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OT - I hate writing checks

greenbean.sixpack

greenbean.sixpack

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Oct 6, 2012
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My bug man, SxS guy, foot plot man and older family members only take cash or checks. WTF? I hate writing checks. I'm old enough to remember when you had to write your tag number on checks and retailers would post ISF checks on the back of the cash registers for all to see.

The ol' lady tells me "kiting" isn't a thing any more, that was the only redeeming quality of checks.
 
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greenbean.sixpack

greenbean.sixpack

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Oct 6, 2012
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dorndawg said:
I like it far more than somebody who only takes Venzelle or whatever the hell fad-of-the-day app is for paying people via the internet.

With that being said, I've maybe written 3 checks this year.
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I've written three this week :(
 
ETK99

ETK99

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Jul 30, 2019
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greenbean.sixpack said:
My bug man, SxS guy, foot plot man and older family members only take cash or checks. WTF? I hate writing checks. I'm old enough to remember when you had to write your tag number on checks and retailers would post ISF checks on the back of the cash registers for all to see.

The ol' lady tells me "kiting" isn't a thing any more, that was the only redeeming quality of checks.
Click to expand...
Saves you that 3% and tip requests
 
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DAWGSANDSAINTS

DAWGSANDSAINTS

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Oct 10, 2022
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greenbean.sixpack said:
My bug man, SxS guy, foot plot man and older family members only take cash or checks. WTF? I hate writing checks. I'm old enough to remember when you had to write your tag number on checks and retailers would post ISF checks on the back of the cash registers for all to see.

The ol' lady tells me "kiting" isn't a thing any more, that was the only redeeming quality of checks.
Click to expand...
👎👎
 
dawgstudent

dawgstudent

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Apr 15, 2003
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And order checks from Costco or Wal-Mart. I finally started doing that a few years ago and I got like 500 checks for $10. I've probably written 50 in the past 5 years. Ordering from the bank directly for your checks was ridiculous. It was like $25 for 100 checks.
 
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TimberBeast

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Aug 23, 2012
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There's a restaurant here that only takes cash or checks. I've seen so many people walk up to the door, see the sign "Cash or Check Only", turn around, get back in the car and drive off. It's so dumb.
 
greenbean.sixpack

greenbean.sixpack

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Oct 6, 2012
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TimberBeast said:
There's a restaurant here that only takes cash or checks. I've seen so many people walk up to the door, see the sign "Cash or Check Only", turn around, get back in the car and drive off. It's so dumb.
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Gibbs in Learned is like that.

There was a restaurant in Philly (Peggys?) that operated on a cash basis. There was a big bowl you put your money in and you made your won change.
 
Maroon Eagle

Maroon Eagle

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I write checks only to my dentist because he accepts them and also imposes a credit/debit card surcharge.
 
mcdawg22

mcdawg22

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Sep 18, 2004
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Kitind is absolutely still a thing. Not every merchant or FI uses Check21.
 
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BulldogBlitz

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TimberBeast said:
There's a restaurant here that only takes cash or checks. I've seen so many people walk up to the door, see the sign "Cash or Check Only", turn around, get back in the car and drive off. It's so dumb.
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I could do that with my store, the problem. Is a couple of fold. This little corner of the Augusta area doesn't bother to read signs, and if they do, they don't believe it applies to them. The other is, people will try to use a credit card for a single copy (0.15), and are baffled why I would not take a card.
 
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Villagedawg

Villagedawg

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Nov 16, 2005
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TimberBeast said:
There's a restaurant here that only takes cash or checks. I've seen so many people walk up to the door, see the sign "Cash or Check Only", turn around, get back in the car and drive off. It's so dumb.
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Still several old school places in Tupelo that are cash only. I make a special trip to the atm. They are that good, or at least nostalgic for me.
 
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ronpolk

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May 6, 2009
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TimberBeast said:
There's a restaurant here that only takes cash or checks. I've seen so many people walk up to the door, see the sign "Cash or Check Only", turn around, get back in the car and drive off. It's so dumb.
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I’m amazed businesses prefer to take checks. I get the fee but there is also no risk of a NSF and having to make a trip to the bank to cash the check. I could understand a business offering a cash discount but the card is an expense that seems worth paying for.
 
karlchilders.sixpack

karlchilders.sixpack

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ronpolk said:
I’m amazed businesses prefer to take checks. I get the fee but there is also no risk of a NSF and having to make a trip to the bank to cash the check. I could understand a business offering a cash discount but the card is an expense that seems worth paying for.
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Some type of fraud is a possibility, but, now they can immediately check to see if the check is good.
There used to be a bad check division run by the state, it's not needed anymore.
 
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bulldoghair

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Jul 9, 2013
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TimberBeast said:
There's a restaurant here that only takes cash or checks. I've seen so many people walk up to the door, see the sign "Cash or Check Only", turn around, get back in the car and drive off. It's so dumb.
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They’re probably driving off to get cash and come back. It’s not dumb if it’s working out just fine for the owners.
 
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PooPopsBaldHead

PooPopsBaldHead

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ronpolk said:
I’m amazed businesses prefer to take checks. I get the fee but there is also no risk of a NSF and having to make a trip to the bank to cash the check. I could understand a business offering a cash discount but the card is an expense that seems worth paying for.
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I agree. I have a mom and pop pizza joint.

I took $111k in payments last month. $11k in cash, $400 in checks, and $99,600 in credit/debit cards.

I paid +/- $3,000 in credit card fees on 2084 card transactions. For those fees I get a super robust POS system that saves me 10-20 hours a week in administrative work. I keep a few hundred dollars in cash on the premises vs $10,000 on a busy Friday night. I save 2 hours a day in cash and check counting/banking activities. I get to offer online ordering to customers that generated $40,000 in business at no extra charge for me. No NSF fees and much less risk of petty theft from employees.

My POS system is completely free because the company (Toast) gets to process my credit card fees at a discount to the bank no less. Toast is my single best employee and costs me half as much per month as my 2nd best employee.

I might offer a credit/debit discount before I ever considered one for cash or check... And our credit card tips average 14% vs less than 8% for cash. So that's an extra $6k my employees made for the month.
 
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ronpolk

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PooPopsBaldHead said:
I agree. I have a mom and pop pizza joint.

I took $111k in payments last month. $11k in cash, $400 in checks, and $99,600 in credit/debit cards.

I paid +/- $3,000 in credit card fees on 2084 card transactions. For those fees I get a super robust POS system that saves me 10-20 hours a week in administrative work. I keep a few hundred dollars in cash on the premises vs $10,000 on a busy Friday night. I save 2 hours a day in cash and check counting/banking activities. I get to offer online ordering to customers that generated $40,000 in business at no extra charge for me. No NSF fees and much less risk of petty theft from employees.

My POS system is completely free because the company (Toast) gets to process my credit card fees at a discount to the bank no less. Toast is my single best employee and costs me half as much per month as my 2nd best employee.

I might offer a credit/debit discount before I ever considered one for cash or check... And our credit card tips average 14% vs less than 8% for cash. So that's an extra $6k my employees made for the month.
Click to expand...
Business owner that gets it.
 
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patdog

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May 28, 2007
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PooPopsBaldHead said:
I agree. I have a mom and pop pizza joint.

I took $111k in payments last month. $11k in cash, $400 in checks, and $99,600 in credit/debit cards.

I paid +/- $3,000 in credit card fees on 2084 card transactions. For those fees I get a super robust POS system that saves me 10-20 hours a week in administrative work. I keep a few hundred dollars in cash on the premises vs $10,000 on a busy Friday night. I save 2 hours a day in cash and check counting/banking activities. I get to offer online ordering to customers that generated $40,000 in business at no extra charge for me. No NSF fees and much less risk of petty theft from employees.

My POS system is completely free because the company (Toast) gets to process my credit card fees at a discount to the bank no less. Toast is my single best employee and costs me half as much per month as my 2nd best employee.

I might offer a credit/debit discount before I ever considered one for cash or check... And our credit card tips average 14% vs less than 8% for cash. So that's an extra $6k my employees made for the month.
Click to expand...
Yeah. If you’re not taking credit cards, you’re extremely short sighted & losing sales. I have a client that pays 6 figures in credit card fees. Best move they’ve made in years to take credit cards. Increased sales & massive reduction in bad debt expense dwarfs the fees. Still trying to talk them into charging at least a 1% convenience fee.
 
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IBleedMaroonDawg

IBleedMaroonDawg

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Nov 12, 2007
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We either deal in electronic or cash. I am unable to write anymore because of my nerve issues and my wife is having a tough time writing anything other than printing her name since her "light" stroke a few months ago. Luckily, at her job, she just has to initial most of the time.
 
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Motodawg

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Apr 19, 2018
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I take just about every form of payment I’ve ever heard of for my business. I pass the 3% off to the card holder but had a customer recently pitch a ***** about it. Granted, the same guy tried to hustle me the entire time I was working at his house, was dishonest about trying to make repairs himself to get me to warranty things I had done, and was passive aggressive as hell. Other than him, and one other lady last week, I’ve had no issues. Said lady ended up using her card, anyway, but she did mention the fee and hesitate. I’ve had customers straight up stiff me, but I’ve yet to receive a bad check and I get them a lot. Not even sure what I would do if it happened, to be honest.

I say all of this to say, most of my invoices are paid electronically. If you aren’t accepting cards and the trendy electronic money sending apps in 2024, you are literally turning away business. Cash is awesome, but cash purchases don’t get wrote off without keeping receipts. Cashless society is already here. Anybody that says otherwise isn’t drinking beer or eating popcorn at Davis Wade.
 
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Herbert Nenninger

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Feb 9, 2019
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I’ve written checks for lots of fun things… wrasslin’ tickets, shellacked gourds, air guitar lessons, David Hasselhoff poster. And of course, the occasional sexual favors. When I was in grad school, a bank teller at my bank would call me “ ‘scary sock puppet’ guy”.
 
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maroontide06

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Dec 14, 2023
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greenbean.sixpack said:
Gibbs in Learned is like that.

There was a restaurant in Philly (Peggys?) that operated on a cash basis. There was a big bowl you put your money in and you made your won change.
Click to expand...
Back when Don’s was open here in Picayune it was cash or check only, but he had an ATM machine in the restaurant.
 
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maroontide06

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Dec 14, 2023
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Frostop is still cash only and they still total the bill up by head. They don’t have a calculator and the cash register is just there to hold cash.
 
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bulldoghair

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Jul 9, 2013
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TimberBeast said:
They’re not. The idiot actually put an atm in the restaurant
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Well then why drive off? And I’m sure the owner doesn’t care. There are a few restaurants around where I live that it’s known to take cash. They make their living off referral and repeat customers. If you’re referring of course you’re going to mention this detail. And if you’re repeat then you already know. If you don’t like it, then you can go eat McDonald’s with Desota.
 
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bulldoghair

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Jul 9, 2013
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patdog said:
Yeah. If you’re not taking credit cards, you’re extremely short sighted & losing sales. I have a client that pays 6 figures in credit card fees. Best move they’ve made in years to take credit cards. Increased sales & massive reduction in bad debt expense dwarfs the fees. Still trying to talk them into charging at least a 1% convenience fee.
Click to expand...
Depends on the type of business and they type of customer base where you live. I know certain businesses that actually did the opposite. Once used card machine and then did away with it. If you’re in straight retail or whatever I get the benefit of what you’re saying. But if you’re a repeat business with a great customer base then why fool with it.
 
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bulldoghair

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Jul 9, 2013
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Motodawg said:
Cashless society is already here. Anybody that says otherwise isn’t drinking beer or eating popcorn at Davis Wade.
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A cashless society means no cash. Zero. Davis Wade does not set the bar. In fact I’d argue that they lose some business on beer and popcorn.
 
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eckie1

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Jun 23, 2007
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I doubt I write more than 5 checks a year. And as little as I write, I have to write slowly to make sure my cursive will still be legible.

I avoid having cash on me like a mofo. I have friends that will pay me back for game tickets with cash, and I’m like “thaaaanks”. One of my buddies grabbed his closing costs in cash, got followed and had it stolen within a few minutes. I’m all about a cashiers check at that point, and I get them for free at my bank along with free checks.

All this said, I fully realize the perils of what a truly cashless society could mean. We are lost definitely being led this way right now. But, it’s so damn convenient!
 
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