guyoncouch

I work as a bartender and thought about using my Sapphire preferred card to pay for customers orders that had paid me in cash thus earning rewards points and getting my spending bonus over easily.

My main concern though is if there would be anything illegal about me doing this or any kind of concerns I would need to be aware of related to taxes etc..

I would only probably be doing this on one cash tab a shift for maybe a total of 500-1000 a week. The only problem I can think of would be that the restaurant is charged some type of CC transaction fee that I would then be increasing by using my card in what would have been a cash transaction.

Its definitely not something I would want to lose my job over due to not realizing i was in violation of some type of law I was not aware of related to doing this.

bobfather

Huge red flag at accounting time when they see tons of charges from the same credit card for customer drinks.

Speak to your manager and clear it first. If it's a corporate restaurant you may get lucky. If it's a mom-and-pop bar they'll likely take umbrage to the 3% fees they'll be paying for your ventures.

phdtomd

I wouldn't do it if I were you, im no lawyer but that sounds illegal to me. Besides your boss is getting charged unnecessary fees.

terpfan101

Agreed with the previous posters. If you were to do that and get caught, my guess is that you would get fired. I know if I owned a business and you were doing that I'd fire you.

First off, you'd be costing them close to 3% in merchant fees on whatever amounts you did that to. Say its $1000 a week, that's $30 a week that they are paying for you to earn miles. Second, customers would be thrown off when you can't give them a receipt since you'd have to run it through as a credit sale (unless you wanted to give them your credit receipt). Finally, it would look like you are stealing cash from the business as you'd be pocketing the customer's cash. So don't do it.

AlohaDaveKennedy

The cardinals ain't gonna like this and in fact we smell fish when we go to a restaurant and are told the card reader is down so we all need to pay cash. The reader generally ain't gonna be down for very long - that fishy smell is coming from a waiter or bartender running cash transactions through on their personal card.

Things ain't gonna be pretty if you are caught doing this. It ain't gonna pass the sniff test.

guyoncouch

I wouldn't be lying to anyone and saying that the credit card readers are down I was just considering using my card when guests had already paid me in cash for a tab once a night if that. The customers would already have their receipt that I printed when they decided to pay me in cash.

I wasn't sure what the % was that the business gets charged on that and 3% is too much for me to do this and not feel like I was stealing from the store. Although I am 100% certain the place I am at would only make me repay the 3% if it ever was noticed I will not do it if I have to be shady about it. I respect the place I work at and they treat me well. Many restaurants pass on half or more of the merchant fees to the servers which to me is completely bogus, as it should be a business expense and if my restaurant was set up that way I would not feel bad about it.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Astrophsx

You are talking about 1,000 to 2,000 points per week.

So after running this for three months you'd have enough to get a domestic roundtrip ticket. That's a bit of work and risk for little payout if you ask me.

JohanSlam

Within days the card pro essor will contact the bar and report unusual activity by a carduser. They cannot name you but will ask the corporate contact to ask them "was it ....".

I would imagine you will be fired. And it might be considered as wire fraud, a case for the Feds!

Steve in Olympia

In order for this to be fraud, someone has to be defrauded.

guyoncouch

I have already decided against doing this but I am curious how this would actually happen.

I have many regulars that come into my place every night and sometimes multiple times a day. I don't see how it would be unusual for someone to have a small charge on their card from the same restaurant 5 times or so a week. I was never thinking about running my card 10 times a night or anything like that.

deant

The restaurant owner, being out the 3% or so, would be the one being defrauded. The charges are being fraudulently being run through the credit system. The OP would be signing receipts saying he received goods and / or services that he did not personally receive.

guyoncouch

Without knowing the actual way the law is structured your response seems to be reasonable as to their being a possible case of fraud in doing this since the business is indeed out the merchant fee.

However is signing a credit card receipt actually saying I must have received any goods or services? To me it seems more like a credit receipt is an authorization for a transaction, I wouldn't think it has anything to do with having to receive goods/services personally but I wouldn't be surprised if I am wrong.

In any case I won't be taking the chance.

Astrophsx

You forgot to hypothetically think about if your place of business is part of any dining reward program. Wouldn't you have been better off purchasing gift cards from the restaurant (first fridays) and then using those to pay for the bill? Lets get creative here!

I don't think anyone even needs to bring up legal or ethical issues. It just doesn't seem worth the risk of losing your job.

Even if your boss allowed you to do this with paying the fee (2-3%) for double points might not better than just going out and buying gift cards.

theacolyte

The employment contract for most chain restaurants explicitly forbid this. I've worked for two national chains, (and was the weirdo who actually read the contracts) and it says no to these "cash advance" type actions, and that it is a terminable offense.
Now, an independent place is another story. Nothing is illegal about it, but it's incredibly immoral to force your employer to pay the transaction fees to chase/visa all to manufacture spend. It's biting the hand that feeds you.

WhateverDude

Others have posted that they do this, but ONLY with the owner's knowledge and consent. In effect, he's taking a 3% hit (or whatever his card processing fee is). If you and he come to terms with that or work out other arrangements...I say go for it. It can't hurt to ask and be upfront.

Say "I know this will cost you not ONLY the 3%, but you'll also be losing cash income for which I am SURE you are not reporting all of it to the IRS. Before I call the IRS tipline about that issue, i wanted to ask if you're okay with me meeting some minimum spend on a few piddly credit cards."

I give it an 87% chance of success.