to do it any other way, from
>> a cash flow perspective.  I'm sure there are many others here in the
>> same boat.
>
>
> That is a different issue

I agree with your points about ACH vs. wire.  However, I don't think 
this is really a different issue, from the vantage point of the 
overall topic we're discussing.

The cash flow constraints of (very?) small businesses often engender 
an experience of paper checks as a high-cost, high-overhead, high-PITA 
phenomenon in ways that are economically irrational from a purely 
quantitative perspective.

But the incentives are very different with a small company than a 
midsize or large one.  Larger companies don't really operate directly 
from cash;  expenses are paid from revolving credit facilities or 
reserves, and in any case, without particular regard to cash income at 
any given moment per se.  Revenue and expenses are somewhat abstracted 
from each other, rather than being tightly coupled in a time-sensitive 
way.  Bills are paid and payments are collected on more or less 30 day 
terms, and sometimes much more than that, and from a financial 
governance perspective, accrual is what matters.

So, it's almost as if the entire process of concrete money actually 
changing hands per se were a minor technicality, rather than a central 
theme of the company's ability to continue operating.  Everyone will 
eventually get their checks in the mail, and the schedule on which 
that happens is largely a function of process and accounting people's 
workflow on both sides.  Neither side is overly concerned about it, as 
long as the payment is made at some point within the required terms, 
in principle.  The ability to keep the lights on isn't a function of 
the contents of the treasure chest except in the broadest sense possible.

The point - and what makes it relevant to this discussion - is that 
the economics of transacting payment depend on who you're dealing 
with, and mainly their size.

-- 
Alex Balashov - Principal
Evariste Systems LLC
1170 Peachtree Street
12th Floor, Suite 1200
Atlanta, GA 30309
Tel: +1-678-954-0670
Fax: +1-404-961-1892
Web: http://www.evaristesys.com/