Correct Change

[Magicman]

I had a customer to drop off some Cypress logs back in September.  He wanted 2X6's, and it has been stickered and waiting for him since then.  I called him when I finished and told him the price and that it was ready.  Low and behold, he called today wanting to pick it up.

He knew exactly what the charge was, but he tried to pull the old $100 bill trick.  The total was $128, and he handed me two bills figuring that I would not have change and would just tell him $100 would be OK.

Well I have had folks to try and pull that trick before, so I have a zippered bank bag that contains my till.  I always round all invoices down to the nearest dollar, and my till always has over $100 in all denominations so that I can make the proper change no matter what.

I immediately replenished the till so I am ready for the next joker that tries to pull that trick.

[drobertson]

Not sure I have seen that one before.  I have seen the 50 note and a few 20 notes, and not having change, it has gone both ways, Pretty sure you knew the  type, and that is ok,  they do try at times to get over, I figure that is how they have the C note to begin with, 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Cancel my Sweetgum order.  :christmas:

[wildbill]

i used to run into that problem every once in a while fixing cars at home.  i learned quick.  i also opened a separate paypal account for those that said all they had was a credit/debit card. 

no problem, invoice +2% (to cover paypal fee) and they got their car and i got my money

[Magicman]

Several times I have had to give $90-$95 back in change.  You can see that sinking feeling when I pull out my till bag and start counting it out.

[thecfarm]

Some people.   :

[captain_crunch]

Sad people have sunk to this level Wonder what happened to a little word called Honesty

[NWP]

I have one of those square card readers for my phone so I can accept credit/debit.  I also have a hardwire terminal so no excuses.  The good thing about the phone one is there is no minimum monthly charge, just a 3% per transaction fee. I also keep enough change on hand for those Benjamins too.

[Peter Drouin]

Hi MM , I get that alot. or less money for cash instead of a ck, I all ways have change ;) :christmas:

[Dave VH]

I prefer to carry cash, and frequently all that I have are 100s.  I have paid bills like that with 2 hundreds.  I was and am by no means trying to get away with anything, I just don't always have change myself.  I don't usually carry my debit card on me.
  My point is that it could just be an honest coincidence.

Merry Christmas!!! :christmas:

[Magicman]

Maybe I am fortunate or whatever, but this month I completed my 11th year of sawing, and I have not lost money on or not been paid for a single job. 

I was lucky the first time that I person pulled the "big bill" trick and happened to have change.  I have been prepared since.  I have had instances that when I started making change, they opened their billfold and produced a smaller bill, but had I not had change, would the smaller bill have surfaced?

I had talked with yesterday's customer a couple of times on the phone, and he knew exactly what the sawing charge was.  If he had brought the correct amount, I was going to split the "nail blade" with him, but as it was, I had the correct change.   ;D

My point is that it could just be an honest coincidence. 

Dave, I completely understand your point, and it is correct.  The point that I wanted to make with some of our newer sawyers here that are just beginning their business and dealing with customers is to be prepared.  Business is business.

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

I sell a lot of coins and have people try the old " All I have is XXX, so why dont we just call it even" trick all the time.

I use one of those square card readers that will take just about any credit card, and I will take paypal, check, cash, money order, travelers checks, on top of keeping enough change on hand to cover the large bills. Lots of ways to help you spend your money.

[Woodkiller]

I have people try that when I crack pecans. My solution is to make change with the largest amount of SMALL bills possible. :D. They tend to bring smaller bills after that.

[Chuck White]

It's bad enough to have it happen, but when the customer knows in advance what the total is, there's no excuse for not having the exact amount of cash on hand!

I had a customer a few years ago that tried that.

His bill was $230.00 and he handed me 2 hundreds and 1 fifty and I didn't have change.

I told him that I would hang onto it and get a $20.00 bill back to him in a day or two.  He didn't like it, but never said anything.

But the way I looked at it, that 50 was more mine than his so I'd do the holding!  ;D

I brought him his change the next morning.

I still get him as a repeat nearly every year

[shelbycharger400]

how much did one of those credit card readers cost?
Ive had one ask, I sent them to the atm in town.

[Magicman]

I had a customer ask me a couple of weeks ago if I took credit cards, etc.  He lives in Louisiana and the job is local and he did not have a blank check.  I just told he to mail a check when he got home.  Four days later the check was in the mailbox.   

[Sawdust Lover]

That has happened to me a few times this year too but I wasn't prepared like you were. I have more like a wood store here and I have people up every weekend buying lumber. I to got a card reader and have found that people buy more when they realize you except credit cards. I got mine through pay fox!

[wildbill]

That has happened to me a few times this year too but I wasn't prepared like you were. I have more like a wood store here and I have people up every weekend buying lumber. I to got a card reader and have found that people buy more when they realize you except credit cards. I got mine through pay fox!

that was another reason for having the paypal account for home auto repair.  i dont have the fancy card reader but people still felt secure being able to log into their account and send the payment that way.

[NWP]

The square card reader for a smart phone is free. You pay 3% per transaction. You can go to square.com to sign up and they send you one.  The one that I have that is wired into the phone line is kind of expensive unless you use it a lot. It costs me about $40 per month even if I don't have any transactions. Once you get past I think 10 swipes, the $25 minimum charge drops off and you're charged per transaction.

[Kansas]

What you should have done, being he knew the correct change, is when he handed you the 2 100 dollar bills, say, why thank you for the tip.

[jueston]

how much did one of those credit card readers cost?
Ive had one ask, I sent them to the atm in town.

https://squareup.com

i read the small print of square up 2 or 3 times because they seemed so much better then the other options i thought there must be a catch. but there isn't. just 3%, no minimum, no transaction fee, no cost for the hardware.

[Magicman]

You are right Kansas that would have been neat, but it still was fun to watch his jaw drop when I unzipped my till bag.

[YellowHammer]

I use a Square credit card reader, love it.  Almost all of my transactions are now plastic.

[dgdrls]

I use a Square credit card reader, love it.  Almost all of my transactions are now plastic.

Cabbie I used on Anniversary trip had one of those,
very easy to use, I informed my CC issuer prior to our trip
and they indicated some businesses were starting to use these.
certainly makes sales easier.

DGDrls

[francismilker]

Way to be prepared MM!  I've been on both sides of the big bill coin and can see it both ways.  I deal with a lot of small money transactions due to farming and haycropping.  I've been on the downside of it many times and have let things slide to those that I truly know weren't trying to pull one over on me and have went as far as telling the person to hop in the truck with me and run down to the local convenient store to get some change. Watching them squirm inside themselves while we drove down the county road was priceless.

On the other hand, a few years back, I pulled up to a gas station in my haytruck to fill it up with deisel.  It was one of those digital fuel pumps that's near impossible to get stopped on an even dollar.  Wouldn't you know it, I put $100.01 worth of fuel in the truck.  I only had 100's in my wallet.  I went inside, told the man what I had done, told him all I had was 100's, and stood in disbelief as the fellow who owned the store said, "I can make change for 100."!!!

I guess it was a matter of pride, (which gets me into trouble sometimes), I went outside and literally dug the entire cab of the truck loose trying to squander up a penny.  For the life of me I could not find a penny.  While I was swallowing my pride and walking back into the store to give the guy another $100 bill I happened to notice a penny on the pavement in front of the store.  With a twinkle in my eye I stooped over to pick it up.  While I was raising up, I looked up and seen the owner of the place gleeming at me spitefully through the window from behind his counter. 

Needless to say I don't fuel there anymore.  When I done my tax preparation later that year I totalled up $5400 worth of deisel purchases from the place that year and he treated me like I was trying to cheat him over a penny. 

I'd always done business there because that was where my dad done business and where his dad done business.  When the original owner sold out and retired a few years ago a man from another country bought the place.  A few weeks after the incident, the fellow asked me with a very broken english accent, "I haven't seen you in a while. Why don't you stop by anymore?" I made the statement, "If you want to squabble over an US penny, you should heavily consider getting US citizenship." and walked away.  I know it was spiteful, but I got a real bad taste in my mouth over the "I've got change for 100 treatment."