Man of Mine Safety Disclosures is an investing blog with long company analyses of Costco, Visa and the New York Times.
HN commenters recommend its Costco writing and its detailed Visa history and financial breakdown, calling the Visa piece amazing.
> They have to accept payment in whatever form customers are willing to provide it in. Customers aren't going to move away from PayPal and credit cards without a good reason, and so far crypto has failed to provide that reason.
In general this is just an illustration of the racket between banks and card companies, since customers really only seek to pay using the payment options their bank provides upon opening an account, although I guess that's not a surprise given Visa started out under Bank of America[0].
If banks provided a crypto wallet that had all the benefits of regular accounts like direct deposit and FDIC insurance, which they might eventually do[1], I doubt many would hesitate to use it. The only barrier would be if using the crypto wallet presented a fee that Visa and the rest of the card industry loves to keep a secret by charging the merchant instead, with the merchant passing on those costs to the customer in the form of higher MSRPs.
0: https://minesafetydisclosures.com/blog/2019/5/29/part-l-a-history-of-visa
1: https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/what-is-a-central-bank-digital-currency.htm
Costco's revenue comes from their membership fees and their ability to strongarm suppliers to give them favorable terms (eg. Costco is one of the largest alcohol importers in the US and tends to strongarm LVMH).
I love Costco (I practically grew up at Costco as a kid), but their ICP is not the kind of person who shops at Dollar General or is on SNAP - it's very much targeted at the 50th percentile income bracket and above [0].
And this is why PE has taken over the dollar market segment - because it's a trash business that no one else wants to service over the long term. PE is basically the last resort if a business cannot raise capital from traditional avenues, and leadership and investors want to exit. For y'all graybeards think of "Sam Vimes Boots theory".
Mine Safety Disclosures did a great overview on Costco's operating model a couple years ago [1].
[0] - https://www.businessinsider.com/how-costco-sams-club-shoppers-differ-income-spending-habits-2025-3
[1] - https://minesafetydisclosures.com/blog/2018/6/18/costco
I'm actually a bit confused because I thought that predecessors to Visa would classify as the first credit cards in earnest.
This blog has an amazing history of Visa, as well as a very deep breakdown of its financials. Probably a very interesting read for anyone reading these comments.
https://minesafetydisclosures.com/blog/2019/5/29/part-l-a-history-of-visa
As a side note, my favorite writing on Costco being Costco is here: https://minesafetydisclosures.com/blog/2018/6/18/costco
I think this is the second part: http://minesafetydisclosures.com/blog/2019/7/23/part-ll-an-overview-of-visa
Part 2: http://minesafetydisclosures.com/blog/2019/7/23/part-ll-an-overview-of-visa