Paying by Check or Useless Piece of Paper

The check, just a piece of paper, with amounts written on it.  Sometimes, it is not even worth the price of the paper its written on.  How this paper was and is handled has evolved and not necessarily for the better.

Back in the early Woolworth days, checks had to meet certain criterion: no starter checks (name must be imprinted on it at least), check number had to be above #200, and checks over $50 needed manager’s approval.  Sounds all so simple, except it was not uncommon to get a bad check.  Checks over $100 or questionable checks were called to verify funds by contacting a check approval service.  The purpose of the companies was just to get an approval code, but sometimes this was not simple as one time I spent over 45 minutes to get an approval code.  Certainly, this was not only not acceptable, but depending on the bank or financial institution that the check approval company had to reach, this length of time varied greatly.  No more than 5 minutes was the norm, but anything was possible.

Of course under this system, we had a large number of checks that had bounced (over 40 of them and total value nearing $10,000).  It was the responsibility of the Customer Service Desk to call on these bad checks approximately once a month.  Calling the customers were both frustrating and unrewarding.  Many times I was hung up on and sometimes no one would ever answer anyway.  Of course, the check file was also turned over to the South Portland Police to handle, but it was not uncommon for them to do anything at all with them.  It was rare occasion when we had someone come into the store and pay on a bad check, but it did happen.

When the register system changed, we also upgraded the procedure for taking checks.  This new system had a little device that was beside the register that was a U-shaped machine where the check was placed on one end of it and it would circle around to the other end on its own.  It was a fun little machine to see operate, but its purpose allowed for checks to processed without having to call them to a central call center.  The biggest difference with this new system is that the little box dialed from its own phone number to whatever financial institution it needed to find out about.  Since only one approval could happen at a time, it was a very slow process especially during the holiday season and back-to-school.  However, no more bad checks and no more calling in checks. Most importantly, we could loosen up our policies regarding what checks couldn’t be taken.  It was like heaven.

Staples, however, came with its own set of problems.  Checks were not limited by any check number, however, all the checks had to have at least the name printed on it.  Staples always had electronic processing of checks, but there were times when checks needed to be called in to a central processing number to get an authorization approval number.  Over the years, the system did get more sophisticated and the system got so advanced that at one point it printed “DECLINED” notices to give to customers when their check was not accepted.  I believe that this is more embarrassing to the customer than just telling them that the check has been declined.  This was not exactly a customer friendly approach.

The big downside to all retailers, and Woolworth and Staples were no exceptions, was that checks over a certain dollar amount required a managers signature.  I have yet to figure out what huge difference this makes as I have yet to find any managers with a built-in check approval system integrated into their bodies.  What’s worse was that at one time, I got written up by a front-end manager when I took a check with a manager’s approval (they signed it) on it and the check turned out to be no good , even though the manager “knew” the customer personally.  This brings up the idea of why should sales associates be liable and get written up for a bad check when the manager was the one who made the call to accept the check in the first place?  I call this just another way that Staples hates its employees and loves to destroy them as often as possible.  Is this any surprise to anybody at all?

Next Up:  Debit or Credit – A Risky Proposition