Sum Dum Gai
Senior Associate
Joined: Aug 15, 2011 15:39:24 GMT -5
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jan 16, 2014 20:43:42 GMT -5
Nope. I'm totally jealous of the store though. Beautiful inside. If I ever win the lottery, or sell a cubic butt ton of toys, my store will look like that.
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 8, 2024 11:47:46 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2014 15:47:42 GMT -5
LOL, it depends on where you account for your breakage. Unused tickets might go to 'other revenue' (as opposed to 'ticket revenue') in order to keep track of how many of your ticket sales are going unused. You might want/need that info to adjust your business model or practices. Or it might all go to the same place. How much info you need usually depends on how much of a % of your business these things fall into. For example, if Dark learns from this that a large percentage of his gift cards are remaining unused, he might start pumping them to his customers more. If he learns that people are redeeming nearly all of them, it's less of a boost to his bottom line and he wouldn't want to spend extra time/money on trying to sell them. There's value in the info, unless it's too small of a % of business to make any difference. Another thing to consider for a business issuing gift cards is that most states have escheat laws. These laws prevent businesses from benefiting from things like checks that never get cashed and gift cards that are never redeemed. Businesses are required to turn over "unearned" funds to the state so that the state can "find" the true owner of the funds and return the funds to them. At least in theory, that's how it works. So, selling a bunch of gift cards that never get redeemed really won't benefit Dark's business. So, my daughter came to me last night with the check she earned from the Fair Association for prize money she won on baked goods. Now, as soon as she got the check in September I paid her the face value. We just never got around to cashing it. I know this has happened in the past, she has a few in her portfolios, generally if they were only a few dollars. I guess I thought this would save the Fair association having to pay it out, but are youo saying if I don't cash the check they will have to pay it anyway? Thanks.
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 8, 2024 11:47:46 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2014 15:51:38 GMT -5
Another thing to consider for a business issuing gift cards is that most states have escheat laws. These laws prevent businesses from benefiting from things like checks that never get cashed and gift cards that are never redeemed. Businesses are required to turn over "unearned" funds to the state so that the state can "find" the true owner of the funds and return the funds to them. At least in theory, that's how it works. So, selling a bunch of gift cards that never get redeemed really won't benefit Dark's business. So, my daughter came to me last night with the check she earned from the Fair Association for prize money she won on baked goods. Now, as soon as she got the check in September I paid her the face value. We just never got around to cashing it. I know this has happened in the past, she has a few in her portfolios, generally if they were only a few dollars. I guess I thought this would save the Fair association having to pay it out, but are youo saying if I don't cash the check they will have to pay it anyway? Thanks. They are supposed to give it to the state...... whether they do or not is another question. You could cash the check and give them a contribution.
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 8, 2024 11:47:46 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2014 15:54:35 GMT -5
I think that's what I'll do.
Even if they don't do what they are supposed to do, I guess I'm messing up their accounting keeping it outstanding. I wonder how many don't get cashed? ...
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Sum Dum Gai
Senior Associate
Joined: Aug 15, 2011 15:39:24 GMT -5
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jan 18, 2014 14:25:01 GMT -5
When I was treasurer for a small non profit sport's association we had a surprising amount of checks that would go uncashed. Refunded volunteer fees. Board members who purchased things for the league and then wouldn't cash the reimbursement checks, even a few payments to our umpires. It was pretty surprising to me actually. It wasn't a huge dollar amount, but it would be several hundred every year like clockwork.
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Deleted
Joined: Oct 8, 2024 11:47:46 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2014 14:48:53 GMT -5
So dark, did they turn it over to the state?
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Sum Dum Gai
Senior Associate
Joined: Aug 15, 2011 15:39:24 GMT -5
Posts: 19,892
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Post by Sum Dum Gai on Jan 18, 2014 14:58:43 GMT -5
Nope. Counted it as other income once the life of the check expired. Checks, unlike gift cards, are no longer valid after a certain period of time.
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spartan7886
Familiar Member
Joined: Jan 7, 2011 14:04:22 GMT -5
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Post by spartan7886 on Jan 18, 2014 17:18:59 GMT -5
We accidentally filed the rent check for the week after closing the old owners stayed in the house with the rest of the closing documents. I think we found it doing taxes for the year, so about 5 months later. It was about $600, so we did cash it, but we emailed the old owners and gave them a week or so to ensure there was sufficient funds in the account.
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Rocky Mtn Saver
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Joined: Dec 23, 2010 9:40:57 GMT -5
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Post by Rocky Mtn Saver on Jan 18, 2014 22:41:27 GMT -5
I think that's what I'll do. Even if they don't do what they are supposed to do, I guess I'm messing up their accounting keeping it outstanding. I wonder how many don't get cashed? ... As someone who works in Payables, I hate when people don't cash checks. They never clear from the books, month after month, and eventually i get asked to try to contact the payees to ask them if they still have it. Then I have to usually do a replacement. Argh.
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tskeeter
Junior Associate
Joined: Mar 20, 2011 19:37:45 GMT -5
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Post by tskeeter on Jan 20, 2014 11:30:50 GMT -5
Another thing to consider for a business issuing gift cards is that most states have escheat laws. These laws prevent businesses from benefiting from things like checks that never get cashed and gift cards that are never redeemed. Businesses are required to turn over "unearned" funds to the state so that the state can "find" the true owner of the funds and return the funds to them. At least in theory, that's how it works. So, selling a bunch of gift cards that never get redeemed really won't benefit Dark's business. So, my daughter came to me last night with the check she earned from the Fair Association for prize money she won on baked goods. Now, as soon as she got the check in September I paid her the face value. We just never got around to cashing it. I know this has happened in the past, she has a few in her portfolios, generally if they were only a few dollars. I guess I thought this would save the Fair association having to pay it out, but are youo saying if I don't cash the check they will have to pay it anyway? Thanks. Exactly. Let's say you mislay one of your pay checks and it doesn't get cashed. Your employer doesn't get to keep the money. After a period of time, in several states, three years, your employer must report to the state that the check wasn't cashed and send the state the amount the check was for. The state will then "hold" the money and wait for you to claim the money. In theory, the state will try to locate the individual that is due the money. But, in reality, in most cases the state's effort to locate the person who is owed money is limited to listing that person in an unclaimed property register. Even when the state has the individual's contact information, the state usually doesn't go looking for people. (My brother had a couple of checks escheated and the registry information included his current address.) After all, a good percentage that the states collect under escheat laws never gets claimed. While in theory the unclaimed property is held forever, I think it's a pretty safe bet to believe that eventually the state gambles that the unclaimed property will never be claimed, and will spend unclaimed property. Most states are members of a national association of unclaimed property administrators, so it is pretty easy to find out if you are eligible to recover unclaimed property. Just google unclaimed property and the web site should come up.
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