we don't take cheques any more

[aurelemsrealm]

My store has a Telecheck machine. It's pretty cool. They give us the check to process, and most of the time it's a painless procedure. We're not allowed to take starter checks per company policy, though. The check gets voided for electronic processing, and the receipt is printed on the back. The customer signs a slip like with a credit card, and it's done most of the time. Occasionally, we have to keep a check and endorse it for deposit. In that case, we just give them the printed slip indicating that the check will be deposited to serve as a receipt.

I used to work at a store where the ownership was too cheap to spring for a check verification system. I hated dealing with the check acceptance policy there: no checks below #500, driver's license number had to be on the check, no starter checks, blah, blah, blah... I constantly had to debate with SCs about one point or another of the check acceptance policy. The worst complainers were the ones constantly on the bad check list. I even had to call the police on one guy because he threatened to bring his drug buddies to catch me after work because I refused his check because it was on the bad check list. I told him he'd have to find another means of payment or I'd report him as a drive-off.

I never minded filling out checks for payment, personally. The only reason I don't bother with checks is that my wife has it most of the time. I do keep my own book of checks from our account for emergencies, but I don't want the confusion of getting checks out of sequence. I usually just use the card instead, and write the receipts in the checkbook at home later.

[Gabrielle Proctor]

I don't understand using a check for anything other than paying bills. Get a freakin' debit card people! The money clears almost immediately. Unlike a check.

I was using checks for a while because my dad doesn't trust debit(don't ask why cause I don't know), and I lost track of my balance. I called up the bank and they told me what it was, so I bought college books that I needed(very expensive). Two weeks later, I have overdrafted because some asshole waited a freaking month and a half to deposit a check I gave them!!!

[Andara Bledin]

I had my landlord wait 13 months before depositing any rent checks. We honestly feared he might have died or something. I had to figure out how many checks he had and subract it from my balance every time I checked it. Even so, I managed to be one off and had a whole host of things bounce when he finally cashed them all.

^-.-^

[Bella_Vixen]

I had my landlord wait 13 months before depositing any rent checks. We honestly feared he might have died or something. I had to figure out how many checks he had and subract it from my balance every time I checked it. Even so, I managed to be one off and had a whole host of things bounce when he finally cashed them all.

^-.-^

Just out of curiosity, why didn't you say anything after the first month?

[Broomjockey]

I had my landlord wait 13 months before depositing any rent checks.
^-.-^

I thought checks older than a year couldn't be cashed, as they were deemed expired, or something like that just to prevent that kind of situation.

[uknz76]

I havn't had a cheque book in 11 years.
We take less than 2 personal cheques a month at work.
Even cash is on the way out here, over 80% of our transactions are done electronically with Debit / Credit cards.

[GingerBiscuit]

Yeah, we make just under half of our transaction through credit/debit, if the banking is anything to go by. We frequently (smallish store) make around £4000 on an average day, and the times I take the cash to the bank, it's usually only around £2000.

ALthough I prefer taking cash. Much easier.
No impatient people sighing at me when the machine takes longer than half a second *shock*

[simplyanother]

I wrote a check today...for 2.34.
I had NO cash on me. Oh well, it was at Walmart, so I didn't have to do more than rip the check out and ...sign stuff.

At my work checks don't really take that much longer than credit card or debit transactions, because our machines are slow anyway.

Lately the only check people who'vebeen irritating me are the ones who get mad about ID AND the ones who linger in my way to balance their check book.

Gah.

[hawkchick11]

I rarely write checks anymore, mostly just for rent, paying my roommate for utilites and sometimes for bills, but I usually just pay those online.

My family is from a small town, and theres a few stores there that don't take debit or credit cards, so its either cash or check, and since I never carry cash, I get stuck writing a check.

I do think I'm going to start carrying my checkbook with me more often, because when I went to Target the other day, they were having problems with their debit/credit card machines, so it was just easier on the cashier if I wrote a check, instead of making her call my card in to get it authorized.

[Andara Bledin]

Just out of curiosity, why didn't you say anything after the first month?

Because he would usually wait three or four months to cash them, anyway. He just rented out the house (at half the going rate, I might add) for spare cash. He liked us because we didn't bother him, and we liked him because he didn't bother us. The checks went to a PO box, and I'm pretty sure he only checked it when his bank account was getting low. I still curse my brother for ruining everything, but the fact that he's out of my hair is such a blessing.

As for the landlord, we called and left messages (he never answered his phone), and he never returned them. I still don't know why he never answered the messages. My best guess is that he was travelling. He went camping and on long trips a lot, so I suspect that he was out of the area for an extended period.

I thought checks older than a year couldn't be cashed, as they were deemed expired, or something like that just to prevent that kind of situation.

In the US, from what I understand, checks never expire. So if you wrote a check 10 years ago and it never got cashed, and you close your bank account, you're still liable for that check. Of course, if someone tried to charge you for it, I doubt anything would come of it if you were willing to pay the amount on the face of the check. I'm not certain of the legality of checks that do have limits on them.

I do think I'm going to start carrying my checkbook with me more often, because when I went to Target the other day, they were having problems with their debit/credit card machines, so it was just easier on the cashier if I wrote a check, instead of making her call my card in to get it authorized.

I don't carry my check book. It's too much bulk. I just keep two checks in my wallet for when I need to use one. With how little I actually use them, and how convenient it is to get cash out at an ATM or as cash back on a transaction, two should cover any contingency that comes up.

^-.-^