Black Friday and Cyber Monday should be a moment of opportunity for America’s small businesses. The rush is real, the excitement is high, and customers are ready to shop. For many local shops and online sellers, this weekend can make or break their entire year.
But instead of riding the wave, countless small businesses are forced to fight against an outdated payments system that slows them down just when speed matters most.
They show up prepared – with inventory stocked, staff ready, deals planned – only to find the payments system acting like a bottleneck at the worst possible time.
When Sales Are Fast But Payments Are Slow
Black Friday and Cyber Monday happen in real time. Customers check out instantly. Orders flood in. Inventory sells out in minutes.
But in the U.S., the money from those sales doesn’t follow the same pace.
A business might have its best day of the year on Friday… but won’t see the cash until Monday, Tuesday, or even later because of holiday closures and settlement delays. That’s money they need immediately to restock popular items, ship orders, pay staff, and keep up with demand.
For larger retailers, it’s easier to navigate as many have bank arrangements, large lines of credit, and massive cash reserves.
For small businesses, it can be a crisis.
The Hidden Cash-Flow Crunch of the Holiday Rush
From the outside, customers see a hard-working entrepreneur smashing their holiday sales record.
What they don’t see is the work behind the scenes to keep up – not because they aren’t prepared, but because the money owed to them is stuck in the system.
- Card payments take days to settle
- Refunds and chargebacks move slowly
- Weekends and holidays freeze transfers
- Cash-flow delays mean missing restock opportunities and losing sales
During the biggest sales weekend of the year, the one thing small businesses don’t have is time. Yet the payment system steals exactly that.
A Better System Is Within Reach
To give small businesses a fair shot – not just on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but year-round – we need to modernize how money moves in America. That means:
- Real-time payments for everyone, not just major banks.
Small businesses deserve instant access to the money they earn. - More competition in the payments system.
Let more companies participate so innovation can finally speed things up. - A modern payments charter built for today’s technology.
New entrants shouldn’t have to navigate outdated rules designed before e-commerce even existed. - 24/7/365 payment settlement as the default.
Money shouldn’t stop moving just because the calendar says it’s a holiday weekend.
Let Small Businesses Win the Weekend
Black Friday and Cyber Monday fuel billions in sales, drive community commerce, and keep local businesses alive. But they can’t succeed if the payments system keeps holding their money hostage when they need it most.
It’s time to build a modern, competitive payments system that actually moves at the speed of the busiest shopping weekend of the year.
Small businesses are ready. Customers are ready. The technology is ready.
Now the payment system needs to catch up.
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