THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



237 



INDIVIDUAL CHECKS — THEY ABE EXPENSIVE TO 

 THE REOEIVEK. 



Many people who have a bank account 

 ( fortunate mortals ) pay almost every bill 

 with a check. This furnishes a record of 

 where the money goes and each check is the 

 same as a receipt for the money paid. To a 

 person living in the city where the bank is 

 located at which an individual check is pay- 

 able, such a check is as good as the currency, 

 as all he has to do is to step into the bank 

 and have the check cashed at its face value. 

 When the check is sent to a distant city and 

 presented at a bank for payment it must be 

 returned for collection to the bank at which 

 it was issued. For making this collection 

 the bank charges from 10 to 2.5 cents accord- 

 ing to the distance and locality of the issuing 

 bank. The amount paid for collection is 

 called exchange and the one who pref ents 

 the check for collection is paid that much 

 less money. I have presented a check for 

 40 cents and found the excliange to be 1.5 cts. 

 Twice have I received a check of §1.00 from 

 Florida and found the excliange to be 40 cts. 

 These are unusal, but only a short time ago I 

 presented four checks amounting in the ag- 

 gregate to f 36.00 and had to pay .$1.00 ex- 

 change. It may be thoughtlessness on the 

 part of the makers of these checks, but there 

 is certainly an unfairness about it. Of 

 course the amounts are small and one does 

 not feel like complaining to a good customer, 

 but the amount in the aggregate for a year 

 is quite a sum. It is of so much importance 

 that some business houses have a notice in 

 their bill heads that says: "We pay no ex- 

 change. " A man who has a sum of money 

 to send to a distance, and wishes it to go 

 safely, ought not to thrust the expense 

 of the safety upon the one to whom it is 

 sent. A draft on New York or Chicago, for 

 any ordinary sum, can be bought at an ex- 

 pense of ten cents and will be paid at its 

 face value at any bank. If a man prefers to 

 use his individual check in order to have a 

 complete record in one place of the money 

 paid out, then let him add at least 15 or 2C 

 cents to the amount to pay for collection. 

 ^ 



BE PKUMPT IN YOUK COBRE8PONDENCE. 



Only a business man fully realizes the 

 annoyance and loss that arises from procras- 

 tination in the matter of correspondence. 

 I remember having an order for a dozen 

 queens early one spring from a customer in 

 an Eastern State. It was before I had raised 



any queens of my own that year, and I sent 

 the order to a Southern breeder to fill, and in- 

 formed my customer what I had done. This 

 breeder had usually filled orders promptly, 

 but he didn't this time. My customer 

 complained because the queens didn't come 

 and I wrote to see what was the matter and 

 to learn when they ivoitkl come. No reply 

 came. This matter of complaint and inquiry 

 was kept up for nearly a month, when I sent 

 my customer queens from some other source 

 and told my Southern friend that he need 

 not send the queens. Then he wrote that he 

 could send the queens: he had been kept back 

 by cold, wet weather, and the reason why he 

 had not replied was that he could give no 

 definite answer as to when they oould be 

 sent, as he did not know himself, and he 

 wanted to wait until he could tell me posi- 

 tively when he could send them. If he had 

 told me as much in the first place all would 

 have been well. If you cannot give a corres- 

 pondent a definite answer, write and tell 

 him so, and give the reason why; let him 

 know as much as you do about it. Even 

 when I only wished to think the matter over 

 a little before answering a letter I have writ- 

 ten my correspondent that his proposition 

 was received and would be given considera- 

 tion and when I had decided I would let him 

 know. Perhaps this is carrying it a little too 

 far, but my idea of the matter is that for 

 every letter received requiring an answer, 

 some sort of an answer ought to go back by 

 return mail, even if nothing more than an 

 acknowledgement of its receipt. Men who 

 get letters by the hundreds each day answer 

 promptly; men who get one letter a week 

 make you wait that long for an answer. I' 

 am aware that where enough letters are re- 

 ceived so that the answering of them be- 

 comes part of the business of the day, they 

 are more likely to be answered promptly 

 than when the writing of a letter is only an 

 occasional "task," as some people call it, 

 but there is no excuse for allowing a letter to 

 remain unanswered day after day — yes, in 

 some instances, week after week. 



There is another phase of this matter that 

 I must touch upon. A man writes and asks 

 you to trust him, saying when he can pay. 

 You accommodate him. When the time of 

 payment comes he does not pay. Finally he 

 is written to. He may answer and say why 

 he could not send the money, and say when 

 he will send it. The time of payment comes 

 around again, but no money comes. He is 



