THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

pineapple

Cheers MSM. I find cash OK for small jobs but it seems that many traders round here would rather the money just materialised in their bank account - especially if the bill is over £1,000. The stove fitter and the kitchen guy were incredulous when I asked if they took cheques. But the alternative was me doing a big round trip to get to my nearest branch to arrange a transfer. Or taking out money from a cash machine in drips and dabs as you are subject to daily withdrawal limits. Re the kitchen, I'd have been at it forever! :rotfl:
I did set up telephone banking but find it cumbersome.

moneyistooshorttomention

I wonder if that was part of the difference Pineapple?

As I recall - in a shop/showroom/etc I just automatically got out my card and the onus would have been on them to say "We havent got a card machine".

When a solo tradesperson was in my house, I thought it rather unlikely/has very rarely happened that they had a card machine on them. So I would just write out a cheque automatically - I carefully didnt ask whether they took them or no. I just "took it for granted" in my attitude that of course they would take a cheque. If they'd had the nerve to act "incredulous" at me not paying by bank transfer they'd have had me acting "incredulous" back at them and saying words to the effect of "I don't do bank transfers - so what are YOU going to do to get my payment then?" said in a very questioning/"the onus is on you" manner.

I expect, in a small community, they don't want cheques - but if it's cheques or nothing, then they'll have to take them if they want to be paid. They are the ones that chose not to have a card machine on them after all - so they can't expect the customer to do any "putting themselves out" to actually get to a bank to pay in cheques.

Whenever I get a cheque - then I know my bank branch is still in my home city (ie some hours drive away) and the nearest branch of my bank is an hour or so bus journey away (on buses that are only around hourly frequency). So I just send these cheques off to my own bank branch by post, with a covering letter listing amount/who from/my account details to pay it into. Those cheques get paid in that way.

Any tradesperson could just gather together cheques from their various customers and send them off in an envelope in the same way as I do at intervals and pay them in that way. They're just being lazy and trying to make you do their work for them basically imo.

fuddle

I think money laundering and fraud are in the forefront of even the small town bank clerk. I faced difficulty when dealing with different payouts from my Mam's estate. For those people paying in cash at the front desk it can be a problem.

I see problems with cheque payments to self employed tradesmen - the banks are closing, many on a Saturday too, and only open during working hours when the tradesmen are earning their money.

I think there is a purposeful shift to online transfers. The older ways are problematic and becoming a pain to the wo/man in the street. I don't agree with it at all. I fear I will see a cashless society in my lifetime and I don't like the prospect.

We live in a society that values charging £40 for a piece of plastic moulded kit as a 'toy' my tablet cost £25 (it's a ruddy nightmare as a reflection of that amount I have to say) phones and tablets are of my generation. It used to be TV that parents used to use as baby sitters, now it's handheld devices. I detest seeing them in restaurants and my kids wouldn't dream of pulling out a phone at the table but it's becoming socially acceptable and that frightens me. What happened to manners really but I also understand that not every parent parents like I do and not every child is able to have the emotional and physical ability to act in a respectful way. I try not to judge. A tablet may mean the difference between a family meal out together or a child having a melt down so...

moneyistooshorttomention

Hence why I send cheques off by post myself to my own bank for putting in - and I guess I should have made it clear that tradespeople can do exactly the same (ie send an envelope with cheques in off to their bank once a week or once a fortnight - if they can't physically get to a bank during working hours for whatever reason).

Mojisola

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Hence why I send cheques off by post myself to my own bank for putting in - and I guess I should have made it clear that tradespeople can do exactly the same (ie send an envelope with cheques in off to their bank once a week or once a fortnight - if they can't physically get to a bank during working hours for whatever reason).

Electronic payments are usually free for businesses - the banks charge if cheques are paid in.

DigForVictory

I'm torn. I hate getting cheques as it's a chore for me to get to a bank to pay it in even if they do have fancy cheque-eating machines.
I expect small traders have the same problem - their local bank branch shut & they too have a trek somewhere sometime - in my case a chunk of weekend, in their case a chunk of working time lost.

It's just the pay in cash & wonder if the taxman will see it quandary has not gone away with the bank transfer.

Oh and I understand the 'machine not working' bit - those devices not only charge the trader by the day for the privilege but also take a percentage bite just for allowing the trader the convenience of offering card payment. Makes me chose bank transfer, faff though it be, so the business that has done the work gets my money, not some digital entrepreneur taking a handy slice for just breathing.

As for children & digital devices, we are sowing the seeds of our own destruction & I await the "Alexa, blow the doors off" bank heists. That said it does make running Jamboree on the Internet a load easier as I do not have to source plural devices, just get scouts to bring their own tablets. (I don't think it has a phone app, this year. Next, who knows?!) [And yes of course we have the tech to lend to scouts who can't or won't bring kit, just they get to jamboree for a shorter time.]

It reinforces my view that the more we teach them to do with their hands, old school tools & imaginations, the better we are future proofing them.

moneyistooshorttomention

Mojisola wrote: »

Electronic payments are usually free for businesses - the banks charge if cheques are paid in.

Do you know how much?

I wasn't aware of that - but would imagine it's literally only pennies.

Mojisola

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Do you know how much?

I wasn't aware of that - but would imagine it's literally only pennies.

That will depend on the bank.

Karmacat

DigForVictory wrote: »

As for children & digital devices, we are sowing the seeds of our own destruction & I await the "Alexa, blow the doors off" bank heists.

I just love that, DfV :j:j:j Very good :T

mardatha

We use cash, always and only. Even for cars and bikes. Re teaching kids the old fashioned way yes of course, we must. Often the big bank IT systems fail, one day there might be a bigger event that hits satellites or world wide hacking. Just because the internet is there and has been for years, doesn't mean it will always be there..