I am asking this for a friend.

Has anyone heard of this.

Shoprite will cash it's employee's checks, however they are required to purchase items from the store, and then even required to spend a certain amount depending on how much the check is for?

thanks

When I was too poor to have a bank account, I would cash my check at the Save Mart (Shop Smart, Shop SMart!) and they had similar requirements.

Lots of places have a certain purchase requirement to cash a check.
If your friend doesn't like those terms, ask what bank they checks are drawn on and see if there's a branch locally. The store does it's banking somewhere.

A new service I've seen some banks roll out for temp or day labor which may find wider usage is paying the employees with debit cards. Instead of a check, you get a debit card on payday with your money on the card. No need to cash anything. You use it like any other debit card, and you can take cash off it at a bank. I don't know if they give you a new card each pay period or just deposit it onto the existing card, though. I could see instances where that would be preferable to getting a check. If you have no bank account, this means you don't have to carry your whole paycheck around in cash on payday.

Many places charge a fee for check cashing (AMSCOT for instance). Even the horrible Walmart charges a fee to cash checks. The fee may be 3% of the amount or less if it is a bigger check amount. I have always had some sort of account at a bank/credit union where I could deposit $$ or cash a check without fees. Unfortunately I cannot remember what I did back in the mid 1960s when I started working and received a paycheck, although I was a member of a crit union back then.

I went to direct deposit when I started working full time even when I was in the military. No place to spend $$ when I was in Vietnam.. I got 3 hots and a cot, what more do you need.

Why not take the check and open an account with it?

Edit to add: Not trying to troll, many banks offer "free" checking, 100 dollars to open an account, and no penalty for a zero balance. Your friend could open the account with the check and then withdrawal the amount, or close to the amount of the check. At most a days wait, and no further worries about cashing a check. And no fees.

Brad

[This message has been edited by twofatguys (edited 09-24-2011).]

thanks for the input everyone. I am pretty familiar with most of the ways to cash checks. I was just surprised that a store wouldn't just outright cash the check (without fees) for one of their own employees.

quote Originally posted by twofatguys: Why not take the check and open an account with it? Edit to add: Not trying to troll, many banks offer "free" checking, 100 dollars to open an account, and no penalty for a zero balance. Your friend could open the account with the check and then withdrawal the amount, or close to the amount of the check. At most a days wait, and no further worries about cashing a check. And no fees. Brad

Because (not the OP's freind, moreover a general answer to what I kinda feel your intended question is) they are probably in check systems and therefore cannot open a bank account until their name is taken out of check systems. Sadly, I know this from experience, and while I was partly to blame for my situation the bank (Washingotn Mutual) was also to blame. I deposited a check and they put it in the wrong account. The day before I deposited it I had written out all of our bills and sent them, knowing I would be depositing the money the next day to cover them (that was the part that was my mistake in it). We left for a vacation and when I got back we had several bounced check notifications in our mailbox. I checked the bank receipt and found the error and went to the bank to get it corrected. They transferred the funds to my account. However, this was the sucky part, because all the checks that bounced were dated the 19th and I made the deposit on the 20th they would not credit my account for the multiple bounce fee's. Yeah, I get I screwed up, but had the bank put the money in the proper account it would have been there a couple days later when those checks I sent out ran through the account. The bank did not care that those checks were not presented for payment until after the 22nd. They told me to pay up, I told them to f off. I spent the next 5 (I think it was) years in check systems not able to get a bank account. After the 5 years I have opened a new account and now whenever I make out a check for a mail in payment (which is rare as I tend to pay online now) I post date it 2 days from when I send it.

[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 09-24-2011).]

quote Originally posted by Khw: ...

My Ex wife got me into that same system. I luckily was able to just have a minimum balance and keep an open account. Thank goodness for small town banks.

Brad

quote Originally posted by twofatguys: My Ex wife got me into that same system. I luckily was able to just have a minimum balance and keep an open account. Thank goodness for small town banks. Brad

Yeah sometimes you can still find a bank that will take the chance on you.

quote Originally posted by Gecko: I am asking this for a friend. Has anyone heard of this. Shoprite will cash it's employee's checks, however they are required to purchase items from the store, and then even required to spend a certain amount depending on how much the check is for? thanks

When you work for the company, you become indebted to the company store. I thought those days were gone. They seem to be making a come-back. Will child labor and workers' dormitories be next?

You can also buy a "load" Visa or Mastercard from walmart or many drug stores. cost for the card is 3, you load the check on the card, then its "loaded" for the amount of your check. Card spends money like any other visa or mastercard.