Postal Orders

[Greyghost]

Does anyone pay for their shoots by postal orders and if so, have they had any problems?
We have just finished our second outdoor season and as we do not have a cheque account, have always paid our shoots by postal order. We have never needed cheques as we pay for goods by cash or by a debit/credit card. Indeed our local garage and the place I work at (ASDA's) refuse cheques.
The reason I ask is that until a few weeks ago, we've had no problems, but recently at one shoot, one of the organisers went round during the shoot asking whose this "cheque" was and quoted the name of person who signed the "cheque". It wasn't until nearly at the end of the shoot that I realised that this was possibly my Postal Order.
At the end of the shoot, I gingerly approached the organisers and asked to see the offending "cheque". It was my Postal Order and the name the organisers were quoting was someone akin to the chief cashier of the post office. When I explained the situation and asked them to pay it into the bank and treat is as if it were a cheque, I was told, (I hope tongue in cheek) to get a cheque account and not to do it again and send a cheque with the entry next time.
Recently, postal orders have changed and they are printed at the post office and you can even ask for the payees name to be printed on, they look very much like a cheque.
I am about to send off entry forms for competitions in January and February and wonder whether to send a covering letter with each entry just to explain and ask if any problems, contact me asap, or whether to pester my mum to write out 6 or 7 cheques to send with the entries.
I do apologise for waffling on, but this little incident has made us slightly paranoid about sending entries in.
Does any one else use PO's and if so have you had problems or are you involved in organising tournaments and have had problems with PO's.
Best wishes,
Steve

[Dave]

I've received many postal orders over the years I've traded on Ebay and always paid them straight into my bank account. Can't see what their problem was!

[pelican]

As treasurer, I bank the money from the comps we run. We have a couple of folk who regularly compete and always pay by postal order and I've never had a problem banking them. As for the organiser who told you "tongue in cheek"to get a cheque account, tell them "tongue in cheek" to get lost! It's a perfectly valid form of payment.
Liz

[Moose]

The may actually be better for the organisers as cheques can bounce and I do not think PO's can

Obviously the organiser was one of those uninformed officious fools

[Little Miss Purple]

A postal order is the safe way of sending cash, if it is crossed it goes in the bank - if not its a straight exchange for cash at the post office. It cant bounce as it has already been paid for!!

[its my party and]

Ive paid for a few shoots with Postal orders never had a problem! Me thinks said gentlemen who was uncouth to shout and try and seem important at an event would seem rather smaller and less important if he knew anything about postal orders. Ive had cheques presented two months after a shoot took place which is very bizarre so sending by PO helps with the old bank reconciliation! As LMP said its pre paid. Blimey im now 6 months into archery and there are a few ars#s who tend to creep to the top of the pile and appear far to frequently. Chill man! Have a clam!

[Greyghost]

Hiya,
Many thanks for your replies.
I think I'll carry on doing what I've always done, but because PO's now are so anonymous, what I think I'll do is actually write down the POs number somewhere on the entry form and as the PO's are now printed, see if there's anywhere on the PO that I can put my name on it. At least that way, with them now looking like a cheque, the payee will know who the PO is from.
Best wishes,
Steve

[phillc]

They used to be a bit of a performance do you put them with cheques or with cash (depended who at the bank you spoke to) But now with the bar codes on them just treat them as cheques . anyway its all money substitute

[andrew.paterson]

The only hassle with Postal Orders are on the person who is getting one, not the receiver. The thought of queuing for ages to get one, arrrghhh. As a TO though I would just treat as any other payment received with an entry - hand it over to the treasurer and get him to sort it out

[Zanda]

I have always paid by postal order, no problems, as someone has already said postal orders do not bounce, the only down side is the extra you pay for obtaining one from the good ol P.O so my advice is keep on paying by Postal Order, maybe the dinasaur who made the fuss will eventually catch up with the rest of us in 2006