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Coin shows: personal checks in display cases...why?

More than few times I have seen dealers place customers' personal checks face-up in their display cases at coin shows...even when the dealers are
absent from their tables the checks are in plain view though locked-up...at March Baltimore I noticed at least three tables with personal checks on display so-to-speak...name,
home address, account number, signature, amount etc. I don't really think the criminal element is trying to glean information from these rare instances but I find it odd
that the dealers just don't flip the checks over at least.
image

Comments

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    PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 47,541 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Did you ask any of these dealers why they don't protect their customers personal information? I'd be interested in their response.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

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    sinin1sinin1 Posts: 7,500
    are they bounced checks

    or from today
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    johnny9434johnny9434 Posts: 32,533 ✭✭✭✭✭
    i dont think it matter wheather or not its from today or tommoroow, the point is that its in bad taste to put personal info out like that. if it were bounced checks i could see it. to me theres no reqard to ones personal safety
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    RTSRTS Posts: 1,408
    are they bounced checks or from today

    My guess is that they were current checks from current purchases, as I said I noticed this at least three times on Friday.
    If I was nefarious I could have easily snapped a picture.

    Did you ask any of these dealers why they don't protect their customers personal information? I'd be interested in their response.

    Two of the tables were unattended and most of the dealers I fear even interrupting their sandwich image much less questioning their business practices.
    image
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    coinkatcoinkat Posts: 24,405 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have noticed this in the past as well- not yesterday, but perhaps I was just too pre-occupied with an issue associated with HK667.

    I think this is a very, very poor practice and any dealer should really know better

    Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.

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    soapguysoapguy Posts: 44 ✭✭
    only personal check i had seen was a cancelled
    marilyn monroe. the signature itself was awesome to see.


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    yellowkidyellowkid Posts: 5,486


    << <i>I have noticed this in the past as well- not yesterday, but perhaps I was just too pre-occupied with an issue associated with HK667.

    I think this is a very, very poor practice and any dealer should really know better >>

    image

    Unless they are bad checks.
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    PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 47,541 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I once saw a dealer's check prominently displayed in a dealer's case with "BAD CHECK" written accross it in red magic marker. It didn't take long for that dealer to run up with a handful of cash to buy his check back. image

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

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    mikeygmikeyg Posts: 1,002





    This is a common practice in many small stores when someones check bounces.I have seen it here in brooklyn many times.The thinking behind it is twofold.

    1) the person who wrote the check is usually told by someone that their check is on display affording them a chance to come in and buy the check back.

    2)the displayed check serves as a warning to other businesses that this person has written bad checks.
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    dohdoh Posts: 6,457 ✭✭✭
    They're bad checks.
    Positive BST transactions with: too many names to list! 36 at last count.
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    edix2001edix2001 Posts: 3,388


    << <i>I have seen it here in brooklyn many times. >>



    No foolin'?
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    "only personal check i had seen was a cancelled marilyn monroe. the signature itself was awesome to see." - soapguy

    Agreed. In my hobby of autograph authentication I see both the good and the bad checks in some delalers cases. Never really thought it about with regard to coins. My eyes are always beind drawn to Mercury Proofs. Most recent checks of interest I have handled were from Lou Costello to the Brown Derby, and Judy Garland for something to do with her TV show. I prefer contracts over signed checks as they are usually more interesting. However, a Burton check for booze is more interesting than that for drycleaning cleaning. The bad checks from buyers usually have a note though stating what they are. The forgeries are of course always listed. I think/i] the best check I ever saw was from Garland to a drugstore. The best example of her handwriting and it was a list of drugs and alcohol needed when changing hotel rooms. Oopps...gotta be coin related...this was 1967 - the year of the Special Min Sets! image

    Best,
    Eric
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    RussRuss Posts: 48,514 ✭✭✭
    I once bought a check at a coin show. It was one written by B. Max Mehl.

    Russ, NCNE
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    WTCGWTCG Posts: 8,940 ✭✭✭


    << <i>They're bad checks. >>



    More often not, actually. Often times the safest place to store cash and checks is in a display case although I can't totally understand why others don't place them face down.

    Not all dealers care that much about their own reputations. One dealer at the Santa Clara show had a bad check on display in his case...from the (very well known) dealer set up directly across the aisle. The bad check dealer didn't care.
    Follow me on Twitter @wtcgroup
    Authorized dealer for PCGS, PCGS Currency, NGC, NCS, PMG, CAC. Member of the PNG, ANA. Member dealer of CoinPlex and CCE/FACTS as "CH5"
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    WTCGWTCG Posts: 8,940 ✭✭✭
    OT question for the thread's oP:

    What is the "meaning" of the pic in your sig line supposed to be? Can never make a connection...
    Follow me on Twitter @wtcgroup
    Authorized dealer for PCGS, PCGS Currency, NGC, NCS, PMG, CAC. Member of the PNG, ANA. Member dealer of CoinPlex and CCE/FACTS as "CH5"
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    BarryBarry Posts: 10,100 ✭✭✭


    << <i>I once bought a check at a coin show. It was one written by B. Max Mehl.

    Russ, NCNE >>


    Did you cash it?


    What is the "meaning" of the pic in your sig line supposed to be?

    It wins first place in the most annoying sig line pic contest.


    P.S. Post number 10K!
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    FairlanemanFairlaneman Posts: 10,428 ✭✭✭✭✭
    To the OP and the others that said displaying bounced checks that a person has not made good is in bad taste. What would you do? Let it ride? This, displaying checks that are bad, has been around for decades.

    Ken
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    AgBloxAgBlox Posts: 744 ✭✭
    See it all the time in small fuel stations, restaurants and other mom & pop type shops here in Ohio. I always check them out to see if I know them imageimage
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    I worked in a small pizza shop in Virginia that would display the bounced checks and refused to take them down even if the writer made good on the overdraft. The manager kept this practice up, even when he eventually stopped accepting checks, as if to tell all customers... here is why I don't accept personal checks !!
    image
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    slothman2000slothman2000 Posts: 953 ✭✭✭
    Ever seen that "Seinfeld" episode "The Little Jerry"? Jerry has a bounced check posted in a Bodega....Funny Stuff.
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    BroadstruckBroadstruck Posts: 30,497 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>OT question for the thread's oP:

    What is the "meaning" of the pic in your sig line supposed to be? Can never make a connection... >>



    Maybe these are the pink pumps that RTS wears to shows...

    If it's a bad show he says there's no place like home 3 times and clicks his heels together imageimage
    To Err Is Human.... To Collect Err's Is Just Too Much Darn Tootin Fun!
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    Ya know, come to think of I saw this too today, while not in large numbers, but it did happen.

    I too wondered about it, and figured they were bad chacks.
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    ChrisRxChrisRx Posts: 5,619 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>They're bad checks. >>



    More often not, actually. Often times the safest place to store cash and checks is in a display case although I can't totally understand why others don't place them face down.

    Not all dealers care that much about their own reputations. One dealer at the Santa Clara show had a bad check on display in his case...from the (very well known) dealer set up directly across the aisle. The bad check dealer didn't care. >>



    LOL Wish I had seen that.
    image
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    <<If I was nefarious I could have easily snapped a picture.>>

    <<Not all dealers care that much about their own reputations. One dealer at the Santa Clara show had a bad check on display in his case...from the (very well known) dealer set up directly across the aisle. The bad check dealer didn't care. >>



    image


    Nice!
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    PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 47,541 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>To the OP and the others that said displaying bounced checks that a person has not made good is in bad taste. What would you do? Let it ride? This, displaying checks that are bad, has been around for decades.

    Ken >>



    Giving someone a bad check is even in worse bad taste.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

  • Options
    PerryHallPerryHall Posts: 47,541 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Not all dealers care that much about their own reputations. One dealer at the Santa Clara show had a bad check on display in his case...from the (very well known) dealer set up directly across the aisle. The bad check dealer didn't care. >>



    How is he treated by the other dealers? I assume they refuse to accept any of his checks.

    Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
    "Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire

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    RTSRTS Posts: 1,408
    The reason I think that in two examples the checks were not bad checks is that there were clearly other checks below and some cash...my
    assumption is that the dealers thought it a nice safe place to keep their checks/cash.
    image
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    << <i>This is a common practice in many small stores when someones check bounces.I have seen it here in brooklyn many times.The thinking behind it is twofold.

    1) the person who wrote the check is usually told by someone that their check is on display affording them a chance to come in and buy the check back.

    2)the displayed check serves as a warning to other businesses that this person has written bad checks. >>





    image 100%
    Gary
    image
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    TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 45,040 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hypothetical :

    You see a check in a display case and see the "personal information" clearly visible to God and the world. Then you go across the floor to another dealer. Here, you decide you want to sell some of your coins. He's interested and offers a handsome price. You accept and take his check. Then you see that information matches what you just saw in a display case at another dealer across the bourse floor.

    Do you ask yourself : "Why ?"

    Why would you take that guys' check ? And if other dealers are armed with information that could lead you from harm's way, would it be good ?

    I'm just thinking outloud based on the OP's post.
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    TwoSides2aCoinTwoSides2aCoin Posts: 45,040 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ...and on the flipside, if the checks are not cleared and part of the days' business, the dealers exposing this information are not in the right.

    I can see two sides of the issue, but am unsure how to assess this with complete logic, based off the information given.
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    GeomanGeoman Posts: 2,491 ✭✭✭
    The dealer I work with does this only for bad checks. If he gets a check that bounces, the next several shows he puts it out for all to see. Maybe it is his way to alert other dealers and to be on the look out for the same. Also, it may also embarrass the person enough to come pay it off. This happened at one show, where the person came in, saw his check, apologized and gave cash to get the check back.
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    RussRuss Posts: 48,514 ✭✭✭


    << <i>

    << <i>I once bought a check at a coin show. It was one written by B. Max Mehl.

    Russ, NCNE >>


    Did you cash it? >>



    Nah, it had already been cashed. Like 70 years ago.

    Russ, NCNE
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    AUandAGAUandAG Posts: 25,036 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Most have answered your question but here's a personal experience.

    Back in the 70's I owned Bob's Sentry Hardware in Castle Rock, Colorado.
    In the years I owned it I posted bad checks under the glass next to the
    check out register. The town was about 3000 people is all. Everyone
    pretty much knew everyone.
    In the first 6 months after opening I got 3 bad checks. Posted them and
    they stayed under glass forever. In the next ten years I receive two bad
    checks and both were not local checks.
    So, posting the bad ones worked for me but I don't know how well it would
    work for a dealer on the road. Perhaps it helps.

    bob
    Registry: CC lowballs (boblindstrom), bobinvegas1989@yahoo.com

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