Why Are SME Accounts Receivables Like Video Ezy?

For those of us with a few more ‘experience points’ in life, you’ll remember the golden age of Video Ezy, or as we’ve rebranded it for this blog, Video Hard (you’ll soon see why).

If you had to Google what a VHS is, this blog might fast-forward straight over your head.

Let’s Rewind a Bit…

Video Ezy was founded in 1983, and at its peak, there were over 170 stores across New Zealand. Yet despite the “Ezy” in its name, the experience was far from easy. It was a necessary inconvenience, the price we paid for accessing movies at home before streaming existed.

And much like SME accounts receivables today, we just accepted it, because we had no other choice.

The “Video Hard” Experience

Here’s how a classic Friday night played out:

Drive 20 minutes to the nearest Video Ezy.
Spend 45 minutes wandering the aisles, trying to find something everyone agreed on.
Discover all 21 copies of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom had those dreaded red ‘Rented’ stickers. Hopes? Dashed. Dreams? Shattered.
Settle for a B-grade alternative, pay $7 for the privilege, and drive 20 minutes home.
Get comfortable, prep the popcorn, and press play, only to realise the last renter didn’t rewind the tape. So we waited another 5 minutes for the VCR to screech and whir like it was about to explode into a thousand Death Star-sized pieces.
Finally, enjoy 100 minutes of glorious 720×480 pixels.
Forget to return it on time. Panic. Drive another 20 minutes to drop it off before getting smacked with a late fee worth 3x the rental price.
While we’re there… might as well rent another one, right?

We were VHS zombie lemmings, leaping off the cliff of inefficiency, accepting a broken system because to us there was no alternative.

And, This Relates to SME Accounts Receivable… How?

First, let’s define Accounts Receivable in plain terms:

💰 Money your business is owed for work you’ve completed, but haven’t been paid for yet.

Sounds straightforward, right? But in reality, it’s as outdated, painful, and ridiculous as VHS rentals.

Here’s how it plays out for half a million NZ SMEs:

You do the job. The customer requested the work after all.
You pay upfront for materials, labour, insurance, rent, and overheads etc.
You send an invoice at the end of the month and wait until the 20th of the following month for payment.
If they can’t pay, you wait longer. You chase, chase, chase.
If they still don’t pay, tough luck. You write it off, use your overdraft, take out a business loan, or rack up interest on invoice financing.

This is not guaranteed payment.

This is not immediate payment.

This is madness.

The VHS-ification of Accounts Receivables

SMEs today accept these outdated doctrines as if they were carved into stone tablets:

❌ “Chasing payments is just part of doing business.”
❌ “Customers should pay me when they’re ready.”
❌ “I have no right to demand, expect, or secure payments upfront.”
❌ “It’s my job to finance my customers.“
❌ “I should be grateful for any business, even if I have to wait months to get paid.”

Why? We don’t expect to pay for petrol a month after filling up at BP. We don’t tell Air NZ, “I’ll pay for my flight when I feel like it. “So why do SMEs put up with it”?

IPromise = The Netflix of Payments

IPromise says enough is enough lets eject the status quo and freeze frame because:

✅ SMEs deserve to hold 50% of the payment power.
✅ Both parties should be protected. No more pirating.
✅ Customer payments should be secured before they receive the benefit, just like Countdown, BP and Air NZ.
✅ The 20th of the month is now as relevant today as twisting the tracking knob to get rid of the lines on your tv.
✅ Payment happens the moment the job is done.

Accounts Receivable, aged debtors, write-offs, and debt collection?

🚮 Straight to the recycling bin of history.