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Water Bill says "No Cash Payments"

6.2K views 66 replies 37 participants last post by  IamZeke  
#1 ·
So my dad is in the hospital and I am staying at his place until he gets better. The water bill comes in the mail and it says "no cash payments"? wtf?

There is an online payment option which I will do, but not being able to pay in cash just seems weird. What if someone doesn't have a checking account or internet? How can a utility company not take cash payments?

On a side note the bill was for $96.46, the actual water use was $6.63, then there was $20 for trash, $4.75 for city waste service. The rest is just fees, like $15.99 for low waste water flow. That is one that gets me, because you don't use much water, you get charged. Even when he is not here, he still has pretty much the same bill.

Am I crazy for being upset that this is the new normal?
 
#3 ·
Most water companies do the minimum bill thing. 0-3000gal, same price. My mom had a house that sat empty, it was $15 a mo, so there was water when you did go there. But that was just water, if theres sewer, well then they charge for every gallon even tho most may end up on the ground watering plants or washing your car. It goes in the house, it goes out thru the pipe is the way they charge. I think my moms bill in Fla is $55 a mo because of sewers.

But they do love those fees to pad the bill for doing absolutely nothing. Everybody does it, water, electric, phone, TV.

I had city water when I bought this house, we were averaging close to $50 a mo with 3 people, just for water. I had a well drilled, wasn't cheap, but dont have that bill every month, can use as much as I want. Neighbors are still on city, hate to think their bill when they fill up the grandsons above ground pool. I also had the issue of 1/4 mile water line I was responsible for. The water meter was all the way down at the corner, they just wouldn't run the line further down the road for a couple houses. Builder paid several grand to do a trench down here, then under the road. Water company is only responsible up to the meter.
 
#5 ·
That what I was going to say I had a court clerk refuse a cash payment. I asked if she was refusing legal tender she said yes I told her to call the federal build (it was next door) and have a treasury agent. Come over and witness her refusal.
She changed her mind.
It's for convenience and they city can't trust their employees not to skim cash.
 
#7 ·
Is it a private business?

The US Treasury explains on their website, “Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise.”

Now, a service billed after the fact qualifies as debt, (such as a water bill) and they should be forced to accept fiat... a store or other place where you pay as you go, doesn't have to accept it as there is no debt accrued yet.
 
#8 ·
This is what my city utility bill charges for:

Water
Sewer
Storm sewer
Garbage
Taxes

It's not the water per se that you are paying for, it is the infrastructure. The new wells, the pumps, the new water lines, the water line maintenance, the sewage plant, the storm water retention facility and storm drain maintenance, the solid waste disposal facility (dump), the garbage trucks, the separate "recyclables" garbage can, truck and processing, and all the city employees and their benefits.

For all this I pay $36 per month using minimum water. It goes up when I start watering the lawn.

Edit:

To the OP. I drop a check off at the city building each month. They are not set up to deal with cash. Seems to me it would cost the city more money to have someone manning a till just so people could pay in cash.
 
#59 ·
I would debate that line. when a new service is installed, you pay a connection and use fee. that is a one time fee, {$12000.00 in my small town} that is basicaly a buy in to pay your share on the pipes, infastructure, etc, on the water and sewer system . after that, your water and sewer costs are including the actual water and sewer costs, treatment, maintanace, etc. here, yes we have trash included in the water bill, 25 bucks.
then the storm water fee, @ rain tax, that pays for the EPA mandated storm water plans and in some cases, treatment of that water.
your monthly bill should be basicaly the daily incurred costs of supply, disposal, and routeene maintanace.
NO CASH. i beleive, someone may be mis reading that. almost every bill i get has " do not send cash by mail" .
 
#11 ·
So my dad is in the hospital and I am staying at his place until he gets better. The water bill comes in the mail and it says "no cash payments"? wtf?

There is an online payment option which I will do, but not being able to pay in cash just seems weird. What if someone doesn't have a checking account or internet? How can a utility company not take cash payments?

On a side note the bill was for $96.46, the actual water use was $6.63, then there was $20 for trash, $4.75 for city waste service. The rest is just fees, like $15.99 for low waste water flow. That is one that gets me, because you don't use much water, you get charged. Even when he is not here, he still has pretty much the same bill.

Am I crazy for being upset that this is the new normal?
What state is that in?
 
#13 ·
Big problem with cash is it leaves no trail unless a receipt is made out and accepted. Mailing cash is a open invitation to having the money being lost or waylaid without getting the bill paid. So I can certainly see why on a bill they would tell you not to send cash. It even says that on the Post Office stamp purchase envelope I get from my rural mail carrier. Though I frequently ignore that and have used cash many times to buy stamps at my mailbox.

Sad though about all the little charges that companies use to up the billed amount. Why they try to hide what you have to pay is a strange comment on people and psychology.
 
#18 ·
Since I live in the County, I have a utility district. We use about 2K gallons a month. We have minimums, and garbage is included.

The average runs between $25-$30 a month. We had a pipe break a couple years back, it went up to $200.

We do pay "utility district taxes" every year. They are equivalent to about 2% of our home's value.
 
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#20 ·
In my case, the accident thrashed our credit, so I had to find a "second chance bank account" bank.
 
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#21 ·
Sounds like the decades old normal to me, other than the amount.

Would you rather get a bunch of different bills from the city every month? It costs money to pick up garbage, build separate storm drainage, deal with sewage, manage the city dumps and recycling centers, etc.

I suppose they could roll it into your property taxes but that is always a voter 3rd rail political thing. I don't approve of a lot of things my city spends money on but I don't have a problem with them providing drainage, sewage, clean water, and trash pickup and then charging me for it as long as they are being efficient with those funds for those jobs.

As for the city not taking cash I believe that most chain grocery stores will let you pay most of your municipal and utility bills at the courtesy booth. They have no trouble taking cash. I've paid a lot of my city bills for decades that way. No need to mail anything, no need to put your info out over the phone or online, no need to go downtown, and I'm already going to the grocery store regularly anyway. I like paying my bills at the grocery store.
 
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#28 ·
Back to the water bill.

Those monthly fees are taxes. The infrastructure was, in most cases, long since paid for. Often via bonds, and via the construction firms that build neighborhoods.

During times of water restrictions, to cover lack of income, fees often increase. Interestingly, during such times, there are often new consumers coming online, so total water volume may not be much different!
 
#30 ·
Lots of places wont do cash anymore. For some its an open invitation to skim from the till. Its also an invitation to be robbed. Most apartment complexes wont take it, bad guys would know that on the 1st of the month they would have a good pile of cash to take. And if a place takes cash, they also have to provide change, it has to be counted at the end of the day, kept locked up.

Or they can say check or money order only, no change required, less security required, your employees cant skim, the book keeping is easier.

Its also a way they can tack on a few fees. My ex is bad about paying bills on time. If you pay on time at her apartment they take a check, one day late, well now they require a money order, 2 actually. One for the rent another for the penalty.
 
#31 · (Edited)
My town sold their water business to United Water, a foreign corporation. Nice to know my life depends on foreigners. And no, we can't build a well; we are a next to contaminated former Exxon oil property. Oh, yeah, my governor just settled that lawsuit for less than pennies on the dollar.

Some toll roads are owned by foreign companies too. We don't even handle all our own infrastructure anymore!
 
#32 ·
I don't get the no cash accepted thing either. I don't see how that can be legal.

Went to Home Depot a couple years ago, their computers were down and they were writing down people's CC# and handwriting receipts. told customers they would run the transactions later and send out the actual receipt. I said no thanks, I've got cash. They flat out refused to accept it. Said this was the only way.
 
#33 ·
I have to agree with a lot of posters here.... a lot of service businesses are not set up for cash payments. So if you dont have a bank account..get a money order...have someone else who has a bank account pay it for you...or..get a bank account.

Hard to imagine someone without a bank account...especially if you have a job or drawing some sort of pension...etc.. Cause most employers dont issue actual PAY CHECKS anymore...they use direct deposit. But i guess if you work for some Mom and Pop business...or you work for cash ( standing at entrance to Home Depot parking lot ) ...then you might get by without a checking account.
 
#34 ·
They did the no cash accepted where I used to live and their attitude in the utility office teed me off.

So after that, everytime I wrote a check for the monthly water bill, I'd overpay it by some random amount from 1cent to 99 cents.

Just gave me a cheap chuckle that they had to go through a few extra steps to tally my bill each month.
 
#35 ·
I have two employees who receive their paycheck via cash.

One has an ex with an axe to grind, ready to sue/take/steal $$ every time she smells an opportunity.
Divorced for many years, and no kids involved.

The other has a spouse who can't see a checking account /checks/ATM card just sit there with no one using them.
And use them he did...

In both cases, the folks are born here but live in a cash only world.
They also lack a spine with relationships, but that's another story.
 
#47 ·
People skimming money from the till is probably why the department doesn't want to deal in cash. If not that, then they don't want to deal with the drama queen who wants to pay their water bill with all pennies. It's one thing to pay and bill and protest it. It's another to make a demonstration using pennies and tie up the services of a public service employee for hours and hours to appease your stupidity.
 
#48 ·
Nothing like the drama you will see when places refuse those pennies.

Coinage doesn't have that "legal tender" statement. Anyplace can refuse coins and if you owe a debt still be liable for said debt and any interest when they refuse your pennies.

I've seen drama queens go into meltdown at the bank when they told folks they weren't going to accept their hundreds of rolls of pennies at the teller window.