Check It Before You Wreck It: Should Your Shop Still Be Collecting Checks?

Woo-ha! Is your shop still collecting checks?

If so, why?

Checks are old-school, man. They’re paper. They’re relics of a bygone era! 

Okay, okay. We know a lot of shops take checks because their customers prefer to use them. But we also know that just as many shops take checks because, well, they’ve taken checks since the Dark Ages (or the 1970s; whichever came first) and they just don’t feel the need to change things up.

But hark! It’s the twenty-first century, y’all! And checks are…well, they can cause a number of problems for your shop, even if they’re the neat customized ones with pictures of the ocean or Kermit the Frog on them.

(Editor’s Note: Yes, these exist.)

So, how can checks trouble thee? Let us count the ways!

THE TROUBLE WITH COLLECTING CHECKS

TROUBLE #1: SLOWER CASH FLOW

When a customer writes you a check, the money is not in your account until you physically deposit said check…and sometimes, not even then! Banks may hold funds for several days as they wait for a deposit to clear. That’s several days of money not being in your account, which can mean delays in covering expenses (or, you know, paying your people).

This becomes a particularly horrifying problem when shops hold off on depositing checks for one reason or another and wind up with a stack that needs to make its way to the bank. 

TROUBLE #2: HIGHER RISK OF ERRORS

When dealing with checks, you’re typically dealing with the dreaded issue of manual entry. Account numbers, names, and dates can be written incorrectly on the customer end or the shop end (or both!), and this can lead to the dreaded bounced checks. Then you’ve got to round up the customer again and get them to write you another check.

TROUBLE #3: YOUR STAFF GETS BOGGED DOWN

Guess who has to go chasing down new payments if a check bounces? Maybe that’s your office manager. Maybe that’s you. Whoever it is undoubtedly has better things to do than call up a customer asking them to write up another check. 

Bookkeeping in general can become more complicated when customers issue a check, particularly when they have several invoices that are due and it’s unclear which they’re trying to cover. That means, once again, your office staff (or you) has to track down the customer to find out. 

TROUBLE #4: CHECKS CAN WANDER AWAY

A check can be worth a lot of money, but it’s also just a scrap of paper. It can flutter off a desk in a stiff breeze, or get stuck in the pages of a magazine, or be stepped on, run over, or flushed down a toilet — er, by accident, of course.

The point is paper checks can be misplaced, lost, or — in unfortunate occasions — stolen. This isn’t just a financial risk; it’s a hassle for you and your customer.

TROUBLE #5: SECURITY CONCERNS

What is on checks besides the amount due? Oh, important little things like routing and account numbers. What can someone do if they get their mitts on those numbers? Well…commit theft, for example. 

In general, you want to limit the amount of customer information floating around the shop. This applies to checks and shops that may write down credit card numbers instead of entering them into, say, a customer portal.

WHAT ARE YOUR ALTERNATIVES TO COLLECTING CHECKS?

You could always go digital.

Bear with us for a moment. You’re on Fullbay’s website, reading our blog, which means you’re either interested in our spectacular heavy-duty shop management software or you’re already a subscriber. Or maybe you were searching for Kermit the Frog checks and just ended up here because keywords are funny sometimes. 

Anyway, if you’re curious about Fullbay then you’re probably curious about the digital payment options it offers. Using Fullbay Payments allows you to accept ACH and credit card payments using an integrated and secure credit card reader. Account information is saved and encrypted for future payments — which means no customer information is drifting around the shop on Post-Its.

It’s fast, it’s safe, and it’s modern. 

But Fullbay, you might be saying, I can’t control what my customers do. Some of them are just really into checks!

We hear ya. And look, ultimately customers are gonna customer. You can’t make them switch to digital payments. You can, however, share some of the benefits of getting away from collecting checks:

• Faster transactions and reconciliation. When a customer issues a check, it doesn’t reconcile until the shop deposits it. Going digital keeps everything moving in real time, and they don’t have to wait for the possibly days-long settlement process. 
• Reduced risk. The security issues we described above are no bueno for your customers; switching to a digital method protects their information and their accounts.
• Less hassle. Who doesn’t have to stuff an envelope or track mail anymore? Your customer! Going digital is just cleaner. The payment is sent and received. No need to bust out a pen or constantly check an account. 

LOOK, MA, NO CHECKS!

If you’re sold on the idea of going digital, why not let us handle some of the heavy lifting? Fullbay Payments makes settling up easier and cleaner than ever, whether you’re in the shop or helping a customer on the road. 

And look, if you’ve got customers that just really want to use checks…you can still accept them and run them to the bank and wait for that money to hit your shop’s account. Meanwhile, the payments you receive through Fullbay Payments will be with you much faster. 

It’s the twenty-first century, after all.