No more USPS MOs

[300 weatherby]

Just sold a bow to a young man in PA. He paid with a Postal Money Order.

Do you know how hard it is to cash a MO for over $100? Holy crap! Went to 3 different post offices today and not one of them could do it. The big PO had 4 different tellers going, but not one of them had the cash in the drawer to cover the MO. Each of them had "almost enough" but Post Office regulations won't let them transfer money from one drawer to the next. How stupid is that!

I bank with NFCU and the closest branch is over 100 miles away. I guess I am going to have to mail in the deposit.

So, no more money orders for me. I can mobile deposit a personal check and have the money in my account in less than 2 days (or know if the check won't clear too). Probably going to go that route now.

Try and cash them later in the Day. Not in the morning

 

[Fuj]

I have never cashed one of the hundreds of MO’s I have received for payment at a post office. I just deposit them at my bank.

Same here. My credit union puts a 3 business day hold on
them though. It's not a bother.

 

[hoz53]

Last one I got, PO didn't have the money either, so I just bought a MO for the same amount and used the MO I received as payment.

what good did that do?

 

[hoz53]

Just sold a bow to a young man in PA. He paid with a Postal Money Order.

Do you know how hard it is to cash a MO for over $100? Holy crap! Went to 3 different post offices today and not one of them could do it. The big PO had 4 different tellers going, but not one of them had the cash in the drawer to cover the MO. Each of them had "almost enough" but Post Office regulations won't let them transfer money from one drawer to the next. How stupid is that!

I bank with NFCU and the closest branch is over 100 miles away. I guess I am going to have to mail in the deposit.

So, no more money orders for me. I can mobile deposit a personal check and have the money in my account in less than 2 days (or know if the check won't clear too). Probably going to go that route now.

Ive had these experiences with MOs to but this is something easy to deal with compared to the shipping problems at USPS. Im in the process of learning to use fedex and ups without the local dropoff places and their high prices.

 

[brxbrad]

Venmo... Or PayPal... Problem solved.

 

[hogpatrol]

Hard to believe U. S. money orders started in 1838, almost 200 years ago. I've often wondered why they don't go digital. You go to the p.o. or get it online, password protect it, email or text it to the recipient, and no lines, p.o. short of cash, bank holds and other such hiccups. Moneygram works similar.

 

[Dave Way]

I know many people on here don’t like PayPal but it is my preferred payment method. Often when I sell items, the money is in my PayPal account, then transferred to my personal account within minutes. I hate to jinx myself but I’ve yet to have a problem.

Dave.

 

[FNSafari]

My bank wouldn't cash a PMO for me recently. It was for a bit over $200. I had to deposit it into a checking account. My guess....anti money laundering moves, either required of them or simply implemented by them in excess of any federal requirements.

 

[NorCalMikie]

My guess....anti money laundering moves??

Pay CASH for a new car or truck. First ??? Where did the $$$ come from? (and can you prove it) Any amount over XXX is questioned. (drug money ??)
Went in to the bank to make a deposit. How much? $50K!
Inheritance? Yep. No problem.
And the Post office is NOT a bank.
Deposit it in YOUR bank.
Write a check or do the ATM thing. Problem solved.

 

[nmkid]

When I get a large M.O order($) I call the post office and tell them I'll be by late afternoon when the clerks should have enough money in their till to cash it. No problems in over 30 years. Otherwise, it is hard to get a M.O. cashed as clerks are only allowed $100 in their till to start the day.

 

[rijndael]

My bank wouldn't cash a PMO for me recently. It was for a bit over $200. I had to deposit it into a checking account. My guess....anti money laundering moves, either required of them or simply implemented by them in excess of any federal requirements.

Not all checks can be verified immediately and they don't want to hand you the money for a check that may be bad. If it's put in your checking account, they can easily reverse it and charge you a fee for the bounced check.

 

[OLeveraction]

If the usps didn't cash one of their own MO that is a failure to preform the service you paid for.
That does not even make sense.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I have never cashed one of the hundreds of MO’s I have received for payment at a post office. I just deposit them at my bank, which is 500 yards away. I cant imagine banking at a bank 100 miles away. That is your real problem. Not MO’s.

I have been banking with Navy Federal Credit Union since I got out of boot camp in 1991. They have great remote service (they were one of the first banks to offer mobile banking, including deposits) and you will be hard pressed to find better rates on their loans and other offerings.

The problem isn't with the bank, they will absolutely cash or let me deposit the MO at one of their branches. I just don't happen to be near one. The problem is that if the USPS is going to allow purchase of a MO up to $1000, then they should be able to cash them. Maybe not at a small local PO, but any larger PO should be able to do it. When you have 4 drawers that each have over $400 in them, they should be able to move cash from one drawer to the next. Either that, or designate one drawer for all the cash transactions so that they have enough to cover a MO cashing.

Either way, it is personal check, PayPal, or Venmo from here on out. I am shipping with FedEx pretty regularly as well.

 

[Dgd6mm]

I've sent and received many USPS M.O.s buying and selling components online. I treat them as I do personal checks, deposit them in my bank, as the PO seems to never have any change in their drawer.

^^^^ same here for me. I've never cashed one, always deposited them.

 

[DirtySteve]

Postal Money orders have been widely counterfeited in years past. This is the root of the issue. Stupid folks were reviving the MO’ for iterms bought on line. They were sent MO’s for over the amount of purchase and told to kept an extra &100 for the in convenience and send the rest back cash. Oh yes dumbasses fell for this hook line and sinker.

Someone said banking 100 miles a way is the problem. Well we all don’t live in the “Uncivilized World”!!! Some of us live in the country. I drive 40 miles to the nearest town and it has one bank. I keep my old bank that I have banked with for 30 years even though I moved.

 

[jonbearman]

Seeing as my bank is fairly close I deposit everything over a 100.00 mainly because the post office doesnt do a lot of money transactions, mainly because of debit cards.So depositing the money orders is the way to go in my opinion.

 

[XTR]

Last transaction I did for a firearm (few weeks ago) I emailed the seller photos of the front and back of my check. he printed, endorsed and mobile deposited. Money cleared my acct the next day.

 

[nosualc]

I've run into the same problem. USPS MOs are a PITA. None of the 3 POs near me ever have enough cash. Seems everybody pays with a credit card these days, so they simply don't have the cash on hand. Have to bring 'em to the bank and wait, just like a personal check. Meh.

 

[FNSafari]

The PO has turned into a pain in the a$$. I had a falling out at mine when I tried to cash a $60 MO. "I don't have that much in my drawer". I bitched, the "supervisor" came out, and said there is nothing she can do. It didn't end well.

It seems they have a policy, X amount of money is placed in each drawer each day. That's it. If it's a big PO that has a lot of turnovers, you might get lucky.

My bank will depost POMOs in my account no problem. If it didn't, I would find another way, and it would not be paypal.

Wayne,
Larger amounts of $ in the drawers went out with each teller having a 1917 S&W or Colt 45 ACP revolver in the drawer too.

 

[thekriebles]

Next time have the sender break it into several MO's of smaller amounts if you want to cash it at a Post Office.

The unfair result using this avenue is that the USPS charges the buyer for each postal money order purchased. Then the buyer has to fill each one out, and they are a PIA. Clearly, you want to protect yourself as the seller. But at the same time, you don't want the potential buyer to go through too many hoops to make the purchase.