I recently was in a small gas station along the roadside. Real mom-n-pop affair. Small town small budget. They had a sign on the counter saying that they’d lynch you for giving them a check with a number under 1000 on it. (Well, maybe ‘lynch’ is a bit strong, but they’d get really really angry.) I doubt the ‘number’ referred to was anything other than a serial number. (I fail to see how anybody could load up on $1,000 worth of gas and Slim Jims.) Why, oh why, would they care what the serial number on the check was? Is there some devious little check counterfitting ring who’s serial numbering machine stops at 999? For extra credit, you can explain the concept of a ‘counter check’, prohibited by the same gas station.
“We can imagine no reason why, with ordinary care, human toes could not be left out of chewing tobacco, and if toes are found . . . it seems to us that somebody has been very careless.” Pillars v. R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 78 So. 365, 366.
“What’s wrong with communism?”
Other than it’s oppressive, dehumanizing and has utterly failed everywhere it’s been tried, nothing is ‘wrong’ with communism.
-CalifBoomer
It’s a fact that most bounced checks are numbered under 1000. It has something to do with people having to keep on opening new checking accounts when they keep bouncing checks off old ones. The higher the number, the older the account, and the less likely that the person tends to bounced checks, so the story goes. Some stores simply will not take a check with a number under that. Which is silly, because you can have your checks printed up starting at any number.
Goldie
Gentlemen certainly DO prefer blondes –
and with good reason!
I’ve heard of similar practises, and from what I recall, it has to do with owners of new bank accounts being less trustworthy than folks who’ve had established bank accounts for some time (and so have cashed more checks).
Supposedly, you could open a small new bank account, write checks like a madman, and then leave town before they hit the bank.
But it really makes little sense, as one can request a new batch of checks for a new account to begin at any number you want — well over the 1000 mark.
As for ‘counter checks’, I believe those are the checks you get when you first open an account. They have account numbers printed on them, but no names, addresses or phone numbers.
Sounds like these folks have either been burned, or they worry too much.
Thanks to all! I never imagined I could get such good answers to that topic within a day. And the people probably did get burned a few times. They have a ton of signs from the local law enforcement that shoplifters would be drawn, quartered, and fed to the bears. They have a restroom that could only be used by paying customers. It is also inside, well-lit, and didn’t gag you upon entrance. Which no doubt explains the rule, rather strange for this region (Eastern Montana).
“We can imagine no reason why, with ordinary care, human toes could not be left out of chewing tobacco, and if toes are found . . . it seems to us that somebody has been very careless.” Pillars v. R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 78 So. 365, 366.
“What’s wrong with communism?”
Other than it’s oppressive, dehumanizing and has utterly failed everywhere it’s been tried, nothing is ‘wrong’ with communism.
-CalifBoomer
This suggests this type of criminal is impulsive and weak willed: they don’t plan ahead enough to think to order cheques that don’t start at 0, but then they can’t resist the temptation to rip someone off.
Either that or the petrol station owners are a bit paramoid.
I’m going back to memory on this but it seems that over half of bad checks were ment to be bad. The checks were passed by a “paper hanger.”
To get the checks to pass the paper hanger would need to open a small account with a bank and get to work fast. The bank would start the new account off with 100, or whatever.
When I opened my current checking account with my Credit Union, I wanted to get my checks starting at 1001, rather than 101 which is the usual default. They refused to let me on the grounds that businesses use the number of the check to tell if it’s a new account or not. So I had to write 900 checks before they stopped asking for my check guarantee card.
Actually, I didn’t really pay much attention to when clerks stopped asking for the card, but it probably was about when I went over 1000.
“Perky ‘Canada’ has Own Government, Laws”
– The Onion
When starting a new account, always ask for checks that begin with a number over 1000. I usually have my checks numbered with some identifying factor having to do with the year.
When a bank refuses to do something you ask that is perfectly reasonable, go find another bank. When I opened an account in Denver two years ago, I was advised by the largest bank in the area that I had to undergo a credit check for a checking account. Not understanding quite why a bank that was taking money from me would worry about my propensity to pay back money borrowed, I balked. Key Bank was more than happy to take my business instead.
Now, I live in Ohio, and the area Key Bank branches have a very nasty policy about withholding funds from deposited out of state banks ([rant warning]WHY do banks persist in applying seperate rules to out of state checks in this modern era when everything is computer cleared and there are effectively very few differences between intra and inter-state banking???[/rant warning]). Fifth Third Bank was more than happy to take my business (they are quite happy to deposit my dad’s checks from California drawn on Bank of America and let me have generous amounts quite quickly). And if things are really tough, there is a local bank, First Federal of Delta, that is quite customer friendly that I can always rely on.
In the early 80’s banks could hold checks for as long as they wanted. I had a bank in CO try to hold out-of-state check for 15 business days! Since then congress put limits on how long they can hold funds. I think the longest they can hold domestic checks is 6 or 7 (business) days. They must credit cash and certain other items immediatly. They also must make $100 of your daily deposit(s) available the next day. As for why they do this, they have access to the money within a day and if they don’t let you have it, the money (called float) can be invested by them.
You don’t have to use checks that you buy from the bank. If they won’t give you the starting check number you want, just buy vanity checks.
Virtually yours,
DrMatrix
If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you 0.99999999… times.
I’ve used electonic banking since it’s been available. It’s very convenient to set up atumatic payments for all my bills every month, but the consequence is that I never write checks. If the number on my checks reflected how many I’ve actually written, it would be in the low hundreds. Luckily, my bank ordered me checks that started at 5000.
My last checking account I started, I put no request in and figured that the checks would start at 101, which was fine with me.
I got checks that started at 1001.
When I brought this up in a conversation with the person who set my account up at a subsequent visit to the bank, she seemed perplexed. Because starting checks that high were against bank policy!
So it was a happy accident, though I have never encountered anyone who even cared about check numbers, as long as it wasn’t a starter check. NOBODY wants those…
I HAVE BEEN SMOKE-FREE FOR:
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785 cigarettes not smoked, saving $98.20.
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I started off at 101 or whatever on my first checking account after high school and since then everytime I change banks I have my checks started at the next number they will allow after the last check number I wrote at the last bank (I think they usually make if fall on some 250 or 300 check boundry number). I pay all my bills by check other than those I now use the debit card for (like the grocery store) but even so after 25+ years I haven’t hit check 5000 yet.
When I moved to California I opened my second checking account. My first account was the usual college checking account. Anyway, I had no problems at all starting my checks at 3000. I guess being hassled, by local merchants in my old
college town, with my starter checks, taught me something afterall.
girl: “My what big balls you have!”
guy: “Amazing what a little Wuchereria bancrofti can do for ya.”
The banks around here won’t start you out with any check higher than 500. This is superfluous now since I print all my checks on the computer. The few I print for writing out at stores are in the 2000’s. Store’s I worked at years ago required managers approval on the low numbered checks, because they knew the account was new. Back then they didn’t have Vericheck for approvals either.