New Employee Suggestion System - More Electronic Form: Fill & Download for Free

I have been attempting to get this suggestion seen by Postal Brass since it was originally submitted into the broken suggestion program in 2009:We do this by utilizing our delivery network to offer secure same-day/next-day delivery of gifts and merchandise nationwide. (This is in the format utilized by the P.O. and not in it’s original narrative form. To read the gist of this skip down to: “A typical transaction would go something like this”) I have since come up with multiple ideas for local only implementation of this service.):Suggester: Daniel J. GoochEmployee ID # (notachance)PAYLOC: (nah)Supervisor: (blanked)Date: Nov-12-2009Suggestion Title: Creation of a system to provide same-day or next-day delivery of gifts or merchandise nation-wide.1. Current Condition:Mail volume is down. Revenue is down. Post Offices are being closed. Routes are being consolidated. Route consolidation from declining mail volumes has created excess delivery capacity in both vehicle inventory and personnel.One of the most valuable assets the Postal Service has is the vast network of small Post Offices located in places no competitor can afford to maintain a presence. With the overall loss of mail volume the overhead of maintaining many of these offices exceeds their current contribution to income. While some of these offices may not be viable even as local delivery hubs, many locations are being closed before their potential usefulness has been realized.Use of the internet to purchase items for personal use, as well as gifts and other items to be delivered to a person other than the purchaser is becoming popular. This has begun to adversely impact the sales of traditional brick-and-mortar stores. Even national department store chains have been challenged by this trend.2. Idea for Improvement:I propose that we utilize our excess delivery capacity to create a System to Provide Same-Day Delivery of Gifts or Merchandise, Nationwide.I believe it will be helpful if I begin with one simplified example of how the product might be used by a customer. This will provide a frame of reference in which the details, variations, and more technical aspects of this suggestion may be more clearly seen. While I do not believe this will be the largest sector of the market to eventually use this service, initially it will be the easiest to implement as well as the most immediately profitable:(Same-Day Delivery Service, Nationwide Retailer utilizing in-store purchase of single item with prepaid delivery.)National chains such as Sears, Kohls, J.C Penny, Dillards, etc. would opt-in to the service, much as they have done with Facebook. Costs: This would involve the modification/creation integration of existing Postal and Merchant computer software so as to make a scenario such as the following example possible:A typical transaction would go something like this:1. A customer walks into the Sears store in Town East Mall and selects a pink sweater for his aunt Mabel in Shasta, CA.2. After receiving confirmation that it is available in her size at the Sears store near the destination, he selects the option to put the sweater and delivery on his Sears credit card and picks a birthday gift wrap.3. He selects same-day delivery, but since her birthday party will be in the evening and it is not yet noon at the destination he receives a discounted rate for non-urgent same-day Express (or Priority) delivery.4. He writes a personal note, which will be transmitted along with the order and reprinted on a gift card or note, and completes the transaction.5. The Sears store at the Mt. Shasta Mall receives the order and a Postal Service mailing label is generated and postage paid electronically. A pick-up request was sent to the delivery Post Office at the same time the mailing label was generated.6. A sales clerk receives the order and pulls the designated sweater directly off the rack as if it had been sold in the usual way. It is packed in a gift box/bag along with the gift card with the sender's personal message, sealed, and the shipping label to his aunt Mabel with the prepaid postage is affixed.7. The Express driver in Shasta, CA receives a pick-up request, since he already has items to be picked up at the Mt. Shasta Mall and it is not an urgent delivery it is simply added to the items on the list for the store/mall.8. The Express driver picks up the package along with the others at the Sears store and makes the delivery late that afternoon.9. Aunt Mabel notes a chill in the air and listens to the weatherman tell about the first snow of the season on Mt. Shasta. She is delighted with the thoughtfulness of her nephew and remembers him when she visits her lawyer in the morning to revise her will.(Most technical details of the required processes are not exceptional and will be obvious to those trained in I.T.)This service could be implemented into the stores and websites of national retailers with relative ease. Online, the option of using an Electronic Postal Money Order (detailed in a prior suggestion) for payment would further increase consumer confidence, and Postal revenue.As this service gains momentum, smaller chains and even single location merchants would be enrolled in the system and added to the database enabling it to generate a more comprehensive list of outlets utilizing this service within the same day delivery area for a particular address that stock products in the category desired, as well as national chains.Enrolled merchants could compile and submit a detailed product file with index, or submit an index with a link to the search apparatus for such a file. (As search algorithms are becoming increasingly complex it is not within the scope of this suggestion to define such technology, since it would only prove limiting.) Merchants with products matching a search term located within the specified delivery area would be added to a more robust search queue with images and data of those items most closely matching the parameters of the search pulled into a common window for comparison and final selection. This sales page would be generated on-the-fly from a simple template and incorporate all the functionality of a permanent web page, but would not require additional storage space on the server.Additional merchants could be listed in an expanded area with an added delivery charge. In this way it would be possible for a customer in any city in the US, and-with proper safeguards, anywhere in the world, to select a gift for same-day delivery in most of the U.S. even though that particular item might only be sold at a specialty shop, so long as that retailer is within delivery range of the recipient.Additionally, the system could be used to order items for next or 2nd day Priority delivery using the same database of merchants. The creation of a First Class option utilizing a "space available" calculation for Time/Distance from an existing Priority or Express delivery point with a next day "fall-back" option would be an effective means of creating increased First Class Mail income. Such an option would still allow the elimination of most point-to-point expenses without eroding the stature of other mail classes. In this way the USPS would establish a delivery centric concept of shopping that will be unmatched due to the fact that no other service has a delivery network as extensive as ours. It should be noted that the same system could also be used to consolidate ordering and shipping and payment from any enlisted merchant, regardless of distance by simply conducting a specific item/retailer search.Merchants who do not have a web site could elect to have image and item information files stored in a products file in the USPS database, or even linked from the product source/makers server or their own server with static IP address.While most customers would access the destination-centric (multiple merchant) service on their home computers-or even using a smart phone app, dedicated secure terminals such as the automated shipping terminals used in some Postal locations - only without the need for scales or postage/label printing, would enable customers without web access to use the same simplified shopping/shipping system. These kiosks could be located in Post Offices as well as malls or any other location conveniently accessible to the public while physically secure. Offline payment options could include the printing of a receipt with a scannable bar code identifying the customers saved data file for each delivery address for payment at any Post Office using any means currently acceptable for Money Orders. Alternately, an order number could be could be written down and entered by a Postal Clerk, generating an itemized receipt for verification. (Delivery time would be determined by time of payment.)Customers would access the service in a retailer-specific way at any enrolled store with multiple locations as in the example above. Even a single location merchant enrolled primarily for local delivery could use the system to easily offer an immediate in-store shipping option for shoppers wishing to send an item(s) directly to another address. This system would enable the USPS to create a viable shipping presence in any retail location with the ease of accessing a web site- and with minimal or no ongoing associated costs.10. Reduce costs or increase revenue.Implementing this suggestion will:1. Reduce the fixed costs associated with the shipping, handling, and delivery of Priority, Express, and First Class mail generated by its use by the elimination of all shipping and processing expenses up to the point of pickup for local delivery.2. It will do so while while increasing the perceived value of these services at or near current rates.3. It will do so while increasing the generation of revenue through the promotion of low cost same-day gift delivery, while simultaneously eliminating the burden of shopping, wrapping, and shipping.4. The chaos that traditionally accompanies the holiday season would be greatly mitigated, while delivery volume capacity is increased by promoting a means of simplifying gift giving without limiting the selection. Additionally, using this system, the deadline for shipping during the Holiday Season would only be limited by the delivery capacity at the destination. This would effectively add several days of maximum capacity volume.5. A. By shifting the responsibility of packaging from the individual consumer to the merchant, more professional and standardized parcels will simplify handling for those only requiring local pickup and delivery, as well as those shipped by merchants and processed in the usual way. Multiple items for the same destination address from the same store could be packed together or bundled-and discounted rates would stimulate such sales. (Consolidation services in malls could easily combine purchases made - and left, at many different stores into bundles by address for easier shopping and automated delivery.)5. B. It will increase the security of shoppers by eliminating the need to transport some or all of their purchases from store to store, or to their car or home.6. The physical delivery service would use existing excess capacity of local Post Offices.7. The need for temporary employees or contractors during the holiday season may be reduced.8. Promotions for this service could highlight the energy efficiency of bulk nationwide distribution and local selection and delivery compared to shipping items that may already be available near the destination across the country one at a time.7. If needed, private contractors such as http://Nextag.com or Compare Prices, to name just two of the larger sites, could be utilized to create a USPS branded site incorporating their existing databases of merchants and adding content from enrolled local/single-outlet retailers they may not list-as described above. Additionally, same-day postal delivery data could be added to their selection of search parameters.Additional Notes.I believe that any new product or service should be promoted first to the employees of the USPS. This is a low cost means of creating word-of-mouth advertising that produces results in an extremely cost effective way. Recently I became aware of several discontinued services that I believe could have been successful if they had been promoted differently. eBill Pay was one of them. When I asked several coworkers if they had heard of it, I couldn't find a single one who had! While the name sounded vaguely familiar to me, I had no idea how it worked or how it could have been accessed.USPS employees are the most motivated customers we have! They are also the best way to roll out any new service we offer because they have a profound interest in the success of viable USPS products and services. They are willing to take the time and trouble to give in depth feedback on how and why a service is helpful, and what needs tweaking. They know how the USPS functions and can give valuable responses that take into consideration details that outside customers are not aware of. We have half a million advocates that are able to do much more than buy more "forever" stamps than they have immediate need of.I am available for further explanation of any aspect of this or any other suggestion I make. The potential for the concept put forth in this suggestion is far too broad to be explained completely in a single document. While certain aspects may be available by other means, it should be remembered that the USPS is essentially a secure communication service that is made available to everyone at a reasonable cost. Thus, this concept attempts to make Same/Next Day Delivery accessible to everyone for only the cost of the goods and services themselves. There are a great many who send gifts that still lack computers, internet access, or even the technical ability to utilize these tools for this purpose without exposing themselves to financial risk. This suggestion offers these services to anyone who desires to send gifts through the mail, and only requires what they already have access to: 1. The means to buy the gift/merchandise and pay the postage, and 2. The name and address of the recipient. It is intended to be accessible by those who have never so much as used email.Obviously, there are variables that will determine the same-day cut-off times for any pick-up/delivery location pair. Until sufficient ongoing volume is created, the logistics of what is possible will not be clear, and it may never be profitable for less than Express Mail. Next-day Priority delivery is viable now over wide areas, and all of the savings except for the local sort for inbound Priority apply. The cut-off time is restricted by the final pick-up time of the Postal driver.Daniel J. GoochEmployee ID # (nope)PAYLOC: (not)COPYRIGHT Daniel J. Gooch 2009 All rights reserved, subject to mutual agreement under the employee suggestion program of the United States Postal Service.

The Ides Of MarchToday (3/15/2012) President and CEO of eBay John Donahoe ironically announced at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, a new Retail Payment Solution "PayPal Here". This day is full of irony in that the announcement is primarily directed at Square (company) and it also was not such a good day for Julius Caesar in 44 BCE. John Donahoe minced no words on his intent “This product is better. This product is backed by PayPal. It's backed by 100 million customers and one of trusted by payments brands around the world”. We all knew this moment would arrive.Warning, this will be a bit of a long post as it is important to gain relativity on this subject.The PayPal Winged Card Reader called "Here" (aka the Blue Dorito) designed by Yves Béhar.A Titan AwakesPayment Card acceptance for small and medium sized retail businesses have experienced a tidal force of change over the last 24 months. This multi-billion dollar Titan is waking up and taking its first firm steps into the confluence which will imprint both consumers and merchants with a number of new and unique options. For anyone in the payments industry to ignore or downplay the potential impact this may have would be foolhardy at best.Here I got some Blue Doritos for you. Humor about a serious change in the marketplace.A multi-country AnnouncementPayPal has entered into this market in the US, Canada, Australia and Hong-Kong. This will extend the potential market reach to nearly double the size of it’s nearest competitor. This alone will grant PayPal a much larger base for potential success. PayPal has most EU countries and China on target for the end of the year.Reality Check: Is Your Wallet Broken? Is Your Store's Payment System Broken?To be clear, nothing announced today by PayPal is world changing by any stretch of the imagination. For at least the next dozen years you will still be carrying payment cards with you, they will have EMV ability because the banks that issue these cards have committed to this, and it is their system we use when we pay with a Payment Card. No matter how sexy a new system is there is simply no mathematical way to change the momentum of something that is not seen as broken to most people. I am sure that today most of us will use the existing payment system just like our mom and pop did and it will work remarkably flawlessly. Perhaps there is not much to fix? Sometimes the blind drive for “disruption” clouds reality.If The Media Was Correct, You And I Would Be Paying With Our Fingers TodayThere will be endless debates from bloggers and media observers covering all aspects of this announcement. Most will miss some very important points. We certainly all love to fantasize about a future world where we do not need to carry a Payment Card or a wallet for that matter. I have seen some of the most brilliant minds lead billions of dollars down this money pit. I will be the first to admit that I love new ideas and technology. However I must add just a bit more sobriety with a study of the history of a company called Pay By Touch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_By_Touch) with a billion dollar funding, over 800 employees and some of the best tech talent and management to be found in the Silicon Valley and it was a colossal failure. Many new and perhaps old observers have little to no knowledge of how and why a simple, use your finger to pay wallet system failed.I could fill a large book with the true reasons why but for this post it is just important to know some things were actually tried before by darlings of the media and failed. Just about all observers "knew" after very high profile political leaders invested in Pay By Touch, that within 5 years the Payment Card and your wallet would be replaced by your finger, the logic seemed so flawless, so simple: most of us do not leave home without our fingers, it just works. They predicted the card to be dead and the wallet to be dead. They will likely make similar predictions on either side of this new announcement.PayPal And The Walled GardenPayPal’s journey has been a successful one on the Internet. However many, including experts in payments, fail to see that PayPal’s success was directly connected to the rise of eBay and the walled garden they built around payments. We would not be talking about PayPal today if eBay did not purchase the company at a very critical point in PayPal’s history.The retail payments space is also a walled garden, however it is controlled primarily by Visa and MasterCard. PayPal’s rise took place in a period when Visa and MasterCard did not have the will or ambition to see how important Internet transactions would become. For PayPal, this new market will not have the ready made customers that eBay provided. Of course they do have a substantial number of relationships with millions of merchants but there will need to be substantial motivating reasons to adopt any change in the current, unbroken system.What Are The Details Of PayPal's New Retail Payment System?There are a rather large number of interesting points that surround this new product launch. This is more than just taking the Internet version of PayPal and bolting it on to a retail use case with a unique Card Reader. There are two fundamental categories that encompass the new announcement:The PayPal Digital WalletThe PayPal Card ReaderPayPal Here accepted around the world.The PayPal Digital Wallet can currently only be used at merchants that have elected to participate in PayPal's retail payment system. However, a merchant that participates in PayPal's retail payment system will be able to accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express along with PayPal of course.The Pay Pal Digital WalletPayPal has a new vision of how people will use and interact with their Payment Cards and by extension how they will use a Wallet application. This centers around the concepts of payment flexibility and discounts, loyalty and offers. PayPal spent a lot of quality time with regular folks across the country and looked at how they actually interact with what is now primarily Digital Money. Through the wise use of industry veterans and with a mandate to follow the path where it leads them, PayPal has constructed a rather genius way to interact with Payment Cards and other systems that hold value like a gift card or loyalty cards.The primary features of the PayPal Digital Wallet are:Grace Period - This separates the actual purchase from the payment by offering a 5-7 day grace period for consumers to change the underling Payment Card. This means that days after you leave a store you can shift a purchase to another Payment Card or divide it between other Payment Cards, Gift Cards, Loyalty Cards or a Bill Me Later loan.Installment Payments - Allows consumers to choose to create, ex post facto installment payments on larger purchases. This means that an emergency refrigerator failure can be a less intrusive experience by allowing the consumer to divide the transaction into multiple timely payments.Personal Lists - Allow for system wide searches for particular products and allows for comparison of prices. The consumer can then create shopping lists based on the results of the searches driving customers into PayPal Retail merchants.Found Money - The PayPal Digital Wallet will locate customized deals, coupons and one time offers for items in a personal list. With consumer permission, once the customer is in a merchant location that accepts PayPal’s solution, the merchant can target offers based on the shopping lists that the customer has created. This means situational offers can be made in real time.Spending Rules - This is a budgeting tool that creates specific fund “set asides” like travel funds and sets rules by purchase amount and ties specific Payment Cards to specific merchants. This allows for Payment Card “Air Mile” partnerships, like what American Express has with Wholefoods Market, to activate without a thought on the part of the customer.PayPal is betting on the premise that these features will at some point become valuable enough for the consumer to download the Wallet App to their smartphone. There seems to be enough compelling reasons to suggest that typical folks would be motivated by both the payment flexibility and the potential access to better prices through discounts and offers.Potential Real Life Use Cases You Will Not Find As A Glowing TweetDuring the 28 years I have spent in the Payments Industry, I can think of many use cases for some of the features found in PayPal’s Digital Wallet. One of our merchant was a multiple location automobile transmission repair company. They were very early adopters in accepting Payment Cards and it is easy to see why with typical transactions over $1,500.When your car is towed into a transmission shop, it is usually not a low cost repair. Most folks perhaps can scrape together money from credit lines, savings and "rainy day funds" but this is still a rather large sum. I had many conversations with the owner over the years and it always centered around his frustration around making payment easier for his customers. Today with the flexible funding options and on-demand installment payments, his customers would have more options then the traditional payment system. There are a number of other use cases which may not seem natural to people who are compulsive users of High Tech.The PayPal Card ReaderThe PayPal Card Reader is the work of industrial design genius Yves Behar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Béhar). Yves design language has always leaned towards a decidedly "form follows function" ethos with bold colors and unconventional approaches.We can see this in the new Card Reader in the way it can swivel back and move in to position. He addressed the issues a merchant faces with just about all devices in this class: The actual swiping of the card. This is actually not a trivial task to perform with any product on any smartphone.Even the best designed devices will present challenges to regular users. Yves has approached the issue by finding the optimum balance between maximum design efficiency and the budget constraints of a device which will be given away for free. The Reader is already the punch line of quite a number of jokes, such as: The Blue Dorito. Love it or not, it can be argued that its design is a bold statement. Time will tell how much this will ultimately impact the users of the device.Encryption And Card Data SecurityThere is more to the Card Reader than just appearance. The device has active electronics that encrypt the card data before heading over to the smartphone's 3.5mm Audio Input Jack. The issue of end to end encryption on smart phones using a Payment Card processing devices has been under a great deal of scrutiny by the Payment Card companies.Currently not a single device that uses a smartphone in this manner is considered fully compliant under the PCI guidelines (https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/) this includes PayPal and the new card reader. At some point there will be a need to certify these card readers and Visa has already stated that there will need to be hardware encryption built into the devices. PayPal has already addressed this issue with this release. The first most people have heard of these issues was with a ridiculous marketing campaign by Verifone against Square: How will Verifone's "Open Letter"/"Wake-up Call Letter" affect Square and its Card Reader?. It failed for Verifone, it may or may not help PayPal. Square has an Encrypting card Reader they have been testing for quite some time and is now shipping, however the installed based of Square merchants have the old reader. I am certain Square will address this issue.Follow The Magnetic Strip, Around The WorldPayPal wisely limited the release of this service to countries that still actively allow Payment Cards to be used at merchants with Magnetic Card readers. This allows PayPal to maximize penetration in the first phase of this release. As PayPal rolls out to countries that use the EMV system, we will see a 2.0 version of the card reader that allows for EMV transactions. There will also be considerable increase in unit costs for the device and this will be an issue to be concerned about.The PayPal Merchant Processing AppThe merchant app has a number of standard and unique features. There are the traditional functions that one would expect, the ability to process a card by a swipe or by manual key entry. However there is an option to image and process checks also. There are email receipts and text based receipts. The more unique features allow for a merchant to create and deploy store-wide universal offers and discounts and customized deals crafted by preset and based on the contents of the shopping lists of PayPal wallet users.A Clone Of Square's Card CasePayPal using Geo-fencing technology to allow users of the PayPal wallet to pay just by being close to the checkout line. The feature they call "Local" may sound rather familiar, this is because in many ways this is a clone of Square's revolutionary CardCase system. I have seen PayPal's system in use and can say that it is a rather different experience than the one with Square's Card Case.The Merchant Processing RateThe flat rate of 2.70% that currently offers a 1% Cashback (with caveats) to the merchant with no fixed transaction fee is currently significantly lower than any other company offering a similar solution, but it may not be low enough to matter at this point. This will likely change soon for a number of reasons. PayPal is in a rather unique position to actually have a lower overall wholesale cost and this will grow logarithmically as they pull in more Digital Wallet users. The rate a merchant pays is really not a direct concern to most customers and thus this is really more of a merchant adoption issue.There is a bit of confusion that I think will be cleared up shortly on the how a merchant can receive the 1.70% rate. Thus far it seems that the PayPals price point of 1.70% with no fixed transaction fee is clearly aimed at Square and the current rate of 2.75% they offer. But it may be a bit of a marketing claim which will not really net merchants any significant savings in the short to medium term. However it will be more than challenging for Square to directly address this issue in the short term. I will assume that the data I have from the last few months is correct and thus it would work out in this manner:Example of a average merchant with 100% use of the PayPal Debit Card:$1000 per month with 100 transactions,PayPal $1000 x 1.70% (with Cashback PayPal debit card rebate) = $17.00Square $1000 x 2.75% = $27.50Differential Potential = $10.70 x 12 = $128.40 per year-Or-Example of a average merchant with 0% use of the PayPal Debit Card:$1000 per month with 100 transactions,PayPal $1000 x 2.70% (with no Cashback PayPal debit card rebate) = $27.00Square $1000 x 2.75% = $27.50Differential Potential = $0.50 x 12 = $6 per yearIn reality the savings will be someplace in the middle at some point.This 1% Cashback rebate is a rather bold move to boost adoption and will no doubt be removed once market density has been reached. But it requires the merchant to use the PayPal branded Debit Card to spend money rather than withdrawing the amount. This card is free of charge and PayPal aims to send them out to a majority active of PayPal account holders in the launch countries. This keeps the funds from the merchant account theoretically locked in PayPals's walled garden and allows then to collect the Interchange fees when the card is used by the merchant to make purchases. Interchange fees are passed through the Visa and MasterCard system and given back to the bank that issued the card, in this case The Bankcorp on behalf of PayPal.Have no doubts, this is a rather strong bottom line perception for a vast majority of merchants. Lost in the haze will be the fact a merchant will not always get 1% back and there is a wait for the rebate, up to one year. The 1.70% marketing rate may not be enough in and of itself. I am certain much will be made of this real or imaginary cost saving.PayPal has also announced that they will be doing same day funding on most transactions. There will be limits and controls on the transaction size and transaction volume that they will allow small merchants to process.Electronic Check AcceptancePayPal has wisely extended instant payment acceptance to checks also and although checks are used less and less at retail locations, it is a genius move to extend deeper into the galaxy of payment options.Camera Based Payment Card ReadingPayPal has licensed the technology from Card.io which allows for the image of the card to be scanned and processed with out the need of the merchant to key in the card number. I addressed issues that this technology faces here: What is Card.io and how will it impact the mobile payment space?. It is an interesting feature but I feel that it will not be used very often.On Demand Invoicing For Service BusinessesPayPal included a unique tool that allows business that are in the repair, contractor or service industry to create a pro forma invoice sent from the phone directly to any email address in the world. More interesting is that it is a realtime notification to the customer if they are running the PayPal Digital wallet. This will be a very important feature for a number of business sectors.The Chicken Or EggWhen one surveys this new move by PayPal and take in the entirety of how this could impact the market, one can say that this is a rather bold move but necessary move. Executives at PayPal have been very public in stating that this is their market to lose and they are going to do just about anything to take a reasonable percentage of market share.I can personally verify that PayPal wisely chose to reach out to experts that had real street experience with Merchants and the Payment system, and the needs of actual consumers. They clearly have taken most of the advice that was offered. This goes a long way in addressing the potentials of success for this system in the marketplace. However PayPal faces the same "Chicken or egg" problem that every bold new entry in this market faces, from the Square Card Case to the ISIS wallet, Google's Wallet and others: merchants need more than just great ideas, sexy products and simple rates. Pragmatism and practicality always rule the day with the 99% of merchants who are not early adopters. This will be the largest barrier every company will face.For PayPal to be successful they are going to need to be very persuasive on all points and then they would have to develop effective systems to actually reach the 99% of merchants that have been proven to be nearly impossible to reach with online advertising and social media "viral" campaigns. Much to the dismay of many companies even phone marketing campaigns have little effect. There are a number of highly successful ways to reach this market and one of the best guarded secrets is business to business (B2B) sales. Few of the new companies offering retail payment solutions have decoded this process. At some point they will need to address this issue after the momentum of just reaching for the low hanging fruit on the tree has peaked.PayPal’s ImageIt is no secret that PayPal’s image in the mind of some online merchants is just a little bit more than tarnished. Some of it is deserved. However some of it is tied up in the complexity of running in the middle between Cardholders and their needs and merchants with a differing set of needs. Every company that is in this industry will face these challenges, even the ones that appear to currently have a great reputation. The moment one becomes a merchant they discover all the tools they had as a consumer can very well be used against them even if it is not warranted.The ChargeBack dispute system is not perfect and always errs on the side of the Cardholder. This issue, and the related numerous fraud issues, create a dangerous environment of potential hostility between Paypal and the merchants. PayPal has a legacy here, as well as the legacy they created by making some very poor choices in how they deal with popular issues. This potentially tarnished reputation will absolutely impact merchant adoption. But I would caution any company in this industry from using this as a marketing tool, it will ultimately set a standard that may be impossible to achieve in long term.Are The Features And Costs Good Enough?There are a number of ways one can look at the perception of success. For PayPal success may be to gain a low double digit of the true transaction volume of retail merchants. The temporary low rate will greatly assist in this effort. We will not see any company dominate the entire market as long as they have to use the networks and products of the current Payment Card Companies. Other companies that will compete with PayPal will no doubt have less customers then they would have had if PayPal was not in the market. However as long as they continue to innovate I am certain they will do this and perhaps more and meet with continued success also. My advice is "heads down" and "iterate" is foolish, "heads up" and look around you, seek out the history and people that know the topography and perhaps have a map.The Merchant And The Consumer Will VoteThe showdown between all of the existing and new companies in this market will be an exchange of historic proportions. There are no underdogs in this race, billions of dollars are backing all serious players. Most in the tech world will choose sides and carry the flag, but this can be a kiss of death. The control is primarily in the hands of merchants and I can personally attest to the fact that that they have become deaf to most of the latest ideas that we in Technology have cooked up. The company(s) that are wise enough to seek the expertise and wisdom of how to truly reach these merchants and by extension their customers will have the greatest success.Update: Videos from the launch event, thanks goes to Rakesh Agrawal's keen eye:

Indian Legal System is archaic and still follows 100 years old procedures, started by British rulers . Unfortunately , Indian rulers in last 70 years after freedom, had little interest in modifying or making them efficient .One major reason behind that was the prevalence of lawyers in freedom struggle , who subsequently became writers of Constitution , then members of assemblies and Parliament and held top political posts.The Indian Constitution is the largest of its kind in the world and it is truly described as Lawyer’s paradise because lawyers and capitalists , aristocrats, landlords, riyasat rulers of that time were its main architects in 299 member Constitution drafting assembly .The Indian Constitution provides maximum benefit to judges, lawyer’s community and their profession . Judiciary segment in Constitution has maximum privileges , judges are given absolute powers and almost no provision of checks and balances to minimise the scope of corruption and fix accountability on them .Privileges of Judiciary in IndiaPlenty of HolidaysThis is the holiday list of High Court of Madras as per official website Madras High CourtLet us count them : 104 Sundays and Saturdays , 22 public holidays , 31 Summer holidays , 9 days Dussera and 8 days of Christmas holidays which totals to 174 days in 365 days . So, the high court is officially closed for about half days in a year , if we add few days of lawyers strike to them .Also add the leaves a judge is entitled as earned, sick and casual leaves , then it becomes more than 50% non working days in a year . As per rules , they are entitled to 25% of service period as leave. So, they have at least 3 months leave admissible .2. Less Working HoursMost of the courts have an official work timing of 10 AM to 4 PM i.e. 6 hours a day and it includes 1 hour of lunch break . So on a working day , court will open for 5 hours. See this link how the lawyers are against increasing the timing of the court Lawyers unhappy over new court timings - Times of IndiaThe Karnataka High Court has notified revised working hours for all subordinate courts in the state. The new timings, with effect from March 1, 2003, are 10 am to 1.30 pm and 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm.There will be a one-hour lunch break. The notification of February 6 says the new timings will be brought to effect as per the National Judicial Pay Commission suggestions. They will apply to all civil and criminal courts, labour courts, industrial tribunals and family courts.Bangalore Advocates' Association K.N. Subba Reddy is not happy with the change in timings. "The decision is laudable to the extent of taking measures for speedy disposal of cases, but litigants and advocates may not get time to prepare for cases.''Judiciary is the autonomous body under Indian Constitution to decide its own holidays and working hours but has it ever risen to increase their working hours as in core industry or at least 9 AM to 5.30 PM central govt employees working hours .3. Special Rules for Recruitment, Promotions and Retirement Age & Removal from ServiceThe maximum age for entry to a state judicial service is 35 years ( minimum 23 years) in most states and with relaxation in certain cases , it can go up to 40 years .There is even a short cut to become a high court judge. You just need a certificate of practice for 10 years in any district or high court as a lawyer and age of 35 years and one can become a High Court judge , if approved by the committee of collegium of HC or Supreme Court Judge . What is the collegium system - Times of India .There is higher retirement age for judges . It is 62 years in HC and 65 in Supreme Court and being considered to increase it further citing shortage of judges Centre considers increasing retirement age of HC judges from 62 to 65 - Times of India .Chances of Removal from service on account of indiscipline , corruption , inefficiency are almost negligible . Almost no judge has been removed from Supreme Court or High Court by impeachment in last 70 years . At most, they were asked to resign despite serious corruption charges .In 21st Century , we are still carrying the legacy of British Judges , who needed summer and winter vacations and to read literature in Shimal and Dehradun , Ooty . Why an electrical power supply engineer should only work round the clock and 365 days or a pilot or train driver or police should only work 24x7 , 365 days ? Judiciary also needs to work 8 hours a day like any other govt employee . Is it not an essential service , in whose absence people suffer in jails unnecessarily and lawyers make more money .The Procedural & Infrastructural LacunaeCivil Procedure Code ( CPC ) drafted in 1908 for civil suits .It still talks about summons sent by the court through registered post and gives 90 days to be responded by defendant after receipt of Summons of the court . This is in the age of Whatsapp , sms , email and mobile communication . There is not much fine or punishment for not appearing in court or not responding at all . Lawyers will be at loss if these procedures are accepted as cases can be disposed quickly . The civil court order is not immediately enforceable , you may have to go to court again to get direction to district administration for court decree enforcement through police .2. Evidence Act Made in 1872This is most archaic Act and an evidence can be accepted only if it conforms to this old act . All countries including Pakistan have replaced these acts but we have made only some amendments in this old Act . That helps in letting criminals get away from punishment . This Act needs total replacement keeping in view modern, scientific developments in evidence taking .3. Criminal Procedure Code 1973This code is also 43 year old and does not incorporate modern investigative methods and best practices using modern technology . While the criminal element always goes for latest technology in committing an offence , the court procedure remains obsolete and person is set on bail simply because the case keeps on dragging for years . This code also needs to be from scratch with modern needs , using latest technology .4. Police IncompetencyI wonder why only CBI ( Central Bureau of Investigation ) is competent police agency why other state agencies remain incompetent , when we pay almost same salary to state police officers . If more IITs and IIMs can be opened , then why not more CBI academies are opened and all police force is recruited and trained in same manner so that conviction rate goes up and people fear police as much as they do for CBI . Currently , police investigation which forms the backbone for court evidence , is left to incompetent , old or staff not fit for field ( bribe earning places) , who have no incentive to do a good investigation .5. Severe Civil / Tort PenaltiesThe penalties fixed in 1973 are ridiculously low at Rs 100 or Rs 500 or maximum 2000 to Rs 5000/- , which takes years to get amended . Why not link it as percentage of salary of offender , so that it gets revised timely .I remember in 1998 , Delhi police had maximum fine of Rs 100 for traffic rules violation like over speeding . The young man used to give fine of Rs 100 with proud for over speeding . When it was raised to Rs 1000, the incidences got reduced .Sentences in many civil / criminal acts can be converted to stiff penalty and compensation to victim as a percentage of networth of individual . For example , criminal negligence by a doctor should be more on huge fine , which can be paid to victim , than jailing the doctor in first time offences . Same can be done about motor vehicle and other technical negligence where part of assets of the offender are confiscated . Celebrities understand the language of money much better than a jail sentence and in Jail , they always get VIP treatment ( Sanjay Dutt case ) .For example , there is no point in arresting celebrity for motor driving negligence in first time offence . He / she should pay 10% of his networth as fine . Any repeat offence should have big jail sentence .6. Putting a Limit on Time of TrialEvery kind of trial should have a maximum limit of time , after which it should be decided by default punishment or acquittal .7. Recording The Court Procedure and Making it Available as RTIAll court procedure can be video recorded , judgement , arguments , evidence in scanned formats should be saved and should be available in electronic form under RTI . That will force police , judiciary and lawyers to act transparently .Why all these Reforms would never happen ?Because 40% of our legislatures and ministers have LLB degree and they will not let the law change as they are the greatest beneficiaries of this archaic system . They ahve learned how to twist it . Don’t expect the same from Judiciary and lawyer fraternity also . They all will keep on citing our great Constitution which shelters them and would never amend it to the advantage of ordinary public . Wait till the day , we have an entirely new Constitution , which is not made by majority of lawyers as done in 1947 .