Jessi and I are settling into our house well. It’s starting to feel normal to live here. Our driveway got paved yesterday, and it looks nice, although they left a lot of dirt in our front yard.
So now, they naturally would like payment. They’ll take $5,000 if I give them a check, but if I get cash, then it’s only $4,700. This seems a bit… fishy to me. I know that it can’t cost them $300 to process a check. So, there has to be something more going on. My guess is that if they get a check, then they report it on their income taxes. But if they take cash, it just goes into their pockets and they don’t properly report it. (And it’d be much tougher for an IRS audit to establish a paper trail, or something.)
So, what should I do? Just pay the cash, and hope that they’re honest people who just don’t like dealing with checks? Pay them the full amount with a check, just to hope that they do the right thing anyway? Pay cash and send in a tip to the IRS or something?
If you pay in a non-trackable manner, they may end up reporting you as not having paid and you’ll have to pay again.
Also, I would report this to someone, though I’m not sure who. I’m just not sure it’s legal. Did they give you paperwork that states those prices?
Well, to protect myself I can just get a receipt for the cash payment. I’m not too worried about that.
And I’m pretty sure that asking for different amounts for different tender types is legal… Not really much different from giving a discount for paying early or something. For the most part, people can charge whatever they want, as long as it’s clearly stated what the prices and terms are. Although I don’t have any paperwork, no.
Why not just ask them what their reason is?
You could call the better business bureau and ask btw…
Yeah, just get a signed receipt and pay the lower fare. It’s really not your job to watchdog these folks, and with a receipt, there’s really no way (apparent to me anyways) that they can scam you.
In all fairness, it may actually cost them $300 to process a check. Cash they can add to their liquid reserves immediately, and pay their employees that take cash payouts immediately. A check that takes time to clear (even acknowledging E-Checks these days), could cause them to run over a payment period for some other debt (costing them hundreds in interest). It all depends on how close to the wire the company is. Even if they’re not, they may have this policy in place no matter what, in the interests of consistent pricing to customers who may later compare notes.
The fact is, you don’t know their financial situation, so postulating on illicit activity is a little presumptious at this point. I’d just accept their pricing scheme at face value.
Perhaps, but that wasn’t the impression I or my dad was getting. It seems that dealing with quicker payment being better would work better with the more normal “discount for payment within 10 days” that I for instance have with my heating oil supplier.
John makes a good point. Small businesses have it rough. It can be really tough to keep the paychecks steady for your employees, and my father was frequently told to wait for money from a given job to roll in before he got his pay when he worked for a small sound systems company. Worst is when a small business owner has to choose between prompt payment and necessary repairs or capital expenses.
Moral of the story: Don’t assume the worst.