Tech giant cuts off services to Columbia (CA)bookstore

The Modesto Bee ^ | January 23, 2021 | Marijke Rowland

[keat]

During the Gold Rush era it celebrates, the owners of Columbia Booksellers & Variety Store might settle their disputes with dueling pistols at dawn.

But today, non-firing replicas of the very kinds of guns that would have been brandished during that time period appear to be at the center of a dispute between the small locally owned Tuolumne County shop and major San Francisco tech company Square, Inc.

The store had to close both its physical location in Columbia State Historic Park and its online website sales due to the tech giant abruptly canceling its contract earlier this week. Now its husband-and-wife owners are scrambling to find a way to reopen.

[doc maverick]

This is against the law.
They need to sue.
Is big tech trying to start a war or what?

[Zhang Fei]

Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO, is also Square’s CEO.

[ought-six]

And they call conservatives fascists!

[ArcadeQuarters]

Competing with big tech isn’t a tech problem. It’s a payment processing problem.

[frogjerk]

Dump credit cards. Use cash or barter if you have to. I understand you want to sell stuff online but it’s probably not worth it anymore. Too much baggage and having to play by leftists rules.

[realcleanguy]

Fascism is in the form of big tech companies now. Amazing. Tech companies from the San Francisco Bay are the leaders of the Fascist movement

[Reno89519]

Laws should protect businesses from this type of anti-commerce, political bias. We cannot go back to cash only, so use of credit cards, use of banking, should be protected from all bias.

[DoughtyOne]

I believe there is a law against hampering interstate trade.

I wonder if that would be applicable.

[BiglyCommentary]

An easy civil case to win. The store did not in fact violate any of the terms of service. Expect SQ to settle out of court.

[AndyJackson]

Half the country are conservatives. There is a huuuge business opportunity to pick up the slack from these would be monopolists who don't want business from at least 1/2 of the country. Maybe they will lose business from the other half as well.

I want my service providers for everything focused on providing the best possible service at a competitive price, not focused on political correctness either liberal or conservative.

[max americana]

“Half the country are conservatives.”
****

MORE. 80 million FACTUALLY voted for Trump. And quit being a nice guy to leftards. Hate them as much as you can as they wont show any mercy on us..

I’ve said it for 20 years on FR: we CANNOT co-exist with liberals and Dummycraps. In order for the country to survive, one side has to “go”..

[beef]

There are certainly payment processors who will take their business. Sportsman’s Guide still takes credit cards and sells all kinds of real guns and ammo, not to mention replicas. The should be able to switch to another processor. What need to happen is an information campaign letting retailers know just how arbitrary and capricious Square’s policies are and that they need to change now before they get caught up in some Silicon Valley PC madness. This should be a Superbowl commercial for an upstart.

[TheDon]

Agreed.

[marktwain]

Facebook now has two Senators from Georgia, and a President.

[Hambone 1934]

I’m with you..Have always believed in scorched earth policy when it came to dem party and the abortion movement....

[KosmicKitty]

Is big tech trying to start a war or what?

Well, yes they are. They're all China's b!****.

Next question.

[KosmicKitty]

Oops, forgot the “/” in that second “I tag”

My bad

[Hambone 1934]

Didn’t the small telephone companies win against MA BELL for refusing to allow them to traffic on bell’s lines???I remember some big deal that the small phone companies won....

[Steve_Seattle]

"There was no warnings, they did not call us to say, ‘Hey I think you might be in violation.’ There was nothing,” said Michael Sharps, who co-owns the store with his wife, Rosanna. “They just shut it down and said the decision is not reversible.”

This is straight out of Kafka's book "The Trial," in which the protagonist is arrested without being told what his crime was or who made the complaint against him. This sort of thing is becoming a common practice with Big Tech.