There isn't anything stopping them from refunding everyone but they very well may lack the ability to automatically do it because they are poorly organized. Back when Null cancelled the GFM for Chris there wasn't an automated process and he had to go through customer service to cancel it. Sounded like they had to manually process everything. But they didn't require people to opt in and they didn't steal the funds. This is clearly set up to funnel money away from as many people as possible by keeping them in the dark. For those who do ask for their money back it'll be tied for several days at least, perhaps long enough that the protest will be over before it can be resent.
Nah, they absolutely can automatically refund everybody. They just don't want to. "Float" is free revenue they don't want to give up by issuing refunds right away. The funds they collect sit in interest-earning bank accounts. It may only amount to 0.5% APY, but even at that low yield just that $9 million alone (that they collected but haven't disbursed solely for this specific campaign) is earning them $123 per day by just sitting there. Literally free money. Why give that up with quick refunds when you can keep most of it rolling for a couple of weeks, only end up having to give back some modest portion of it, and let the rest float some more while you hmmm and hawww about which charity is "worthy" of your ill-begotten gains then eventually send the money along to them at a snail's pace later?
Not to mention the fact that fucking
everything finance-related is designed to get the money out of
your wallet as quickly as possible when you owe it, and begrudgingly creep into your wallet at a snail's pace when you're owed. Buy something at walmart and that shit posts
instantly to your debit or credit card (the actual "funds sweep" may take a few days but they sure as shit make certain you can't touch that money anymore). Go back and return it for a refund and notice how long it takes them to finally get around to sending the money back to your account again. Days, sometimes weeks.
I care more about the convoy surviving and not running away. I know everyone wants to stay, but having a "was chest" never hurts.
GFM can be dealt with later, you have about 3 months after paying the bill on your credit card statement, so even if people are completely lost on this info, they'll find out about it soon. In fact, it'll probably just be front page news Monday night that "extremist in Ottawa" closed GFM, causing a Streisand to alternatives.
I feel like this has been covered a dozen times by now, but these guys asked for $100k, received $1 million (actually disbursed) and another $9 million (that's now been stolen). They weren't expecting a million bucks. They figured on a tenth of that. Not to mention they've got farmers and locals (apart from the snooty liberal whiners) supporting them.
And they lawyered up the moment the first million landed in their laps.
They'll be fine.
Do they understand they truck goods in, and out? Or what it takes to be able to legally drive a tractor-trailer? She is really quite stupid.
Nope! They have no clue how the world works outside their little bubbles. She undoubtedly thinks truckers are as easily replaceable as people like herself are. The blue-collar trades really are a mystery wrapped in an enigma to these people. They're consistently baffled by the fact that people can perform highly-skilled technical labor at extraordinarily high rates of pay, complete with regulations and certifications in industries that gatekeep based on skill and experience, etc., all without going to college first. She only understands "Mexican slave wager" and "office drone." Everything else is foreign to her.
