Opinion: what do you think?

[Jennasis]

Time Traveler!!!!

Do you write checks at the grocery store and use a flip phone as well?

Note: All said in jest. I don't care if people use checks, accept cash, or have a flip phone. I do think that when I see someone writing a check at the grocery store or Walmart that they are a person out of time, especially if they are under 60.

I do write checks at the grocery store..and the feed store...and our hay supplier...and the vet....and the farrier and so on. No I do not have a flip phone.

I also don't care what you or anyone thinks. It works for our business right now. We change as needed.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

I still use cash when possible. Part of it is I’m just afraid with student loan debt still being an issue for me. But I always make sure to have both cash and cards on me. Because sometimes you never know.

 

[Lilsia]

All the time spent handling cash is time that could be spent doing something else that makes money.

If a manager or owner is spending hours a day handling cash, that is hours a day they are not moving their business forward.

That is what makes it a hidden cost.

It's not hours a day for a small business. IT is obvious none of you have worked in a small business. I worked in a locally owned cafe for 15 years. It took the manager about 20 minutes to do "bank" in the morning and the night manager about 15 minutes. And trust me, they would not be doing anything productive to make money during that time, they would be sitting their butts in the office. This work is usually done after hours or in the early morning, when there it is slow. You are all stretching this way too much.

 

[Lilsia]

A lot of small business owners simply don't have or want to spend the time handling cash. My hairdresser owns his salon. He works like 12-14 hour days, with clients back to back. He literally does not have time to carve out bank trips and counting money. To do so would literally cost him money because he could be doing a client's hair instead for $130/cut. Even an hour a day spent dealing with cash would be income lost for him.

Not wanting to is completely different then it "costing" them too much. And I don't think that we are talking about someone in this situation. We are talking about place like small restaurants and shops.

 

[DLgal]

Not wanting to is completely different then it "costing" them too much. And I don't think that we are talking about someone in this situation. We are talking about place like small restaurants and shops.

We are taking about ALL small businesses. And the reason they "don't want to" is because it would cost too much!

 

[DVC-Don]

Just bought Legoland tickets for us and the grandson. Stated on the website and on the tickets I printed off: "LEGOLAND Florida Resort is CASHLESS. We accept all major credit cards and major contactless payments".

 

[tvguy]

It's not hours a day for a small business. IT is obvious none of you have worked in a small business. I worked in a locally owned cafe for 15 years. It took the manager about 20 minutes to do "bank" in the morning and the night manager about 15 minutes. And trust me, they would not be doing anything productive to make money during that time, they would be sitting their butts in the office. This work is usually done after hours or in the early morning, when there it is slow. You are all stretching this way too much.

Been a long time since I worked with a cash drawer, but when I worked at Budget Rent A Car we had to reconcile the cash drawer AND the credit cards sales every day, so credit cards were just as much work. We were a Downtown location and a huge percentage of our business was with people had no car, or an unreliable car and no credit card and they would rent every weekend with a cash deposit. They had to be pre-approved by the boss to do a cash deposit, but they were about half our customers on a weekend.

 

[tvguy]

I do write checks at the grocery store..and the feed store...and our hay supplier...and the vet....and the farrier and so on. No I do not have a flip phone.

I also don't care what you or anyone thinks. It works for our business right now. We change as needed.

My daughter is 30 and bought a house two years ago and had to order paper checks for her checking account because so many of the services she needed were provided by sole proprietors who only accepted cash or check. Painters, fencing, appliance repair people. And apparently they have all the work they can handle without accepting plastic.

 

[mrodgers]

Time Traveler!!!!



Do you write checks at the grocery store and use a flip phone as well?

Note: All said in jest. I don't care if people use checks, accept cash, or have a flip phone. I do think that when I see someone writing a check at the grocery store or Walmart that they are a person out of time, especially if they are under 60.

My ex writes checks in the grocery store all the time because she's still stuck on the fact that they still process it as a check and goes grocery shopping on Wednesdays for that coming up Friday's paycheck. I could never get her to get switched to paying with last Friday's paycheck and she still does it. She writes the check on Wednesday knowing it won't show up on the account until Monday.

 

[_19disnA]

For small purchases I prefer to use cash. At a carpet store recently they offered a discount if you paid using something other then a credit card so I wrote them a check. Just depends on the store. Still use credit card if a larger purchase since I don't carry large amounts of cash around. I really don't care what someone else does/doesn't do. If the store accepts cash/checks/credit/debit cards is their choice on how they want to run their business. I am there to shop not to analyze their accounting procedures.

 

[soccerdad72]

Just bought Legoland tickets for us and the grandson. Stated on the website and on the tickets I printed off: "LEGOLAND Florida Resort is CASHLESS. We accept all major credit cards and major contactless payments".

We went to the US - Costa Rica Men's Soccer game on Wednesday night and it was the first stadium I've been in (not that I've been to any others in the past two years ) that was cashless. They did have machines by the entrances that allowed fans to put cash in and get a card back.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Painters, fencing, appliance repair people. And apparently they have all the work they can handle without accepting plastic.

My step-father-in-law many of his clients (he's an insurance agent) he hires for odd jobs (like landscaping, painting, small home construction projects, etc) deals with cash but that is normally for different reasons like not having a bank account. They don't deal with checks.

Now aside from that if you're talking about referrals you got off Nextdoor or ones who left a flyer on your door or are advertising on a sign somewhere none of them are cash or check only in my area or I have yet to find one that has. They may accept those payment methods but none I have run into prohibit cards.

Your local handyperson is likely going to accept as many payment options as they can especially these days.

 

[tvguy]

Your local handyperson is likely going to accept as many payment options as they can especially these days.

No currently they won't. I had to wait 7 months for an open slot to get my fence replaced. Home repair folks are swamped.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My ex writes checks in the grocery store all the time because she's still stuck on the fact that they still process it as a check and goes grocery shopping on Wednesdays for that coming up Friday's paycheck. I could never get her to get switched to paying with last Friday's paycheck and she still does it. She writes the check on Wednesday knowing it won't show up on the account until Monday.

Interesting. It's been many years since that's been the case for most financial institutions when dealing with businesses. People used to write checks because it would take a while for the place to cash it thus often giving them a tad bit more time.

Wal-Mart for instances runs your check through their machine immediately and hands it back to you. The only lag in time is for when they close out the transactions but that's the same if you pay by card where it may not show up as pending on your account for a day to two or three.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

No currently they won't. I had to wait 7 months for an open slot to get my fence replaced. Home repair folks are swamped.

You realize I'm talking about not during a dang pandemic?? Of course I'm talking about generally speaking. Your comment was your daughter's contractors she had hired 2 years ago (pre-pandemic) had enough business to not take cards. Generally speaking a person these days is going to accept as many methods of payment as they can. If you find one that won't and they only accept cash or check they are an outlier (such as my step-father-in-law's clients who don't have bank accounts they are outliers).

We've had our roof gutters cleaned out several times. You pay online and don't even see the roof gutter cleaners. They'll send you photos when they are done. Random example but have yet to run into a company who does that who only takes cash or check.

 

[Jennasis]

My daughter is 30 and bought a house two years ago and had to order paper checks for her checking account because so many of the services she needed were provided by sole proprietors who only accepted cash or check. Painters, fencing, appliance repair people. And apparently they have all the work they can handle without accepting plastic.

I do indeed. A waiting list a mile long. Can't remember the last time anyone even asked me if we accept credit/debit cards. I should probably tell them they could pay me in Disney gift cards though! That I ccould use!

 

[wenrob]

My ex writes checks in the grocery store all the time because she's still stuck on the fact that they still process it as a check and goes grocery shopping on Wednesdays for that coming up Friday's paycheck. I could never get her to get switched to paying with last Friday's paycheck and she still does it. She writes the check on Wednesday knowing it won't show up on the account until Monday.

They don’t run the check through the reader to tap your account and hand the check back? My sister used to play Russian Roulette with checks like that. Man was she bent when they got the readers and she couldn’t do that anymore. The last time I remember writing a check at Walmart (at least 15 years ago) I didn’t even have to sign it.

 

[Lilsia]

duplicate

 

[wenrob]

You realize I'm talking about not during a dang pandemic?? Of course I'm talking about generally speaking. Your comment was your daughter's contractors she had hired 2 years ago (pre-pandemic) had enough business to not take cards. Generally speaking a person these days is going to accept as many methods of payment as they can. If you find one that won't and they only accept cash or check they are an outlier (such as my step-father-in-law's clients who don't have bank accounts they are outliers).

We've had our roof gutters cleaned out several times. You pay online and don't even see the roof gutter cleaners. They'll send you photos when they are done. Random example but have yet to run into a company who does that who only takes cash or check.

I will say most who work on the side prefer cash or check. So for instance when the water heater leaked into my DD’s room the plumber, guys who ripped out the walls and the guys who repaired them all took my card. When I asked that contractor if he had guys who could come do the floor and baseboards (unrelated to the leak) they wanted cash. I knew they would as that has been my experience as a homeowner over the last 30 or so years. Bigger, well known will take just about any payment. Smaller, more independent “on the side” prefer cash.

 

[tvguy]

I do indeed. A waiting list a mile long. Can't remember the last time anyone even asked me if we accept credit/debit cards. I should probably tell them they could pay me in Disney gift cards though! That I ccould use!

I have an update. My wife this afternoon is looking at getting bids for some landscaping work. Two of the firms she called CHARGE for estimates. One charges $75, the other $50.