How about some money order madness?

[aurelemsrealm]

We sell Western Union money orders at my store. Most people understand that you must pay for a money order with cash, but every once in a while I have to stop someone in their tracks because they whip out the checkbook or a card.

Last night, I had a lady try to argue with me about it. She asked me why she can't use her card.

My response: "Because a money order is supposed to be as good as cash, so we can only accept cash as payment for it. Charges can be reversed after the fact depending on your creditor if someone was to claim the card was lost or stolen."

She just laughed in that smug, you-must-be-stupid-or-must-think-I'm-stupid manner, "Even the post office accepts cards for money orders."

My response: "Not the last time I checked. I don't know of any place that will accept another from of payment for money orders. It's strictly cash anywhere I've ever purchased money orders."

She insisted that I didn't know what I was talking about.

My response: "I doubt that. I think I know better than you, apparently. At any rate, it's cash only here."

She just looked at me blankly until she realized that I wasn't going to budge until I had cash in hand for it. She finally got the point and left without a money order. The rest of my day went on uneventfully until I had to kick one of our regular nuissances out, and then it continued uneventfully after he made a display of leaving the parking lot and I called the police on him to report him for unsafe driving. I may post about that one later as it's a much longer history even though last night's episode was comparatively short. It's just one of our local kooks losing touch with reality, that's all.

[rant]Even though I know the answer already, I still have to wonder why some people even bother. I guess they might as well realize that some of us are too stubborn to give in just because they think the world revolves around them.

God, I pray that I can take off for my upcoming vacation request since I didn't get to take off for the holidays. Otherwise, I might just give in to that urge to severely choke the living shit out of some asshole who desparately needs it.[/rant]

[RedRoseSpiral]

That's interesting. I know my local post office will take a debit card for money orders. I used mine for one when I bought an item off of e-bay. :: Can't wait to read about the yahoo you kicked out.

[poofy_puff]

They will take a DEBIT card because there is cash in a bank account ready to back it up.

[Bank Lady]

We'll do a cash advance on a credit card to fund a money order. There's not as big a worry about stolen cards though because we have a bank policy to only sell money orders to account holders. Whenever people use the line "well they do it at ______ place" I want to say "then go there." Sometimes I even do say that (with a little more kindness though).

[aurelemsrealm]

That's a new one on me, then. Of course, I haven't bought a money order for a while. When I did, I usually purchased them at the post office, and they would only accept cash at that time. That's been something like five years ago, though. I just know our policy regarding money orders is cash only. I guess the part that grated on me was her argumentative attitude, and the fact that I have a low bullshit tolerance, especially when dealing with people who want to cop the high and mighty attitude with me because they're not getting their way. It just makes me want to tell them to go to hell or at least somewhere far, far away.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I usually use the ATM at Wawa or my bank because it's free. When I needed a money order and found out I couldn't use my card, I...I...

coughed up the 2 buck charge and used the ATM at the grocery store!

I see now that was wrong...

[GolfCart34]

We'll accept a check drawn off of our bank or a savings withdrawl slip out of an existing account as payment for a money order. Then again, we're a bank so we can accept our own "money" for payment. We have lots of old people who buy money orders and they usually just have savings accounts. But hey, if they take the money out of their account then it's all good. If they have a check drawn off of another bank but they have an account at ours they'd have to have enough money to cover the money order in their account and then deposit the check. Hey, how do we know if a check drawn off the bank across the street is good?

We do occasionally get people who don't have accounts at the bank who want to buy money orders. Usually they'll have a check drawn off the bank they want to cash then buy a money order with the money gotten. We tell them they can't but they can either open an account with us so they can buy money orders in the future, or (more often than not) we point them across the street to the grocery store that sells them.

[PepperElf]

For money orders I usually got mine from two sources: The bank or walmart.

From the bank, well that was easy. All I had to do was fill out a withdrawel slip (no need to waste a check), write it for 50-cents over, and... I had a money order within just a few minutes.

With Walmart, they had a nice little atm that could do money orders - up to $500 per each. Then again, like regular ATMs it has the camera and etc, so it'd be harder to cheat the system.

With regular credit cards though, I can see the concerns about non-payment. Because of stuff like that, it's illegal to use credit (or debit) cards for lottery purchases.


Granted I do know one guy who used his credit card at WU, but it was NFCU & an online purchase.

[aurelemsrealm]

... it's illegal to use credit (or debit) cards for lottery purchases.

Slightly off topic, but it just amazes me how many people want to use credit cards to purchase lottery tickets. Yes, I already know that it's illogical to apply common sense in such cases, but you'd think these people would realize that it's not a good idea to gamble with money that you are borrowing at a high interest rate. It's a fairly common occurence to have to break the news to a prospective lottery customer that lottery purchases are cash only as soon as I see them whip out that card and prepare to swipe. Usually, telling any would-be crybabies why they can't have it their way in those terms seems to shut them up.

In fact, our system will reject any lottery purchases on a credit card as an unauthorized item. Prepaid debit and gift cards will still process lottery purchases, though. My store is a BP station, and I do tend to buy BP gift cards for use on small purchases while on the clock so I don't have to mess with cash or a bunch of little check card receipts. So, on the rare occasion when I feel like blowing a couple of dollars on lottery, I will sometimes use the gift card toward it.

[boringscreenname]

My ex wanted to purchase an $800 money order using his debit card. I laughed, told him it was going to look suspicious and you can't get money orders for that high of an amount anyway. He didn't listen, cashier basically told him what I did, so he goes storming off to the bank inside the grocery store, and they refuse to even accept his debit card. So he goes back to the grocery store, and begrudgingly gets 2 $400 money orders using his debit card. If he would have listened to me he could have saved some time.