 |
          |
 |
- By Michelle Ramirez
- Trail Staff Writer
Joy, kindness and generosity are the essence of the holiday season. Each year, as the last leaves fall from frozen branches of neighborhood trees and the moon hangs low in the winter night sky, families across the country prepare for the biggest gift-giving holiday of the year — Christmas.
The prospect of mom’s famous sugar cookies, family and merriment take over America’s cities and towns.
Streets are adorned with red and green decorations, giving all who care to take a second glance a friendly “Welcome” or “Happy Holidays.”
Stores and retailers are licking their chops as consumers test the boundaries of their credit cards and checking accounts. However, not every aspect of the holidays is full of cheer and good will.
The innocence Christmas bestows upon a community also leaves the kindness and generosity of people in a vulnerable position. The potential for businesses and companies to have their services taken advantage of is increased.
Owner of Blair’s Supermarket, Brent Foulger, takes precautions during the holidays and certain times of the year to protect his business.
Each year around the holidays, Foulger said Blair’s does not accept out of town checks because, often, several bad checks are written by patrons on their way out of town.That leaves business owners in a pickle when the time comes to recover the funds.
Allen Mercer, owner of Vali Cinemas in downtown Powell, does not accept checks from Northwest College students at any time during the year.
“I’m tired of fighting with it,” Mercer stated.
After two returned checks in a week for $13 each, Mercer finally put the cap on taking checks from college students.
Before, Mercer would only refuse checks from college students in the spring. “I’ve been putting up with it for 30 years,” he added. Mercer has owned Vali Cinema since 1979.
Mercer said small businesses can’t afford to take the loss from returned checks.He stated, “It doesn’t take much to hurt them.”
According to Mercer, many business in town stop taking out of town checks from college students in the spring, when the chances of receiving a bad check without seeing reparations is high.
“The merchants are the losers on bad checks,” Mercer said.
When businesses receive bad checks, they are returned to the account holder after a few attempts by the bank to deposit the check.
Then the banks will send the unfortunate business owner a letter, informing them that the funds will be taken from their business account.
From there, it is the business’s responsibility to locate the person who wrote the check to try and recover the funds.
Most attempts are futile. Many customers, as in the case of Vali Cinema, are long gone by the time the check is returned. The only thing Mercer can do in his situation is write off the bad checks at the end of the year.
Mercer does his banking at First National Bank in Powell, where a fee of $25 is charged to the account holder for each bounced check.
According to Kate Bjornstad, customer service representative for Bank of the West in Powell, Bank of the West charges a fee of $28 for returned checks.
Other banks in the area, including Big Horn Federal and Shoshone First Bank, charge between $20 and $30 for each returned check.