WastedInMargaritaville

why would they care about that? they're still getting paid. i just don't understand why they hate us. good thing i don't go to PO to get my MOs.

briang191

If the PO is getting charged per swipe I could see the PO losing money

FrankMS

Not dead yet. Success today with VVGC.

Prometheus77

I think if this were the case I think they would stop accepting debit all together as the charge per swipe is the same for prepaid debt as personal bank issued debit cards. IMO they are likely trying to stop fraud/money laundering. It's very common for carders to forge a CC with stolen CC data and buy VGCs or MCGCs which they can liquidate through MOs or other methods.

oopl

Because "see something, say something" gone astray. They want to be the hero that catches the shifty bad guy.

WastedInMargaritaville

yeah exactly. smh.

Radster

Well this latest development sure isn't going to help their "plunging" MO volumes.

Link to April 2016 USPS report for those interested:

https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/mod...al-money-order

WastedInMargaritaville

not to mention that they cost twice as much as where i purchase mine.. hell, sometimes they don't even charge me a fee, like today.

Prometheus77

Great information there! I have relatives in the OIG and am going to try to set up a meeting with the author of that paper to see if him knows/understands the impact the current POS changes will have on their MO revenues. I think that if they added the ability to purchase MOs to the self serve kiosks available at some POs they would see higher MO sales than from just having a human operated dedicated MO line at the PO. That would cut out a lot of the projected costs he mentions and those kiosks are accessible 24/7 at some of the POs in my area.

FlightNurse

The same question was asked about WM last year. I'm sure the Fed's have something to do with and possibility of Money Laundering (BTW save the argument that we aren't doing that, just because we aren't doesn't mean others are doing it)

DeaconY

Oh dear lord!

hamokmonky

you should probably look into regulated vs nonregulated debit card fees. All the gcs except usbank are nonregulated cards and charge considerably higher fees. Most of the typical bank cards are regulated, along with usbank gcs, and charge a much much lower fee.

lobo411

While I hope this is just a temporary glitch because I buy MOs at the PO too, let's not forget what we are as MSers. We are not real customers. WM, the PO, Kroger etc... do not sell MOs because they want our business. In fact, they probably lose money on every transaction when you figure swipe fees and the cost of employees.

Why would they sell something they lose money on? Well...loss leader. The idea is that poor, unbanked folks occasionally use MOs to pay real bills, and they tend to stay and buy milk, stamps, detergent, etc... In other words, MOs are offered not because selling MOs is so profitable, but because the service attracts real customers.

We MSers are not real customers. We don't buy anything but MOs, so they actually lose money on us. And then we have idiots who go there with 40 GCs and tie up an employee for 10 or 15 mins, holding up the line for real customers.

If I was the CEO of any of these businesses, I'd have cut the cord for MSing a long time ago. I'd instruct my employees to say: "Thank you for coming in, sir, but your business is undesirable."

Again, I hope this is just a temporary glitch, but let's not pretend we're babes in the woods here.

missing_link

That may be true for places that sell MOs for 60 cents, but the PO charges nearly double the prevailing rate for MOs. I'm almost certain it's a money-making enterprise for them, even with split transactions.

hamokmonky

since googling is apparently really hard for people....

Regulated debit transactions have a maximum “interchange” cap as outlined in the Durbin Amendment, $0.22 plus 0.05% -- Yes they make money off of these, however, only usbank gc are regulated debits...

Unregulated debit transactions vary depending on the vendor accepting the debit card, and its tough to say what the post office would be, but most of the rates vary around 1.15% + $0.15 for unregulated pin debit transactions. Incase math is hard, on a 1K money order that's $11.65. Other categories might be slightly less than 1.15% but nothing was significant enough that it would change the statement that they are not making money off of our transactions. All of our giftcards, vanillas, metas, sunnies, etc, are unregulated.