If it doesn't mention cash, then we probably don't take it

[depechemodefan]

People call us and request copies of stuff, from newspapers, magazine, books, even print outs from the internet.

We charge for copies, so we have a form we send out/email. Here's part of it:

If you would like a photocopy, please send a check or money order for $3.00, payable to the “Blah Public Library Foundation”, to the following address:



Blah Public Library
Electronic Services Department, Attn: Photocopies
xxx McKinney
city, TX 77000.

If you would like to pay by credit card, please call xxx-xxx-xxxx. Tell the staff person answering the phone that you would like to pay for a “Document Delivery” request. We will need your credit card number and its expiration date.

We will mail your copy as soon as we receive payment.

We hope this information is useful.
Best regards,

See, you can pay with check or money order or credit card. Nothing about cash. WE get cash in the mail maybe once every 3-6 months. I recently got cash Aug. 1. So I kept it in my drawer, and today I finally mailed off the patron a letter, mentioning we dont' take cash, we take check or money order. I sent back his cash.

Before, I use to tell the manager and she would sigh and say "We'll take it this time". She said that everytime. So this time I don't say anything to her. It's just a lot of writing for the person who sends the checks and stuff to the business office. Really, I might be a hard nose but if someone can't follow instructions, maybe he/she shouldnt' get his/her stuff.

[Sheldonrs]

When I worked at the software Co. in CA, we used to get orders in the mail with cash in the envelope. One guy mailed us $1,200.00 cash from the UK!
How many kinds of stupid is that?!!!

[crazylegs]

Stupid is as stupid does.

No really.

[Mamadrae]

If it wasn't illegal I would say take the cash as a donation to the library and mail off a letter telling the customer that you have not received their payment by credit, money order, or check and ask if they wish to continue. If so please follow the following instructions blah blah blah...

But then again I'm evil like that.

[Auto]

Then again, public libraries attract patrons who are just the type to mail cash. Kooks. People without checking accounts.

Why not tweak your form so it tells them not to mail cash?

[depechemodefan]

take the cash as a donation to the library

believe me, I can find a more evil use of the cash

Why not tweak your form so it tells them not to mail cash?

Becase the SC will ignore the part that says "do not" I mean, in a world where people are careful or not SCs it would work.

Besides, I waited more than 2 weeks to send the guy a letter; he might be worried about his cash getting here or not. Hee. I would email him, but the email would go through my super, and she might email me back telling me to take the cash anyway.

[greensinestro]

When I was a kid, I once mailed fifty cents off to Matchbox, the people who make those little toy cars. It was for a catalog of their collection, and coins was the only payment they accepted. I guess times are different.

Oh, by the way, I had to tape the two quarters to the inside of the envelope to keep them from rolling around.

[South Texan]

Why not tweak your form so it tells them not to mail cash?

I agree. Most people assume that cash always is accepted unless something states otherwise.

Sure it is foolish to send cash in the mail, but I do not think it is out of line for someone to think it is an acceptable form of payment if nothing says it is not.

Why not change the sentence to read:
"If you would like a photocopy, please send a check or money order for $3.00 (WE DO NOT ACCEPT CASH), payable to the “Blah Public Library Foundation” , to the following address:"

[PepperElf]

true. bout the only place i've seen that didn't take cash was my rental manager. but that was to ensure the payment actually made it to the company. at my mom's old apartment one of the old managers would take the rent as cash and then run off to the casino with it.

but for mail order i thought it was understood and common sense. if you mail cash someone else may put his or her fingers out and take it away for personal use

[karma_gypsy]

at my mom's old apartment one of the old managers would take the rent as cash and then run off to the casino with it.

Hah! When I worked at *Pizza Chain* years ago, one of the drivers did that ... with the store's money! He upped and disappeared after a delivery, he didn't have a cellphone, so we just assumed he went home. He came back to the store a few hours later (I worked lunch shift and had already gone home, he was my lunch driver - this was later in the evening), with three checks in his hand and that was it. He had gambled the cash he had on him, hoping to win big with the store's money ... didn't turn out so well. He paid it all back in payments and kept his job. He wasn't very bright ...



--

At my job now, (I work at posting auctions on eBay), my coworker actually just recently got a cash payment. We took it anyway because it's no big deal just to put it in the till ... but we don't really allow cash in the mail - because the mail can be quite unpredictable at times. We get checks pretty often as well (customer just has to wait 19 days). Our auctions even say, "We DO NOT accept cash or checks," in red letters ...

[freeatlast]

When I worked in the Call Center from hell, I used to periodically get calls from members who had mailed cash payments and were then receiving subsequent bills. I had one man who demanded that I go down to the "mail room" and inform them that there was a thief in their midst. He conveniently could not read the words "DO NOT SEND CASH" on his invoices. Yup - all of our bills had those words and they were printed big and bold. I kept informing this man that we were not responsible for cash sent through the mail and that payment would have to be sent in the form of a check or money order. The real kicker - he had only sent $6. Once it seemed that he had spent enough time to have spent more money on the call than the payment he was so fired up about, I told him that if he didn't have any questions or concerns other than the cash payment that I could not be of any further assistance and disconnected the call. Anytime they were petty about really small amounts of money, I took satisfaction in knowing that the call probably cost them more than that. I can be mean that way.

[depechemodefan]

Why not change the sentence to read:
"If you would like a photocopy, please send a check or money order for $3.00 (WE DO NOT ACCEPT CASH), payable to the “Blah Public Library Foundation” , to the following address:"

Then we have to add: We do not accept 3rd party checks, checks that are company checks but your using for personal use, tokens, shruken heads, gift cards, a $3-off coupon, comic books, phone cards, a re-gift, your word of honor that or gold.

And since the man emailed us his request in the first place, he could have replied to us "Do you take cash?"

But no, no doubt he thought "oh, they don't mind cash."

[chainedbarista]

the whole problem is in the assumption that they read the form in the first place; even placing a list of acceptable payments and a list on payments that are not accepted, the customer will not see it. why?

BECAUSE THEY DON'T READ.

considering the 'business' involved, it's the ultimate irony...

[South Texan]

Then we have to add: We do not accept 3rd party checks, checks that are company checks but your using for personal use, tokens, shruken heads, gift cards, a $3-off coupon, comic books, phone cards, a re-gift, your word of honor that or gold.

There is no need to be absurd. Most people would not assume that such things would be accepted as payment by a library. Most people, however, reasonably assume that cash is an acceptable form of payment since it is accepted just about everywhere unless there is something specifying that it is not accepted.

If your website instruction made that specification, then I would agree with your assessment of a person sending cash. Since it does not, I think it is unreasonable to expect a person to ask if cash is accepted.

Would you expect a person buying groceries at a super market to need to stop and ask if cash was accepted? I think such a customer would end up on this website being labeled a wonder dummy.

[Gerrinson]

Well, if you're in Texas, which is in the US, you must accept US currency. As is noted on the face of the bill, it is legal tender for all debts public & private. To the best of my knowledge it is illegal to refuse cash payment.

Now, you can require someone with cash to use a particular cash register, etc. but you cannot refuse it as a form of payment.

I ain't a lawyer, but that's my understanding. Especially after my stepmother tried to pay a debt in cash and the guy refused to take it. He sued her instead, when the judge found out he refused her cash payment, the judge ruled in my stepmothers favor and wiped the debt.