Selling a tractor; a funny question

[Bird]

I agree with you, Jim, and generally try to limit the amount of cash I have on me to less than $200 (usually much less ) but once in a great while I've made an exception.

Sandman, your story about strapping on a .45 and going to the bank for cash was interesting. Before I joined the police department, I was a clerk in the Post Office in Dallas for 5 years. The last year I worked nothing but registered mail. And of course trains still hauled the mail. Besides the registered number, we had some codes for large amounts of cash, and I was sometimes required to strap on a .38 Colt we had in the office and go meet a train to either put on or take off extra valuable shipments. That gun was loaded alright, but probably hadn't been cleaned in 20 years or more and our instructions were "if you get robbed just give them the gun, too". I'm not sure of the exact amount of the most valuable shipment I handled, but I know one night I had 32 bags of freshly printed money with more than $250k per bag; i.e., 8 million or more, going to the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas.

 

[sandman2234]

I know that if somebody had of held us up, the other two guys probably would not have been able to figure out how to take the Remington's off of safety. (Remington clone of a Colt 45)
Target practice was available when we were at sea, and not doing flight opps. I always thought it was fun to shoot at the garbage when they tossed it off the fantail, but the guys doing it didn't seem to enjoy it nearly as much as I did.
I did haul a load one time, and noticed a car following me, even when I went thru the chicken coops. When I arrived at the post office of my destination, the guy checked the seal, and signed my paperwork. I asked him what was in the trailer, and he laughed when he realized I really didn't know. He opened the trailer door, and it was full of 24 pallets of postage stamps about three feet high. The price was going up on them, and they were the first printing of them to be distributed. That trailer was probably worth a lot of money, and explained what the black car was doing following me.
David from jax

 

[Bird]

David, before I transferred to the registered mail section, I used to work a window at the Post Office. I was working a window selling stamps when the price of a regular first class stamp went from 4 cents to 5 cents. Airmail used to be 7 cents and special delivery was 30 cents. I have no idea how they do it now, but in those days each clerk had an assigned inventory ($1,500 in my case). You had your own cash drawer, with your inventory, that you locked in a safe at the end of the day. That inventory consisted of cash, stamps, envelopes, and postcards (a lot of people fussed about having to pay 3 cents for a "penny postcard"). At the end of each day, you prepared an order form and turned it in with the cash to pay for what you ordered and when you came to work the next day, you picked up your order. You were not supposed to keep more than 10% of your inventory in cash for making change.

A Postal Inspector would show up unannounced once each calendar quarter and you never knew what day he would arrive. He "audited" your inventory. You were allowed a one percent over or under. If you were over more than one percent, he took the entire amount you were over. If you were under more than one percent, you just had to dig it out of your pocket right then and pay the entire shortage. No ifs, ands, buts, or excuses allowed.

Of course, we also used a postage machine with a meter that was read at the beginning and end of each shift and there were a number of 2nd 3rd class items that required postage that included a half cent; i.e., like 12.5 cents, 7.5 cents, etc. So, naturally you had to charge a whole penny so I usually made a half cent extra two or three times a day, and naturally I was never short.

 

[frank_f15]

Bird' Bird 'Bird I am afarid you are dating us, as i also remember those postal rates of course i also rember gas at $0.19 a gallon in the morning on the way to work and then $0.15 on the way home full service and a free glass

 

[Bird]

Frank, I was the guy selling that gas, back when "service stations" really provided service. My Dad bought a Texaco station in Marietta, OK, in June, 1956, then when the highway bypassed the town, sold it and we moved to Plano, TX, where he bought a Mobil service station in November, 1956. I noticed the other day that Home Depot had some one gallon cans of kerosene priced in excess of $8. I sold kerosene (if you had your own container) and "white gas" for a dime a gallon. Unbelievable, ain't it?

And you know, Frank, I assume that's it's possible that I made other mistakes that I never learned about, but the one mistake I always remembered from the Post Office was the first day that stamps went from 4 cents to 5 cents. I was quite accustomed to customers coming in and asking for a "half sheet" of stamps; i.e., 50 stamps that went for $2. And that first day after the rate increase, I had a customer ask for a half sheet of stamps, which I gave him, and charged him $2. It was probably 5 minutes after he disappeared that I realized I had just given away 50 cents. And I never forgot it.

 

[mjarrels]

I don't think cash is used on Navy ships any more... debit cards only. Last cruise I ever made was on the Carl Vinson in 1996... If I remember right we were only paid in $20.00 bills (nothing larger was allowed) and we left the pier with nothing less than 15 to 18 million in cash onboard! You were able to leave pay on the books for later payment if you wished.

mark

 

[DavesTractor]

Over the years I've bought and re-sold, according to my records, 86 tractors. Buy low, sell high. Put 3 kids through college with the proceeds. I never took a bad check. Then again, 2/3rds of the tractors I sold were to "locals" that I knew, and knew where to find them if there would have been a problem. If I didn't know the buyer, certified check, cash, or we would go to the bank and do a wire transfer. Out of state bank? Cash ONLY.

I'm on the same page as you on this, if they are local and established it is very unlikely they will give you a bad check. We deliver almost every tractor we sell, so we know where the people live. No doubt a clever person could fool us if they determined to, but most crooks aren't out buying tractors.

If a guy I didn't know just showed up with a trailer and a check and I couldn't establish him as a local, I'd be less likely to take a personal check.

 

[mjarrels]

I remember about 7 years ago my wife and daughter went back to the Philippines for about two months... she had about $5000.00 dollars in $100.00 bills... hidden in shoes, socks, and other places we won't talk about... What if we were stopped by the police? Yes, she had tickets to Manila.

mark

 

[Brokermike]

FYI. I work in financial services and we were required to report any transactions that look to be strucutred to fall under the $10,000 threshold for cash deposits. Thankfully we no longer accept cash!

 

[Champy]

When I sold my motorcycle the fellow wanted it but didn't have the resources to pay for it all at once. So I held the bike for him and every month he would drop off a couple grand towards the bike. The deal was the money was no refundable as I took it all and put it on the bike payment. The agreement was made and we both held up to our ends. When he made the last payment he loaded the bike and went home. I mailed the final payment in and sent him the lien release when I received it. Just trust your gut and if someone really wants it set up a simple contract stating the terms and have both people sign and date it.

Sounds like the buyer of your bike took all the risk on this one. He really trusted you to pay off the M/C loan and then send him the lien release....... these situations can get nasty if the seller "forgets" his part of the deal.