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CoverStory
Allen Kopelman Justin Milmeister
Nationwide Payment Systems Inc. CPPElite Merchant Solutions
1. The shut down was particularly 1. Our business did not suffer anything material during the government
bad for anyone who needed to get a shutdown. As bad as it was for government workers to be forced to work without
replacement for their Federal Tax ID a paycheck for so long – appalling to say the least – it sounds insensitive to even
number and replacement letters for say our business wasn't materially affected, but that is the reality. I believe we
SS-4. The economy is very strong in weren't materially affected due in large part to the verticals we focus on as a
many sectors. If your ISO is heavy in company.
retail and restaurant, maybe you saw
slower sales in those areas. I don't 2. I don't see any long-term impacts on our business due to the government's
think the government shutdown partial shutdown unless there's another, lengthier shutdown, which is a
caused a huge panic in the general possibility. Banking and lending depend on communications with the Treasury
public. We had a couple of clients to operate smoothly. If the flow of money/lending is disrupted, everyone will
who get paid by the government, and be impacted.
they did very low volume.
3. We did not employ any actions at our firm during this time.
2. I don't see a long-term impact from
the government shut down. 4. We haven't made plans related to future government shutdowns.
3. We didn't have to do much. We just 5. Ownership and management need to keep a pulse on internal and external
kept chugging along, and when we factors that can impact their business. Certainly, I would recommend not
could not get some documentation, putting your eggs in one basket, so to speak, with respect to your merchant
we were able to get the processor to concentration or services offered.
wait on getting EIN verification.
4. No plans – I'm not anticipating
anything in the near future
5. Make sure you have a good
relationship with your processor so
you can get deals done.
I think the government shutdown
was blown out of proportion by the
media, and it wasn't as bad as it was
made out to be. Starving workers,
etc. There have been numerous
shutdowns: Clinton shut down the
government for five and 21 days,
Obama closed the government for
16 days, an estimated 800,000 worker
were furloughed, which caused more
of catastrophe at the time because
many essential government services
were closed, and that caused a huge
issue with IRS and federal tax ID
numbers (EIN) and Social Security
where – besides government workers
– many people in the public were not
getting Social Security checks and
other government checks.
The media has been more polarizing
in the last couple of years, and how
things spread through social media
makes things look a lot worse then
they really are or were.
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