I'm through doing favors

[SuperB]

We let some of the locals charge in the store. All too often we are the bill they either forget or don't feel it's important enough to keep up on. On occasion the cabin people will leave after the season and one left me holding a $300 plus charge.

I hate having to ask these people to pay but what I hate more than anything are the ones that, when faced with a total, try to claim they couldn't possibly have charged that much!

Assholes!

One woman is no longer allowed to charge because she did this. I had to listen to her tell us not to tell her husband she was charging and especially not to tell him she was charging cigarettes since she was supposed to be quiting. Twice she pulled the, "I couldn't have charged that much" making us seem suspect to her husband while trying to hide the fact that she was charging and smoking from him.

She's banned from charging.

The business next door hires nothing but meth addicts and parolees. After being burned to the tune of around $500 we established policy that their employees were not allowed to charge, period! They managed to keep a few longer than the usual 3 months and we've let a couple of them charge. At first it was with the understanding that it wasn't to go over $25 and was to be paid off before the end of the month. One of them has managed to talk us into getting his charge to over $100 every time promising he gets paid "in a few days".

Today he pulled the "I couldn't have charged that much" with me.

I re-totaled his sheet, circled the correct amount (it was right) started him a new sheet with his balance (which is around $40) and tore off the other to hand him next time he comes in so he can do the math and knocked his cap down considerably.

He gets only one more chance and that's more than I want to give him. He pulls this just once more and I'm done with this favor.

What do these people expect when all they're buying is beer and cigarettes? I can already tell that I'm not going to deal well with the summer people this year.

[marasbaras]

Just don't let them charge. Seems simple enough.

The "I can't have charged that much" means "I want a discount, gimme gimme gimme!" Screw that. You should charging EXTRA for being so nice.

That's what Nordstrom's does ... want great service? Pay up, pal!

[iviles]

Seems like its more trouble then its worth. Sorry you have to go through that though

[bainsidhe]

marasbaras, I think the reason they allow chances to these people is not just out of the goodness of their hearts, but because people who charge tend to spend more and will keep coming back to this establishment. Business has to make money, after all.

What if you started charging a higher interest rate (call it a PITA tax)? Not to suggest you hire Mugsy and Tiny to do your "collections", but people don't NEED their booze and smokey treats. Too bad you can't charge a buck everytime someone tells you "Oh, that amount can't be right". Your response could be, "See here, I proved you wrong. You owe me a dollar".

[marasbaras]

I understand why. But, she makes it sound like a high percentage of the chargers are pains in the rear section.

Perhaps the solution is to show them their total every time they charge ... so that they are aware of the amount that is building.

[TTAZ]

would it be possible to draw up a quick little terms of service contract outlining the rules for due dates, etc.? Have them sign it, and initial every charge they make on a list, so that way if you get stiffed, or they pull the "I couldn't have charged that much" crap, you not only have proof, but something that you could send to collections (or Mugsy and Tiny) to get your money back.

Just a thought.

[earl colby pottinger]

Some are PITAs, some are scammers

I think the problem break down to two types.

The PITAs are the one who never seem to pay up, it does not matter if they only have an outstanding balance of $5-10 dollars, they are always short of cash when they drop in.

The scammers are the ones who rack up large charges and take a long time to pay off, in effect they are getting interest free loans.

Solutions:
PITA: While it is a lot of work to track and thus may not be worth the effort, refuse charging to anyone who's bill is more than a month old, then when they pay up refuse to allow charging for a month. Lots of record keeping but you will soon filter out most of the PITAs.

Scammers: First, a firm, rock hard store rule limiting the maximum charge limit per customer $50-$100 sounds about right. Second, why give them in effect 'money for free'? Add a holding charge of say $1 per month if they own more than $25 to the store. Note: on a $50 that comes to 24% interest that is reasonable compared to credit cards. And on smaller amounts they would be far better to be using a credit card.

Make the SCs pay for being sucky, and increase your profit margin at the same time.

[jerkface11]

I've had people try that. In a fast food restraunt!!
SC: I don't have any money can I pay later?
ME: Sure you can get your food later too.

[chainedbarista]

charging is a good concept, but like anything else, add in the human factor, and abuse happens.

while it may seem that it produces more business, the effort it takes to get these outstanding balances paid off takes more time and effort than it's worth.

i'm of the mindset 'pay as you go;' that way, they have the cash, i don't have a bill outstanding and everyone's happy.

you have to have reliable customers for this type of system to work, and that doesn't happen so much anymore, because 'no one' is responsible for their actions these days.

rack up a huge bill/balance/debt? no problem, it's NOT YOUR FAULT.

sadly, this type of practice tends to bite the store in the ass more often than not; best not to allow running tabs, period. (IMO only)

[SuperB]

The issue is the community aspect. This is a very small community and we have to deal with people both socially and in the store. Not to mention at the kids school. My in-laws have been in business up here for over 20 + years so a lot of this goes back to when they allowed the locals to charge at their store down the road. We've imposed limits on some so they won't get up beyond where they can't but I'm not their mother, babysitter or accountant so I can't pound money management into their heads no matter how much I want to.

I've thought about discontinuing the charging and once we actually threatened it but when your relationship with many of them extends socially it's difficult to be hard nose if they come in and ask.

And there is the losing business aspect. That I know will happen because we used to reserve Sunday papers for people. We'd put their name on the list and set them aside for them to come in and grab at their leisure. The problems though became too much to ignore. For one, a name on the list was not a guarantee. We allow the paper to be left outside in an area that the locals know where it is but mainly out of site for anyone who doesn't know about the practice. There's a drop box they can drop the money in and they're able to get the paper before we open. (no paper machine, the distributor is afraid it will be damaged if we went that route) We still do this. But some weekends one guy from one section of cabins would come early and take nearly half of our daily delivery. That left me with not enough papers for the names on the list and none to sell in the store. Add to that the ones who didn't pick them up that day and we were dealing with a real mess. When we discontinued the practice people were pissed and we did lose some minor customers because of it.

It's like no matter what we do or how many favors we do if we stick up for ourselves we're the bad guys.

There's really no good solution and I just needed to rant a bit. I do appreciate the suggestions though. Thanks.

[earl colby pottinger]

Ok

You say you need to think of the community aspect. That this is a very small community and you have to deal with people both socially too.

Put up a community board where people can post messages, and at the same time post the names of people and their amounts owning on the board. You will help the local gossips.

Really, I think a hard limit is the way to go. Anyone owning you more that that limit was never and will never be a good customer. Doing favors is one thing, spilling your life blood another.

Hee, why not post this entire thread on your community board. Might get people talking.

[ShootMePlease]

Too many people mistake kindness for weakness

My Dad used to do that for our longtime customers with lottery tickets. He would let them call in their numbers and pay later.

Unfortunately, "long time" doesn't mean "not sucky".

Although he doesn't have the store anymore, I learned a valuable lesson.

Don't be nice to people about money.


Screw them

[Andara Bledin]

Yeah, don't be nice to people when money is involved.

And if it's a close friend or family member, be even less nice. And get everything in writing.

^-.-^