Today’s links Fintech bullies stole your kid’s lunch money: Taking 60 cents out of every reduced-lunch public school dollar. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2004, 2009, 2019, 2023 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I’ve been. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. Fintech bullies stole your kid’s lunch money (permalink) Three companies control the market for school lunch payments. They take as much as 60 cents out of every dollar poor kids’ parents put into the system to the tune of $100m/year. They’re literally stealing poor kids’ lunch money. In its latest report, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau describes this scam in eye-watering, blood-boiling detail: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_costs-of-electronic-payment-in-k-12-schools-issue-spotlight_2024-07.pdf The report samples 16.7m K-12 students in 25k schools. It finds that schools are racing to go cashless, with 87% contracting with payment processors to handle cafeteria transactions. Three processors dominate the sector: Myschoolbucks, Schoolcafé, and Linq Connect. These aren’t credit card processors (most students don’t have credit cards). Instead, they let kids set up an account, like a prison commissary account, that their families load up with cash. And, as with prison commissary accounts, every time a loved one adds cash to the account, the processor takes a giant whack out of them with junk fees: https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/14/minnesota-nice/#shitty-technology-adoption-curve If you’re the parent of a kid who is eligible for a reduced-price lunch (that is, if you are poor),…Pluralistic: Fintech bullies stole your kid's lunch money (26 Jul 2024)