3% convenience fee

[gfretwell]

You still gave him the 1099 tho, right? ;-)

[gfretwell]

They usually do this with internet or phone transactions so I guess this is how they get away with saying it is a convenience fee. I never tried a CC at the desk.

[gfretwell]

I think that all gets bundled in the convenience fee here although if you mail them a check there is no fee. My bean counter friends say it still costs more to handle a check than ther CC fee but checks are so ingrained into society nobody thinks about that. I am not sure how the "scan and image" processing of checks has affected that tho. I got away from the banking business about the time "image" was really catching on. I know we packed up 3 big assed check sorters and sent them away along with a 100,000 square foot building full of bank people who cleared checks. It is the Sheriff's office now.

[dpb]

...

While see the smiley and understand the joke, just for the record,

"You are required to report only those payments made in a business capacity. If you personally hire a vendor to do work unrelated to your company, you don't have to send a 1099-MISC."

Personal services thus are off the books if the worker chooses to skirt...there's undoubtedly a _lot_ of unearned income untaxed collectively in this manner that is very tough in not totally impossible for IRS to catch.

[rbowman]

My bank statement comes with a xeroxed page or two of the checks. I can't even remember when they stopped sending the physical check.

[gfretwell]

Non profit doesn't mean the directors are not getting their 6 figure salary. It just means they are not returning profits to share holders. Some of these scams eat 90% of the money internally before the needy ever see a dime.

[invalid unparseable]

I've heard in the UK, tradesmen will retire but still work for cash to avoid the 14% VAT.

[Hawk]

Fees are a method for the greedy to add more money to their pockets.

[dpb]

On 3/7/2020 2:33 PM, [e-mail] wrote: ...

There's also a distinct difference between a "not for profit" corporation and a "qualified nonprofit" to which donations are tax-deductible. Altho again, yes, there are those who will game the system.

One does need to either know something about a particular local entity or certainly research what a national organization you're not aware of does.

There's the IRS Form 990 that all nonprofits must file that is very useful in that regards if you really want to dig into the internals; there are other nonprofit evaluations that summarize those for those less diligent in doing own research.

"Some" do, yes, unfortunately. Fractionally, a small number but taint the barrel for all, sadly. Fortunately, far more are diligent in their stewardship, however, than aren't, altho the above caveat of knowing to whom you're donating is paramount.

The supporting Foundation of which I am president returns nearly 98% for purpose--and we're not at all unique in that regards.

[dpb]

Well, if is simply charging the fee to makeup for a real expense to provide the service, it would hardly seem "greedy"...unless not doing so is "philanthropic"

[dpb]

On 3/7/2020 3:21 PM, dpb wrote: ...

There's the IRS Form 990 that all QUALIFIED nonprofits must file ...

--

[Ed Pawlowski]

Couple of years ago I needed some drain work. Normal price was $600. He did it for $250 cash and a check for $150 so he could give me a receipt in case verification was needed. .

[Ed Pawlowski]

I've seen that on a few solicitations. One even had a business reply envelope but it said your donation does even more if you put a stamp on it.

I've seen on some charges you can round up to the nearest dollar and the change goes to a charity.

[Dean Hoffman]

Our local Ace Hardware was doing that for awhile. I don't remember where the donations were supposed to go.

[Hawk]

I am unable to fathom a legitimate reason to makeup for real expenses in today's society. Take for example the auto dealers who have an abundance of fees when purchasing a vehicle yet these fees didn't exist decades ago. With the computer advancement, less work is perform more so than the past. My last purchase from a dealer ended up with no fees cause I told the salesman to eliminate them or I'm not buying..... he did, with exception to title fee which no dealer can eliminate.

Dealer prep fees, printing fees, convenience fees, processing fees (that's a good one when one only has to hit a keyboard), Admin fees, ticket printing fees (seriously?), baggage fees (should we buy our clothes when we land), ATM fees, and so on and so on. Multiply fees as little as $1 to $5 x thousand or millions customers and the business has a huge chunk of change dangling in their pocket.

It certainly is all about greed.

[gfretwell]

Your bank may have never actually had the check unless it was processed "On Us". These days they just ship images of checks and the data on the MICR line. The 1990s version of the 3890 sorter had a very high quality camera that would shoot the picture while the check was going by at about 20 feet per second. They were already getting rid of the whole "fine sort" process that gets your check back to you by 1996 when I retired. The goal was not to move any paper at all and it is pretty close now. You can deposit a check now by just taking a picture of it on your phone. That image will show up on the customer's statement. A check is pretty much a paper debit card now.

[gfretwell]

The difference between a 501(C)(3) and any other non profit has more to do with who gets the money than what percentage they get.

[dpb]

...

IIRC, you had you pick of several or could write one in...altho that may have been somewhere else besides Ace. Most have something similar when doing such. Sometimes there's a corporate match besides.

[Clare Snyder]

Most prefer e transfer over a cheque

[gfretwell]

In most cases it is just to offer a low "list price" and make it up in add ons. Do you really think they can make money flying you across the country for $49?

Personally I wish they would just give me everything and charge me the price they need to keep the plane in the air. I know that guy who wears all of his clothes, doesn't want a drink or a snack, will put up with being treated like cargo and is willing to board last will insist on that $49 flight but that ain't me. I buy an F ticket most of the time.