According to the signage, it's $3 to cash a check. It cost me $9 to send $150 cash. I have the luxury of saying "ok good. It's only $9" To a poor person, $9 might keep the power company from shutting off the lights for a day or two. It will get you to work and back a couple times on the bus. It would feed a large family a humble meal. $3 is almost a round trip bus ticket.
Shoot. That's not too bad at all. That's actually pretty reasonable. I'm looking online now for average rates and the going rate seems to be anywhere from 1-3% of the check's face value. That makes me wonder if I'm remembering things being worse than they are or if there were laws introduced to crack down on predatory fees. Edit: Looks like it's a bit of both worlds.Check-cashing centers typically charge a fee based on a percentage of the check being presented and these fees often range from 1 percent to 20 percent. In the state of Ohio, laws prevent check-cashing services from charging a check-cashing fee that amounts to more than 3 percent of the check amount. State law does not prevent centers from charging additional fees to convert proceeds from a cashed check into another form of payment such as a money order.
This makes me curious -- which time when Walmart bottomed out prices did you hate them for it? Was it the inexpensive clothing? The affordable household goods? Or perhaps that time Walmart rocked the industry by introducing $4 prescription drugs? (Where allowed by law. In some states, it is illegal to sell medicine too cheaply.)
The people previously providing clothing and household goods in many towns were likely mom & pop type stores. Walmart tends to put those kind of shops out of business. The only folks profiting off of high check cashing fees are banks and check cashing/payday loan stores that are as bad or worse than Walmart.
That is possible, or the goods may have been provided by mail order, or more distant retail outlets, or people may have made their own goods or gotten by without them. When the alternate retailers were less efficient than Walmart, and unable to provide as good a value as Walmart, customers naturally chose to bring them less business. Bad news for mom, pop, and Sears, good news for all the price-sensitive shoppers that are the subject of this conversation.The people previously providing clothing and household goods in many towns were likely mom & pop type stores.