Check Problems

Let's talk about checks.

My store has the right to refuse any check for any reason whatsoever. You do NOT have the right to argue with me about whether I can take your check or not. I don't care if the check is good or not. I don't care if you have "thousands of dollars" in your account. If your check does not meet our policies, then I'm NOT TAKING IT. Because if I do take it in violation of our policies, if it turns out to be bad then I'm responsible for the amount. Do you think I want to risk paying for your expensive item? NO. I don't know why our check approval system isn't taking your check. I can make a good guess, though. Do you really want me to tell you (and the customers standing behind you) the reason? OK, it's probably because you write bad checks, or less likely, you've written too many checks this week.

If you have what we commonly call a "starter check," then I can't even run it through my approval system. Your name isn't printed on the check by the bank, so I can't compare it to your ID, so I'm opening up my store to probable fraud if I accept it. No, you handwriting your name on the check isn't good enough. THE BANK must print it.

Then there are the little old ladies who haven't grasped the concept of a debit card. Maybe they don't have a debit card. Fine. I explain that our system can print their check for them, requiring only their signature, yet they take 2-3 minutes to write it out in their shaky handwriting, asking questions the whole time. "What's the date? Where am I? How do you spell that? How much is it again? How much? What's the cents?" If you don't know the date or where you are, then perhaps you shouldn't be allowed out in public without someone to help you!

Then there are the bitches who, when I hand their check back to them and ask them to sign the electronic check slip, say, "You could have told me that you were just going to give the check back! Now I've wasted a check." No, you haven't wasted it, you just paid for something. I get yelled at either way.......If I say, "We have electronic checking so if you have a debit card that's faster," the customer says, "So? What, I can't write a check anymore?" But if I DON'T tell them about the electronic checking, I get the other extreme. (Of course we have signs. People don't/can't read.) I mean, practically everywhere takes debit cards these days, especially the ones with the Visa or Mastercard backing.

Checks are the thing of the past. I've written TWO checks in the last YEAR. Otherwise I use credit cards, online bill pay, and sometimes cash. Get with the program, people. There is NO NEED to use a check to pay in a retail store. When you pull out your checkbook the cashier groans, knowing that she could have been finished with 3 customers in the time you take to pay by check. You're costing us money because of how much time you take. Join the new century. Use other forms of payment.