# When To Fire Your Customer.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Progressive Forage Grower.

Regards, Mike

https://www.progressiveforage.com/forage-production/management/when-to-fire-your-customer


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## Beav (Feb 14, 2016)

When their BS isn't worth the money. We have good customers and better customers that allow us to sell out every year and don't have to put up with crap. The easiest thing to say to those know it all pushy bargain hunters is "this is the hay this is the price do you want or not". You have to be willing to live with the out come and know you did the right thing. Every time I have ventured away from that statement I have made a mistake and pay the price of wasted time energy and mental anguish. Which leads to my other rule "No good deed goes unpunished"


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Beav said:


> When their BS isn't worth the money. We have good customers and better customers that allow us to sell out every year and don't have to put up with crap. The easiest thing to say to those know it all pushy bargain hunters is "this is the hay this is the price do you want or not". You have to be willing to live with the out come and know you did the right thing. Every time I have ventured away from that statement I have made a mistake and pay the price of wasted time energy and mental anguish. Which leads to my other rule "No good deed goes unpunished"


Several rules of thumb I practice:

1) Bad business is worse than no business at all! A bad deal/customer costs more than just leaving the hay in the barn--emotional price.

2) Some customers want to deal, so adjust the price accordingly. When I was in Chicago, a lot of my customers were Jewish. Not to profile them, but they always wanted to bargain the price down, so I raised my price and let them "jew" me down. Remember: the US is one of the few countries in the world were bargaining isn't a part of everyday life.

3) No matter how hard you try, you can't lose a little on every deal, but make it up in volume.

Just some early morning thoughts. Coffee anyone?

Ralph


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Made a "difficult" decision to let go of 30 acres of a customers "farmland" last week. I've been baling their farm for years and there's so little yield. The ground is very steep, they won't allow any fertilizing other than lime, no weed spraying, the driveway is about 7' wide, and it's a long drive from where my hay tools are stored. 
I hate like hell to give up on land, but It's a customer I just had to let go of. I feel like the beating the equipment takes and the pathetic yield wasn't worth the headaches. After I said goodbye, I actually felt relieved.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

JD3430 said:


> On the other end, I have a customer who owes me $1,700 for hay and is now kind of on the late side of getting me paid. $1,700 is still a lot of money to me. The sad part is they are otherwise a great customer, easy delivery, good at unloading, etc.


Have you considered setting up a "payment plan" with them? Maybe, $170/month? Or even $300/mo?

$1,700 is a little more than lunch money and I'd be wanting to get a good chunk of that back.

Ralph


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

rjmoses said:


> Have you considered setting up a "payment plan" with them? Maybe, $170/month? Or even $300/mo?
> 
> $1,700 is a little more than lunch money and I'd be wanting to get a good chunk of that back.
> 
> Ralph


Let's just hope it doesn't come to that. This is a BIG business that cuts much bigger checks than my paltry $1,700.
I think a lot of "credit" customers know once hay is unloaded, it isn't worth the farmers time/expense to come back and repossess it and they have no problem putting the farmer through weeks of stress waiting for checks to arrive.
It's wrong, but some people have no shame.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

JD3430 said:


> It's wrong, but some people have no shame.


My wife and I were talking aboiut shame just yesterday. There is no shame in our society anymore---and that's a shame (pun intended.)

75 years ago, a girl got pregnant out of wedlock, she was shamed out of town. Now it's often no-big-deal--the guv'mint will take care of me. A man didn't pay his bills, he was shamed in the bars, the stores, and church. Now it's just a way of doing business. Bill Clinton lies on TV--no shame; Jesse Jackson Jr goes to jail--no shame.

Don't get me wrong--sometimes those old days went overboard. But there was (I think) a lot less crime of all types.

Ralph

Fool me once--shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me thrice, shoot me.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

I have a guy been dealing with him for years. Unless we can work something out before he gets his next load iam going to have to let him go. On one hand its a shame. On the other hand I cant afford to have someone be a good customer for years and than try to take advantage of me.


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## ozarkian (Dec 11, 2010)

I have noticed that some of my more well to do customers seem to be slower to pay than my small farm customers. Accounts payable's can be a game some businesses play. Pay off accounts in order of importance. Or maybe they are just flexing their financial muscles. farming is not going to make me a millionaire, I work for myself. It is really not that hard to make a bad customer go away.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

ozarkian said:


> I have noticed that some of my more well to do customers seem to be slower to pay than my small farm customers. Accounts payable's can be a game some businesses play. Pay off accounts in order of importance. Or maybe they are just flexing their financial muscles. farming is not going to make me a millionaire, I work for myself. It is really not that hard to make a bad customer go away.


As long as you ain't decorating cakes you should be ok


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## ozarkian (Dec 11, 2010)

somedevildawg said:


> As long as you ain't decorating cakes you should be ok


Cake decorating probable pays better


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## siscofarms (Nov 23, 2010)

These customers that owe you money " problem is solved with the credit card slider and app for your phone . Doesn't cost anything to set up and the one I have charges me 1.8% per transaction . Nothing leaves my place without being paid for . Let VISA worry about getting the money .


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

siscofarms said:


> These customers that owe you money " problem is solved with the credit card slider and app for your phone . Doesn't cost anything to set up and the one I have charges me 1.8% per transaction . Nothing leaves my place without being paid for . Let VISA worry about getting the money .


Not quite! My understanding is if a buyer disputes the charge, Visa backs out the deal and leaves you to collect from the buyer.

Ralph

"I could be wrong--but I don't think so." A. Monk


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

rjmoses said:


> My wife and I were talking aboiut shame just yesterday. There is no shame in our society anymore---and that's a shame (pun intended.)
> 
> 75 years ago, a girl got pregnant out of wedlock, she was shamed out of town. Now it's often no-big-deal--the guv'mint will take care of me. A man didn't pay his bills, he was shamed in the bars, the stores, and church. Now it's just a way of doing business. Bill Clinton lies on TV--no shame; Jesse Jackson Jr goes to jail--no shame.
> 
> ...


At one time a hint of scandal would have seriously hurt a candidates chance of being elected. Didn't Chicago just swear in a new alderman while he was in jail?

Sad part is, all my land except one are written contracts now. At one time did a lot of verbal contracts. Now the guv'ment says you have to have written contracts to sign up for any programs. I suppose that isn't a bad thing as any more some peoples word isn't worth used toilet paper.


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## Beav (Feb 14, 2016)

We still do a lot of credit on a handshake and run a tab. Works for us we know who we can trust and who is cash and carry only. I am sure I will run into problem at some point


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

mlappin said:


> Now the guv'ment says you have to have written contracts to sign up for any programs. I suppose that isn't a bad thing as any more some peoples word isn't worth used toilet paper.


So far HERE I just need a piece of paper that states I cash rent it and signed by land lord or whoever has POA.

Share rents they want to know shares and any guberment payments are divided same as the share rent.

Everything between landlords and myself is verbal.


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## RockyHill (Apr 24, 2013)

ozarkian said:


> Cake decorating probable pays better


and cake icing tastes better than hay, ask me how I know 

Shelia


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

rjmoses said:


> My wife and I were talking aboiut shame just yesterday. There is no shame in our society anymore---and that's a shame (pun intended.)
> 
> 75 years ago, a girl got pregnant out of wedlock, she was shamed out of town. Now it's often no-big-deal--the guv'mint will take care of me. A man didn't pay his bills, he was shamed in the bars, the stores, and church. Now it's just a way of doing business. Bill Clinton lies on TV--no shame; Jesse Jackson Jr goes to jail--no shame.
> 
> ...


Yeah my Grandmother asked me one time when I was in high school back in the 80's and all the TV news was constantly crapping themselves over the "teen pregnancy crisis" (which was in its infancy back then). She wanted to know what those girls were thinking...

I told her, "for virtually all of them, it's no big deal. Heck they usually come out better after getting knocked up than they were before. The gubmint provides free healthcare, they get WIC/food stamps, free babysitting, you name it... plus now they got a little baby to "love them" since their parents usually were too busy doing their own thing to pay attention to them, which is why they got knocked up in the first place..."

"WOW!" she said... "sure was different in *my day*... Back then, if you got knocked up, your life was OVER... You could forget about public school or high school or trade school or whatever; they'd kick you out and wouldn't have you. Your parents would most likely ship you off to a nunnery or whatever, if they didn't kick you out in the cold altogether... NO man worth having would ever have you once he found out you had a kid... so your marriage prospects were usually the town drunk or some mean SOB nobody else wanted, if that. About all you could look forward to was living in a dirt floor shack and chopping cotton for the rest of your life..."

Personally I think we need to go back to that sort of thing... life would be a lot better for DECENT people and there'd be a lot less scumbags around mooching off the rest of us.

Back then, if you got a bad reputation of not paying your bills or whatever, you'd quickly find NOBODY in town would trade with you any more... We had a similar situation just up the road from us...

I was baling for an elderly neighbor and this scumbag muslim across the road sent his 18-19 year old kid over in his new Toyota pickup to talk to me... "You GOTTA come cut hay for us next!" I was like, "well, we'll talk when I'm done with this job..." and left it at that. The old man kept quiet til the kid left and then he said, "You might want to watch yourself dealing with them-- the last 3 guys I had cut this place, the kid came over and hired them to cut their hay, and then they closed their 8 foot storm fence gate when the job was done and wouldn't pay them... then they got mad and wouldn't bale my hay either!" I thanked him and went on back to work. Heard from some other guys that had gotten burned by the scumbag, so thinking "BAD business is worse than NO business" when the kid showed up the next time telling me I "gotta" bale for them, I told him "No, sorry, don't have time-- gotta get ready to pick cotton-- better find someone else". Couple days later I'm working in the yard on the cotton picker and the kid and his scumbag muslime father shows up; the old man starts telling me about how he needs his hay baled and I *MUST* come cut it for them... "No, not interested... I'm getting ready to pick cotton..." and he keeps going on that I *HAVE* to come cut their hay... Finally I got pretty p!ssed and told him outright, "Listen, I don't **HAVE** to do a [email protected] thing... I'm not interested in cutting your [email protected] hay and that's that, now get the h3ll out of here and quit telling me what I *MUST* do on my own place... get lost and don't come back!"

Typical friggin' scumbag Muslims... Dad's buddy Franklin worked for one, farming his place for him... He bought some old junk farm equipment but didn't have the first clue what to do with it, so he hired Dad's buddy Franklin. He showed me around their "place" and told me about the wild parties he threw for the insurance adjusters (he ran a chain of body shops in Houston) and he wined and dined them (among many more illegal things) so that when he sent big overestimates for repairs in they'd just rubber stamp it-- the insurance adjusters didn't care-- just company money to them, so long as the wining and dining and dope and hookers continued... and the dirty SOB was getting filthy rich doing it... Thing was, you owe them a dollar, there's NOTHING they won't do to collect it; if they owe YOU a dollar, there's nothing they won't do to weasel out of paying it... And they know that here, unlike in their own Dirtbagistan countries they came from, nobody's coming after you with an AK-47 to collect the money they owe... I told Franklin he better be careful, and for awhile he was, til he got burned... Oh well...

The scumbag muslime across the road finally burned SO many people that he couldn't get the time of day from anybody in time-- NOBODY would do business with him... He finally had to sell out and move, and GOOD RIDDANCE... filthy stinking muslims...

Later! OL J R


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I can pretty much tell by the way someone looks, acts, carries themselves if I'm getting myself into trouble, or I can usually talk to someone for about 1 minute and ask them a few questions that seem innocent to them and know what I'm getting into.
My late paying customer paid me in full yesterday-said they had a ton of unexpected expenses.


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## weatherman (Dec 5, 2008)

rjmoses said:


> Ralph
> Fool me once--shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me; fool me thrice, shoot me.


Sold hay to a customer who has bought Hay for about five years. Last two times she stiffed me. Didn't bring enough cash. It took several weeks to get her to drop a $15 check in the mail. The second time she shorted me $5. It is not so much about the money but the integrity and character of the person that is beyond me why someone would stoop so low for five bucks. I was tending to other customers in the field when wife collected the money so she did not really know at the time what she owed, it was her "friend". My practice until I get to know the customer is to pay me before the hay is loaded. So, Ralph I hope it won't be a third time.


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

I own some commercial property that I lease out. The only two times I have been burned on rent {{knock on wood}}.....

One was a preacher.

One was a policeman.

Maybe I dropped my guard because of their profession? Who knows....


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

weatherman said:


> Sold hay to a customer who has bought Hay for about five years. Last two times she stiffed me. Didn't bring enough cash. It took several weeks to get her to drop a $15 check in the mail. The second time she shorted me $5. It is not so much about the money but the integrity and character of the person that is beyond me why someone would stoop so low for five bucks. I was tending to other customers in the field when wife collected the money so she did not really know at the time what she owed, it was her "friend". My practice until I get to know the customer is to pay me before the hay is loaded. So, Ralph I hope it won't be a third


Yeah I've tried the "Mr. Nice Guy" routine and it just never works... When I was still selling hay I FINALLY just said "cash-n-carry or forget about it". I tried the "I'll gladly pay you next Tuesday for a hamburger today" routine and lemme tell ya you'll run yourself ragged trying to collect what's owed. Not worth the time or trouble. Grandma always taught me on the farm, "If you can't pay for it, you don't need it!" and that's pretty much true-- If it's good enough for me, it's good enough for the other guy. I'm not FarmPlan or Farm Credit, and it's not worth my time, trouble, or effort to do some other shmuck a favor because he can't get his money together... Cash-n-carry or head down the road; I really don't care which-- bad business is worse than NO business!

Same thing goes when I was custom baling. I have older equipment and an older round baler that doesn't make as tight and pretty a bale as the newer stuff, so I priced accordingly. Course I always stayed right on top of the hay, checking the condition of it frequently, raking early to minimize sun bleaching and preserve the highest quality, and baling as soon as it was dry enough to store properly in the bale, not like a lot of the BTO jerks around our area that like to advertise their "fertilized bermudagrass" hay that they cut one day and then rake up and bale a week later after it's sunburned to the point it's bleached golden as wheat straw, and just has just about as much feed value... and of course they do their custom jobs the same way (why I own my own baler and equipment). Anyway, I already charged less because I KNOW my older baler doesn't make as pretty, tight, or heavy a bale as the newer stuff... I know what it cost me in fuel, maintenance, upkeep, and time to make a finished round bale of hay, and I priced accordingly, which was still cheaper than most of the other guys in the area. SO, I didn't put up with guys trying to "jew me down" on the price...

Had one bigshot rancher come by one day and pick me up, drove me out to his overgrown unmown pastures and wanted to show me the fields and what he had in mind and then get a quote for cutting, raking, and baling it. I looked it over and told him I got $15 a roll at the time... He looks over at me and starts hem-hawing, and says, "H3ll, I heard on the radio some guy advertising fertilized Jiggs bermuda hay for $20 a roll DELIVERED... and you want $15 a roll to bale this?? You gotta come off that..."

I just looked right back at him and said, "Well, what are you wasting my time and your's both for?? That sounds like a h3ll of a deal-- you better call him up, because I've got it figured and that's the price I charge. Anybody else will be $18-20 a roll. Sounds like you'd be better off buying your hay from that guy..."

I suspected that the rancher just wanted his pastures cut more than anything, but couldn't stomach the price of hiring it shredded down (Bush-hogged) and not having anything to show for it but a big bill... at least with it cut, raked, and baled, he'd have some rolls of crappy overgrown grass with a lot of dry standing stuff (filler) bales to show for his expense... I must've been right because a day or so later he called me to come cut it. Course when I got in there it was SO rough with hog wallows I cut about 1/4 of it and broke a drag link on the mower and busted a driveshaft U-joint when it folded back too far before I got stopped, so I told him I'd rake and bale what I cut but I wasn't coming back for the rest of it-- too rough and too hard on the equipment...

Later! OL J R


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## Beav (Feb 14, 2016)

The welfare kings of agriculture are some of the biggest cheaters and the first to complain about rules that prevent it. I got out of the program 5 years ago best move ever should close every county USDA office and cut all Ag welfare drain the swamp.


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## Palmettokat (Jul 10, 2017)

rjmoses said:


> Not quite! My understanding is if a buyer disputes the charge, Visa backs out the deal and leaves you to collect from the buyer.
> 
> Ralph
> 
> "I could be wrong--but I don't think so." A. Monk


 In my insurance business have contest two purchased I made with credit card and I will only make certain purchases with credit card for this reason. One case which was a few thousand the credit card company did reverse the charge. The other one which was about $50 they would not reverse for the same reason. The one reversed I had contract and could prove they did not provide the service they sold me. The about $50 case I was not able to prove the issue for had not kept some receipts I should have. Had done business with the company for about 5 years and been pleased but they made a product change.

Based upon my experience they will not just refund if buyer thinks it should be. Most likely a written contract would help protect yourself and have it signed by the buyer and seller or their employee even with hay with some sort of statement on quality of the product with the description of the product and how many bales.


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## Palmettokat (Jul 10, 2017)

RockmartGA said:


> I own some commercial property that I lease out. The only two times I have been burned on rent {{knock on wood}}.....
> 
> One was a preacher.
> 
> ...


A shame but remember all people are not what they claim to be. Everybody who profess do not poses. Even Jesus says there will be those who professed to have worked for him and he will tell them depart from me, I never knew you.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

siscofarms said:


> These customers that owe you money " problem is solved with the credit card slider and app for your phone . Doesn't cost anything to set up and the one I have charges me 1.8% per transaction . Nothing leaves my place without being paid for . Let VISA worry about getting the money .


Yeah it's the "1.8%" thing that bugs me.....
Why does the seller (usually a much less wealthy farmer) have to pay the 1.8% and not the buyer (usually a wealthier person)?

If you sell $100,000 in hay, why do I have to pay $1,800 to "visa"???? Then on top of that, the buyer gets a 1% bonus kickback check on the hay they buy (and all other purchases, too).

Then the seller eats all costs the buyer claims were not a perfect transaction.

$1,800 is a lot of money for many hay farmers. 
That's my diesel fuel for the growing season. 
Screw that shi....


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

ozarkian said:


> I have noticed that some of my more well to do customers seem to be slower to pay than my small farm customers. Accounts payable's can be a game some businesses play. Pay off accounts in order of importance. Or maybe they are just flexing their financial muscles. farming is not going to make me a millionaire, I work for myself. It is really not that hard to make a bad customer go away.


It's their ego. Usually more money begets more ego. I've seen it in all walks of life. People actually think superiority is dictated by the amount of money they have/make. The more they make, the more they think they can screw what in THEIR mind are smaller, less powerful people.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

RockmartGA said:


> I own some commercial property that I lease out. The only two times I have been burned on rent {{knock on wood}}.....
> 
> One was a preacher.
> 
> ...


My father, who was in LE his entire career and had a purty good take on folks. He always told me to stay away from extending credit on the "P's" Preachers, Policemen, and Painters.....it was a valuable lesson


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## Palmettokat (Jul 10, 2017)

somedevildawg said:


> My father, who was in LE his entire career and had a purty good take on folks. He always told me to stay away from extending credit on the "P's" Preachers, Policemen, and Painters.....it was a valuable lesson


 Might need to add politician to that list, just saying.


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## Palmettokat (Jul 10, 2017)

Back to the credit card fee, it is my "impression" debit cards do not hit the seller with a fee at least not like credit cards do so that might be an option.

Other option is to do as many online auctions do, 3% fee added to credit card sales. If you advertise that up front should be no major problem. Printed prices might help with people trying to barter on the price.


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

I can also take credit cards and post it on the barn wall there is a 2.5% fee on cards! And you get whacked a fee no matter what card is used! American Express is really bad.. they will bang you as much as 7%.. so I don't except them nor do I accept welfare cards or "snap" as this state calls them..
And on top of all this, O have to charge tax on silt bales because its not feed..


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

skyrydr2 said:


> I can also take credit cards and post it on the barn wall there is a 2.5% fee on cards! And you get whacked a fee no matter what card is used! American Express is really bad.. they will bang you as much as 7%.. so I don't except them nor do I accept welfare cards or "snap" as this state calls them..
> And on top of all this, O have to charge tax on silt bales because its not feed..


Smart!
You know, everyone who lives in my area who is associated with banking or finance is a freakin millionaire. 
They don't need the 2.1-7%.
WE DO!


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Palmettokat said:


> Back to the credit card fee, it is my "impression" debit cards do not hit the seller with a fee at least not like credit cards do so that might be an option.
> 
> Other option is to do as many online auctions do, 3% fee added to credit card sales. If you advertise that up front should be no major problem. Printed prices might help with people trying to barter on the price.


I haven't seen that.....CC companies generally frown upon this, at least they used to anyway.....for being a CC merchant you agree to accept their form of payment as a form of payment not to be subjected to additional fees....it is/was a blatant violation. What you could do, is offer a discount for cash, that would keep you out of "hot water" with the CC companies.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

somedevildawg said:


> I haven't seen that.....CC companies generally frown upon this, at least they used to anyway.....for being a CC merchant you agree to accept their form of payment as a form of payment not to be subjected to additional fees....it is/was a blatant violation. What you could do, is offer a discount for cash, that would keep you out of "hot water" with the CC companies.


Yep, just looked at gas station across the street. $3.04 a gallon, 5 cent cash discount (less than 2%, they wouldn't keep the extra percentage now would they?). Some CC give you 5% back on gas, so there must be some profit/mark up on gas to cover you would think.

Larry


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## skyrydr2 (Oct 25, 2015)

If the card companies didnt offer these cash back deals folks wouldnt use them as much. This is what happened after the bank crash back in the early part of this centry. Folks didnt want to use cards and credit after they got baked..


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## Anonsky's Hay Service (Feb 1, 2017)

Yeah, I was always told that its very frowned upon and in some cases illegal to charge extra for credit card transactions. But about everyone here in agriculture who isnt a chain store does, so maybe its different in some localities than others. Or not one enforces anything. Either way, I dont hold it against em.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Drove up to Chicago this past weekend and had a tremendous observation: All the churches and banks had big, nice, fancy, new buildings. Got me to wondering why? Then lightning struck: 'cause that's where the money is!

Ralph


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## Palmettokat (Jul 10, 2017)

Here is wording I see on gun sales on line.

"The above prices on this item reflect a *3% *cash/check discount. This discount is not valid for credit card purchases. Add *3% *to the total cost for credit card purchases."


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Yep, an attorney wrote that line.....notice that the "above price reflects a 3% cash discount" that's the line that got them out of hot water....
It used to be speculated that it was "illegal" and I suppose in the letter of the law it is a breach of contract, but I never heard of it being pushed to that point, they would just not allow you to take their card any longer....effectively excommunicating you from their thievery


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

Same as zero percent financing at the tractor dealerships. There is a cash discount. The price difference covers the interest.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

rjmoses said:


> Drove up to Chicago this past weekend and had a tremendous observation: All the churches and banks had big, nice, fancy, new buildings. Got me to wondering why? Then lightning struck: 'cause that's where the money is!
> 
> Ralph


What's changed in MY area is the rich bankers, financiers, doctors, etc. have bought most of the legacy/family farms from real farm families and turned them into farms not really run for profit, but run to keep the space farmed to their idea of farming.
There's still some farm families toughing it out, barely making any money, too. Many have fallen for the "big payout", whether its a developer or a rich guy holds a couple million in front of them...... guess it makes the decision pretty easy. 
They hire guys like me to farm their land for them. I have a few customers with 'M.D." or "Esq." after their names. 
The few family farms remaining mostly have sold their property rights to the couple local "Land Conservancies" we have. It renders their land much less valuable, since they sign away their rights to develop or sell to a developer in return for about a $10,000/acre payday and a tax reduction.

I think this may be going on in many other parts of the country where a big city isn't too far away and the surrounding farmland is becoming the "burbs", like is the situation in my area. 
I think its an under-reported story that has BIG implications. The worst part is many of them are city people and they bring their liberal ways with them.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Merchants have been in a huge fight up here in Canada with all the fees they pay to accept premium CC's. The credit card contract says they aren't allowed to advertise a discount on non-CC purchases but like mentioned, many do. Common sign if they don't have the discount offered just explains how much they pay and asks consumers to consider cash or debit.

The interact/debit fees are down to a few cents per transaction so many chose to do cash/debit only.



r82230 said:


> Yep, just looked at gas station across the street. $3.04 a gallon, 5 cent cash discount (less than 2%, they wouldn't keep the extra percentage now would they?). Some CC give you 5% back on gas, so there must be some profit/mark up on gas to cover you would think.
> 
> Larry


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

There are tons of big business that do illegal nickle and diming. Fines from the authorities are not enought to hurt them and hard to prove and they know most people wont bother sueing them for small amounts. If you try to deal with is nicely they just get nasty and hard to deal with so most people just drop things. They know exactly what they can get away with and profit greatly at same time.


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