Stolen CC and Checking Account Without Money

[Caractacus_Potts]

Story #1:

When I worked for Walgreen’s I had my main store that I had been hired at but I also used to float for other stores in the district covering vacations and such and sometimes I would do odd jobs for the district manager.

At this particular store I was manning main register for the 3PM to 11PM shift. It was a 24 hour store in a seedy section of town; lots of bars and rent by the hour motels. A young guy comes in with a credit card in hand and asks for 20 cartons of Marlboro cigarettes. This immediately sets off alarm bells because cartons of cigarettes are one of the things that were easy for thieves to turn into cash (I had seen people in the neighborhood selling cartons from their cars in parking lots). I asked for the card before getting the cartons off the shelf behind me…

Me: (Looks at card. Picks up phone)
SC: Hey! What are you doing?
Me: Sorry, we’ve had some trouble with stolen cards so for your protection I am calling the credit card company to verify this is your card.

At least that’s what I started to say. I got as far as “stolen cards” and SC exited, stage left, at high speed. Mind you I have no idea what I would have done if he hadn’t fallen for my bluff and in retrospect it would have been easier to just ask him for ID but, hey, it worked. I turned the card in to the manager on duty.

Story #2:

It’s Christmas time at my main store. Everyone is filled with the joy of the holiday and is acting so polite and cheerful…not.

A woman comes up to my photo register with a huge order piled in her carriage. No problem, I ring her up. She wants to pay with a check. Normally we just ask for a valid ID when a customer pays with a check but this order was for over $500 so I asked the woman to wait for a moment. I called the bank to verify funds were available and I was told that, no, this account did not have enough money in it to cover the check I had been handed.

I came out of the office and informed the lady that as there was insufficient funds in the account to cover the check I would need an alternate form of payment. Much screaming ensued with a lot of “YOU CAN’T CALL MY BANK” and “I WAS GOING TO DEPOSIT MY PAYCHECK AND THAT WOULD HAVE COVERED IT!” Not being too impressed with this I did offer another alternative. I told her I would be happy to hold her purchases for 24 hours if she would like to transfer funds to her checking account and come back but as of right now I will not take a check for this purchase. She called me an asshole and left without her purchases.

Oh well. Merry Christmas to you to!

[blas]

People like that woman who live by floating checks.....oi vay......I can't even bear to listen to them whine when they get bitchslapped with overdraft fees.

My ex coworker, DV, depended on floating checks. He would never have any money in his account, and he learned all the older fashioned mom and pop stores and gas stations that didn't use Telechek or any systems for checks, so he knew he could write a check and it would take a day or two to process, so he'd just hope that payday came first. It didn't a few times, because he'd forget that he bought something else (one time he was throwing a fit that he'd forgotten how he'd written a check at Wal-Mart for contact solution and wrote it for over for beer money *sigh* and it processed the same day and he was charged an overdraft fee). He'd simply throw a fucking fit over being charged for overdrafting.

Fucking idiot. And when his debts get the best of him, he just closes his account and goes to a different bank and gets a new one!

[pitmonkey]

Any more a lot of places are treating checks as a debit anyways.

[fireheart]

I have NEVER had anyone ask me for 20 cartons of cigarettes. EVER.

So if I ever get someone asking for more than 2 cartons, then I know to pick up the phone. (our cartons are on average $100 per carton)

[OfficeSlug]

I see customers write the date a day or two ahead of the actual date. As if that's gonna prevent the check from being processed on the date I run it through the machine. Hello?!

Cheerfully, I cross out the future date and tell them, "Oh, you're rushing the week!" and correct the day!

[Caractacus_Potts]

I have NEVER had anyone ask me for 20 cartons of cigarettes. EVER.

This was back when cartons went from about $25 per to $35 per due to a change in taxes (and I am guessing a lot of formerly upstanding law abiding smokers were happy to turn a blind eye if somone in a parking lot offered to sell them a stolen carton for twenty bucks).

[Slave to the Phone]

I have NEVER had anyone ask me for 20 cartons of cigarettes. EVER.

So if I ever get someone asking for more than 2 cartons, then I know to pick up the phone. (our cartons are on average $100 per carton)

I'm in Arizona. I mostly use an e-cig, but smoke a pack of analogs a week, so I do watch the signs. At the reservation smoke shops, people are limited to buying 10 cartons at a time. That's 10 cartons, period, not 10 cartons of Marlburo reds and another 10 cartons of Kools. I know that you folks could figure that out from the VERY big signs all over the store.

People like to buy them and resell them for 7.50+ a pack. Almost every time I go to get my weekly pack, I get to watch someone get kicked out of the store for screaming that they were allowed to buy 100 cartons as long as they only bought 10 cartons each.

Its almost a party when it happens...because EVERYONE in the store knows what they are trying to do, and we all make fun of them. YEAH!!! We get to watch pawnage happening and laugh and point.

Sighs. yes, I have no life. That's often the high point of my week.

[bainsidhe]

Ugh, floating checks. When *big box retail* first went to scanning checks & handing them back, people threw fits. The checks cleared instantly, just like debit cards, whereas before they had leeway of a couple days. I got in the habit of explaining to people before I ran the check, just to head off any bitch-fests. Then I had people griping because they already knew how it worked, so why was I explaining it to them. Well, they were still better than the first bunch though.

[fireheart]

Wow cartons must be cheap overseas.

The average price for cartons around here is about $100.

[Sarlon]

fireheart, I could buy you a few cartons, ship them you sell them and we could STILL make a nice profit...even with the exchange rate.

[taxguykarl]

I got in the habit of explaining to people before I ran the check, just to head off any bitch-fests.

I have a steady who works as a business manager for a clinic. She could tell you similar tales--patients who are genuinely surprised that their checks 'clear' (for want of a better term) so quickly.
As for the OP, the only scenario where that kind of transaction would be legitimate is if your store is near the state line where adjacent states have a higher tobacco tax. I speak from experience as I live within 10 miles of the Indiana state line with its lower gas, liquor and tobacco taxes.

[Andara Bledin]

fireheart, I could buy you a few cartons, ship them you sell them and we could STILL make a nice profit...even with the exchange rate.

Until the ATF got ahold of you, anyway. They're notoriously lacking in humor about this sort of thing.

^-.-^

[Caractacus_Potts]

fireheart, I could buy you a few cartons, ship them you sell them and we could STILL make a nice profit...even with the exchange rate.

Except you would have to smuggle them in and hope you don't get caught! If you declare them and pay the duty there goes any profit!

[Sapphire Silk]

Until the ATF got ahold of you, anyway. They're notoriously lacking in humor about this sort of thing.

^-.-^

Or Customs. They are equally lacking in humor.

[fireheart]

And I believe at the moment, aren't we roughly in parity with you guys exchange rate wise?