We don't accept Travelers Checks.....or Money Orders

[Hon'ya-chan]

So I had this old fart bitch and moan because we don't accept Travelers Checks. Rather, I noticed he had a billfold of money, and below some of the notes, there was a Travelers check. I informed him of this fact, even thought we have signs pointing out this fact around the registers.

Nope, old fart has to make a stink out of it. Threatens to report us to AMEX over refusing to accept Travelers Checks. Heck, he even questions if we take Money orders (FACT: We Don't.) Hey, my superiors refuse to accept Travelers Checks, it's their right as Businessmen. Betcha AMEX is gonna tell him the same thing as well (business has right to accept what they want), and maybe try to upsell him the AMEX Check Card.

Gee, if I only gave him the lowdow on US Currency....I think i'd sent the poor bastard into an early grave.

[Ree]

I don't understand about the traveler's checks. How come a lot of businesses aren't accepting them anymore?
I can understand money orders, but I thought the selling point on travelers checks was that they are as good as cash.

Not everybody wants to use credit cards.

I would hate to be a tourist or on vacation, and shopping around, only to find my traveler's check isn't accepted where I want to shop.

As for all the cash in his wallet, that's really not my business.
Maybe he needed it for something else.

[jackfaire]

Maybe it has to do with the conversion rates?

[SG15Z]

I don't understand about the traveler's checks. How come a lot of businesses aren't accepting them anymore?
I can understand money orders, but I thought the selling point on travelers checks was that they are as good as cash.

I don't understand it either. I know my company does, but many don't anymore. I always wondered about that.

[EricKei]

Many, many places don't take AMEX anything, whether they accept trav cks or not...AMEX is notorious for being much, much slower than other Merchant Service companies when it comes to paying their actual vendors (as much as a month or two slower), while requiring instant payment from their customers. Their payment times to non-US merchants is often double that or worse. Also, they fees they charge to their Merchants are around double the Visa/MC rate.

Is it any wonder few places like them?

[bainsidhe]

Our store also had a lot of fraudulent checks coming through. It just wasn't worth the grief. Though someone must have complained to corporate, because we started taking them again.

[Ree]

Their payment times to non-US merchants is often double that or worse. Also, they fees they charge to their Merchants are around double the Visa/MC rate.

See, that makes perfect sense.
Thanks for explaining it.

[lordlundar]

See, that makes perfect sense.
Thanks for explaining it.

In addition, they are notorious for being forged (there's no verification before the merchant accepts them and are usually handled improperly. (unsigned before being turned over, improperly endorsed, etc) which makes fraud and theft a major problem.

[Ree]

there's no verification before the merchant accepts them and are usually handled improperly. (unsigned before being turned over, improperly endorsed, etc)

That part, I don't understand.
I thought they had to be signed at time of purchase, and then the signature is checked during redemption.

I guess signatures can be copied, though.

[Jack Doe]

That part, I don't understand.
I thought they had to be signed at time of purchase, and then the signature is checked during redemption.

I guess signatures can be copied, though.

You are pretty much correct on this. An AMEX TC is signed when purchased in the upper left hand corner of the check, and then counter-signed in the lower left when redeemed.

The big problem with them is that unlike personal or business checks, which can be validated by companies such as TeleCheck and Tiger Trans against existing accounts, or other systems which convert it into an EFT, the only security on a Traveler's Check is the serial number. The hologram, printing, and design is apparently fairly easy to fake, and verifying a serial on one takes a rather lengthy call to Amex customer-service (when I was with Eckerd, we stopped taking them at our store because accepting one was, at its fastest, a 10 minute ordeal.)

[lordlundar]

That part, I don't understand.
I thought they had to be signed at time of purchase, and then the signature is checked during redemption.

I guess signatures can be copied, though.

Usually yes, but all too often they aren't signed because someone isn't paying attention. It also doesn't stope a fake check from being made and signed before it's used in the store.

[BookstoreEscapee]

That part, I don't understand.
I thought they had to be signed at time of purchase, and then the signature is checked during redemption.

I guess signatures can be copied, though.

Usually yes, but all too often they aren't signed because someone isn't paying attention. It also doesn't stope a fake check from being made and signed before it's used in the store.

I've also seen Gift Checks, which are similar to an AMEX gift card, so the purchaser is not buying it for themselves and therefore wouldn't be the one signing it. When I had them they usually weren't signed at all when the customer used one. We just had them sign in both spots when we redeemed it. Security...we haz it.

[purplecat41877]

Where I work, we still accept checks and travelers checks. The only money orders we accept are those with our store name on them.

[tamezin]

I don't understand about the traveler's checks. How come a lot of businesses aren't accepting them anymore?
I can understand money orders, but I thought the selling point on travelers checks was that they are as good as cash.

Cost of processing, not only from the point of sale but from the point of redemption. They are easily conterfeited, therefore void at redemption.

In the end they can end up costing a business their profit margin. Smaller business enitities run on a very small margin for profit so they can draw customers in a tight economy competing with big box stores.

[Can I have a cheeseburger]

As a Canadian travellers' cheques are very important to me if I travel to the United States for more than a couple of days. Canadian banks charge VERY high rates for using bank debit cards or bank-issued credit cards outside of Canada. I once used my bank debit card in the U.S. when I was stuck, and it cost something like $7 after the exchange rate just to get cash out. Likewise I had to use my TD-issued VISA card in the U.S. once, and the surcharge for using it outside of Canada was a ripoff. Something like 5% of the transaction value.

Is it any wonder I still prefer travellers' cheques?