Advocacy

 
 
27 Mar

Visa, MasterCard Offer Retailers “Token” Relief in Antitrust Settlement

A proposed antitrust settlement announced Tuesday for Visa and Mastercard to reduce “swipe” fees charged to merchants to process credit card transactions would provide “very small relief” and does not end the need for Congress to pass legislation, the Merchants Payments Coalition (MPC) said.

 

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20 Mar
ABFE

This Week in Book Challenges

Here is an update on the latest book challenges for the week of March 20, 2024.

 

 

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20 Mar
ABFE

Celebrate the Trans Rights Readathon 2024: March 22–29

Rebecca Skyhart and KC Norton are part of the volunteer leadership team of the Trans Rights Readathon. Rebecca is a co-owner of the Be Yourself Bookshop. KC is an author. Learn more about the Trans Rights Readathon and find their tools and graphics on their website

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ABA is committed to making a difference in the lives of its members. Through direct engagement in political and trade-related efforts comes change and progress—improved publisher trade terms; the adoption of sales tax fairness laws and resolutions; minimum wage; access to capital; overtime rules; increased consumer awareness of shopping locally; and governmental activity on behalf of small businesses.

Toward that end, ABA has created a number of toolkits to help booksellers advocate to their lawmakers. Most recently, ABA launched the AdvoKit (Advocacy Action Kit), a state-specific toolkit that provides booksellers with template letters on a range of key policy issues affecting independent booksellers. Under each state, the AdvoKit provides template letters that booksellers can use to reach out to both state and federal lawmakers and officials. Each letter can be used for a number of key policy issues. The letters also serve as a way for booksellers 

 

Small Business Issues

ABA has created this continuously updated Advocacy Action Kit (AdvoKit) to help independent booksellers advocate on any number of issues, from minimum wage, access to capital, and e-fairness to overtime rules.

Small Business Rising

ABA has joined with Small Business Rising, a coalition of small businesses formed in 2021 that urges policymakers to rein in monopoly power and level the playing field that has allowed monopolies like Amazon to amass outsized power and influence.

Economic Impact & Local First

 The Stepping Stone to Monopoly is the ABA Advocacy Division’s latest white paper detailing Amazon’s anticompetitive behavior. While the previous white papers focused on Amazon’s impact on different markets, the latest focuses exclusively on the bookselling and publishing markets.

Read white paper ›

This year’s Civic Economics report, Unfulfilled: Amazon and the American Retail Landscape, includes studies which provide the opportunity to build a deep understanding of how Amazon affects small businesses and communities across the nation, and how those impacts have changed over the years.

No Amazon Monopoly

ABA believes that Amazon is a modern-day monopoly. Its abuse of its dominance has had a negative impact on free expression and the health of America’s book industry, including a chilling effect on the diversity of, and access to, books and information. ABA is bringing that argument to Congress and to state attorneys general, and are asking booksellers to make the case.

Free Expression – ABFE

 

Visit the ABFE and Free Speech page by clicking here.

 

About ABA

The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.

Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.

Contact

PRESS INQUIRIES: [email protected]

INDIECOMMERCE: [email protected]

ALL OTHER INQUIRIES: [email protected]

 

 

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