Will your local retail store take a check if their computers are down?

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Don't think so. I was shopping today in a local discount (not food) store, and they announced that due to technical problems the store was unable to accept personal check, however, they said they could take Visa or Master Card. So there you go! If they banks say 'leave your money in the bank where it's safe, just pay by check', then they don't know what they are talking about. Unless the store can check you out (pun intended) in their computer system, or unless they know you I doubt very seriously if any of them will be accepting checks.

Just FYI. Reporting from Massachusetts, btw.

-- flb (fben4077@yahoo.com), October 28, 1999

Answers

Hate when I don't proof read, don't you?

-- flb (spellcheck@missing.duh), October 28, 1999.

I agree with your conclusion....unless you know the grocer personally.

Which isn't very likely, thus the logical conclusioon - IF you need things from a store before everything recovers to normal - you'll need cash.

Or a store which believes that it will trust credit cards (based on the paper transaction records if the phones/satellite/other processing center are out ?) and allow you to use a credit card.

Debit cards equally so - more vunerable though to immediate failures of the comm's systems and all banks being "up" and with power.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), October 28, 1999.


---here's the deal as I see it--no or severely screwed up telecommunications, OR power, OR heat, OR water, OR,OR,OR- then any store is NOT going to be taking plastic, checks, anything at all, IF they are open. the stupid stores will be open, the smart ones will have sold down their stock and vamoosed, cashing out and giving their employees an intelligent break, instead of this you WILL be here on jan1 or get fired crap I hear some folks are getting. screw it, NO job is owrth risking your life for, and thereby risking your families life. It(the no store transactions deal) happened here(atlanta, my ex home)) several times, storm of the century in 93, hurricane nora, rodney king riots, couple of freakniks-it doesn't take much, usually just the juice going down, then no gas, no nuthin...-- face it, stores exist to make money, and if there are supply restrictions, they won't know even what to charge, and they won't be able to do inventory, or make change, or pay their employees, so those guys will stay home, and I don't see management coming in from their rural retreats to open stores all by themselves by coleman lantern light. The ones that do will be standing in a dark store staring at crowds of hundreds and a 20 round clip and wondering why they were so STOOPID-- Naw, forget buying stuff in january unless you have older greenbacks and are in a small rural area, or have a really good friend who will slip you something out the door, just so it doesn't spoil or something. Buy what you need now, and GET OUT of the big cities. leave. do whatever you have to do to GET OUT. You will go now under your own steam driving with kith and kin and stash, OR you will leave carrying what you can in your hands-that's the TWO choices. You WILL make a choice, or it will be made for you. Now, If NOTHING happens, then swell, come back, no harm no foul, you lose a weeks pay, BIG DEAL, shutup and eat yore beans, go camping more next year, go target shooting, putter around in the garden. If something happens, and it's a 3 or above, you (anyone, I've been speaking generally)) will surely want to be in a nice cosy rural area, knowing you and your supplies are handy, and you can crank up the ole baygen, toss a stick in the stove, and fire up the scanner and listen to the meltdown. Can't wait to see old dick clarks mouth hanging open as the tv fades to static when the big apple and the grid drop at the same time....hehehehehehe....I can see it now, polly steaks, denialist roasts, yuppie "news" reporters wondering why reality hurts so much.........."hey, how come we didn't hear about this?" darwin awards, january1st, 2000--do you know where your stash is????

-- zog (zzoggy@yahoo.com), October 28, 1999.

The local markets will probably take checks...because they know many or even most of their customers...(small island). The big stores, like K-Mart and Wal-Mart, however, don't necessarily know all of us...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), October 28, 1999.

If the stores computer's are down, then they won't even know how to ring up the sale!

I say this because many stores rely on the UPC bar code for the price of the merchandise. They don't even tag the merchandise with the price. When the store's computers go down, they won't even know how much any given piece of merchandise costs.

Today's retailing relies so much on computers that the cashiers are brain-dead!

-- Forum Regular (Here@y2k.comx), October 28, 1999.



Suuuuuure... NO PROBLEM!!

Just have your checkbook ready, and enjoy the new millenium!!

-- Robert X. Cringely (I_don't_have_@_freakin._clue), October 28, 1999.


I've noticed in the last two weeks that 2 convenience store chains in my town (a small country town with a large university in it) will no longer accept checks after Dec. 1. When I asked why, they said the check verification system just cost too much. This seems odd in a college town where many people pay by check. you would think that the volume of checks would more than justify the cost of a check verification system.

-- loveitinthecountry (Marshall2@iname.com), October 29, 1999.

When the electricity was out here after Fran, local supermarkets took small groups of 8-10 people around the shelves, lighting their way with a flashlight and writing prices with a felt marker on the goods selected. Cash only.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 29, 1999.

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