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Local check acceptance changing
Published Monday, September 29, 2008
Some Fergus Falls businesses are starting to say “no” to checks — and the economy may be to blame.
Northern Aire Lanes stopped taking checks recently after seeing a record number bounce due to non-sufficient funds (NSF).
“It’s primarily the number of NSFs we received,” said owner Steve Loeffler. “The number we received last year was up from the previous year.”
Many bad checks led to closed accounts, Loeffler said, and would have required a collection service — and accompanying fees — to track down. With rising gas and food prices, Loeffler said he expects the number of bad checks will rise.
That is a very real possibility, according to Steve Daggett, president of Midwest Bank in Detroit Lakes and board member with the Minnesota Bankers Association. As essentials grow more expensive, people may write more bad checks as they get used to higher prices at the pump and the grocery store checkout.
“Maybe they typically had a little bit more of a cushion in their account and they don’t have that cushion anymore,” Daggett said.
For business owners, the upside of accepting checks is avoiding the fee associated with the credit card exchange.
“If they did take checks, they don’t have to pay that fee,” Daggett said. “The down side of accepting a check is you don’t know if the money’s good.”
Bad checks prompted Dairyland to stop accepting checks altogether in April, said owner Jean Connelly. Over a year’s time, the business lost $300 to $400 after accounts registered non-sufficient funds.
Yet Fergus Falls businesses vary in their encounters with bad checks, and checks are still accepted at many locations. Victor Lundeen Company only sees a handful each year — a number that hasn’t changed much with the worsening econom, staff say.
“We have very minimal (bad checks) that we get,” said store manager Paul Lundeen, “maybe four a year.”
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The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by mytwocents (anonymous) on September 29, 2008 at 7:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think that everyone needs to give business' a break. I personally don't use checks just for the fact that I like to hold onto my money.. Business' have a perfectly legitimate reason for choosing to not accept checks from people. If people would stop writing bad checks for things they "need" this never would be happening. So, for the people that don't write that bad checks and you can't use them. There's always the bank debit card... Unless of course you don't want to use that cuz you know theres no money in there!!!
Posted by girllovescamo (anonymous) on September 29, 2008 at 7:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I used to work for a gas station in Fergus and I can't believe how many bad checks we had. Its was amazing to me. And many of them had multiple checks on our list at the end of the month and many on closed accounts. Everyone makes mistakes on their check book at some point, but lots of people were playing "beat the bank" and got caught. And when these business aren't making that much money to begin with, than selling things and never getting paid for them is only going to make everyone else pay more for the products. I'm all for area businesses not taking checks because i understand how much they are out when someone doesn't have funds. Even though their are lots of honest people, a couple of bad seeds ruin it for everyone.
Posted by PD (anonymous) on September 30, 2008 at 9:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
What happened to the "Retail Protection Association" that was sponsored by the F F Police Dept. and the O T Co. Sherrifs office? Do they no longer promote use of that entity? Perhaps education of the retailers by the Police Departments, the Chamber of Commerce etc. would give confidence to the retailers. Restrictions on payment types for services by retailers does result in less business activity. 99% of customers pay the price for 1% of bad checks? Seems rediculous! Also it would seem that bad debt is a cost of doing business that has existed since beginning of time.
Posted by kidvanwechel (anonymous) on September 30, 2008 at 9:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You can't be that taken back by this story. Why would anyone take a check when they can pay a very small percentage fee and get gauranteed money with a credit/debit card? Raising your prices to reflect the increased fee due to credit card sales is simply the cost of doing business. It's no different when people raise the costs of goods due to increase fuel costs.
Leave your checkbook at home if your coming down to the twin cities. When you sit there and say "what do you mean you don't take checks"....the answer will be "you must be from Fergus Falls".
You know what's worst than places that don't take checks? Places that don't take credit cards. Umm...it's 2008.
Posted by SmartOne (anonymous) on September 30, 2008 at 11:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Get with the times people! Get a debit card, it works the same as your checks but it's safer! And you won't be turned down! Use the debit card where you can't write checks and use checks where you can't use the card. It's a fact of life that idiots mess it up for everyone else. Just deal with it and do what you need to do. Give the businesses a break, it's not their fault!
Posted by SallyRay (anonymous) on September 30, 2008 at 11:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Serisously, who writes checks anymore? Come on people get with the current times...get a debit card!
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