Check, please!
Recently, I have been experiencing some rather surprising situations relative to payment. Last week was no exception.
Small business professionals are used to being paid by check. Not cash, not credit cards, not Bitcoin, just good old fashioned checks. For many of us, this form of payment carries little to no cost and provides an audit or paper trail for our accounting. The check helps defray any incidence of fraud, embezzlement, or simply forgetting to record income, which can happen when you are responsible for everything. So, why are people still trying to pay us in cash?
Cash is king or so the saying went. But, is it really? If you misplace it, you are out that payment, it cannot be canceled and more cash sent in its place. And if you are being paid in small denominations, those can blow away easily at an ATM and cannot be sent through Remote Deposit Scanning on our smart phones.. We are forced to drive to a bank, thanks client!
While ATMs are the quickest and most efficient way to deposit cash, what happens when the ATM will not accept certain bills? Were you given a counterfeit bill or is there just some wear and tear on the bill that is causing the Bank ATM not to read it or accept it. Hard to know without parking, getting out of your car in gale force winds, and physically going inside a brick and mortar bank building. And this is exactly what happened to me last week.
There are just too many scenarios where accepting cash In a nonretail setting can result in a high risk of losing that payment. And why should a troubled bill become my issue? I provided a service, giving me a problem bill only takes up more of my precious time as a sole proprietor. I understand retail shops accept cash and credit cards and hardly accept checks. Well, professional business services, such as consulting, are not retail and you should not expect to pay by cash.
Please consider the consequences here. Be kind to your sole proprietors, pay by check, make sure it will not bounce, and consider using your bank’s Bill Pay Option. That check will never bounce! Cash is no longer accepted by my firm and our new motto is Check, please!
Be well.
