Rick G: In the last 15 years, we’ve been lucky enough to get stuck with counterfeit cash only three times. Last Friday, we got a fake $20 bill. How do you deal with it when one of your drivers comes back with a fake bill? Who eats it?
TexasRookie: We take the loss. Use it as a learning opportunity with the understanding that, if it happens again, the driver will eat the loss. (It will not happen again, in my experience.)
tguag: We got a bad fake $100 bill a few months ago at the shop—it was our first. It is now tacked to our cork board as a learning tool. I ate the $100, but I also
implemented a new rule for counter staff. I have pens and lights that detect fake bills—if a bill doesn’t pass both tests, don’t accept it. If they accept the fake bill, they can either pay it back or take a write-up—three write-ups, and they [will be fired] for incompetence. Luckily, most of my drivers are [streetwise] and can spot a fake from across the street.
Georgiascp: We train staff to check $100 bills on delivery, so they know they will eat the loss if they don’t check them. We don’t use pens or those fancy UV light things. The best defense, in my opinion, is holding the bill up to the light and checking for its markings. In the last seven years of business, we have received fake money about three times, totaling about 50 bucks, so it’s not really as big a deal for me as it would be for my employees. But I do bring it to their attention, and we teach refreshers on how to check for fake bills.
paul7979: We take the loss. I’ve probably gotten close to $1,000 [in counterfeit bills] over the 19 years I’ve been in business. In my mind, if you don’t give your drivers the tools they need to detect a counterfeit—as well as the time to check each and every bill at every address—it is wrong to charge them for the ones they accept.
pizzapiratespp: We don’t get too many fakes anymore. Now that the criminals have access to fraudulent credit cards, they don’t bother with fraudulent cash.
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