Jokes and Humor

[Sparky_D]

 

[jazzy]

 

[Lenny]

Everybody hates disco. So let's blow up a bunch of disco records at a packed baseball game. What could possibly go wrong?

https://notthebee.com/article/ever-...ield-caused-a-riot-and-got-40-people-arrested

I'd rather be waterboarded than listen to that crap

 

[INresponse]

Know anything about pre paid debit cards?

No.

 

[Magus]

Darn. I don't do anything money related online.

 

[INresponse]

Darn. I don't do anything money related online.

I said no I didn't know anything about pre-paid debit cards. Educate me, please.
Years back when I sold some on the other forum I requested a USPS money order and that worked well.
Supposedly my credit union has some sort of online payment system but I need to look into how that works.

 

[Magus]

I buy a pre paid money card and I give you the number and you put it in your pay pall account. once it clears, you send me the shirt.

 

[Haertig]

I buy a pre paid money card and I give you the number and you put it in your pay pall account. once it clears, you send me the shirt.

There are easier ways than using PayPal these days. PayPal is fine if you are buying something from a merchant that already has a PayPal account set up.

Personally, I use PayPal on occasion to buy something. But this only requires me to have a PayPal login (and maybe it doesn't even require that). I enter my credit card number, and the merchant gets the money. But that merchant has to have an account set up ready to RECEIVE money. Personally, I don't have one of those. Probably not many individuals do, unless they are actively selling things on a regular basis and therefore need to RECEIVE money.

There are individual peer-pay systems available. One is named "Venmo". Other product names escape me at the moment. Many banks support this for personal money transfers, and they are free (some are paid I think - if you need the ability to transfer large sums of money). So you turn on Venmo at your bank, the other person turns on Venmo at theirs, and you can easily transfer money back and forth. Even using an app on your smartphone, like if you're trying top split a dinner check when out at a restaurant together.

My wife uses this sometimes. I don't personally, but I know that one of our bank accounts (if not a couple of them) are set up for Venmo. All's I need to do it install the app on my smartphone and ask my wife to show me how to use it. There is a fairly low money limit on single transactions with Venmo. Something like $500 or $1000 I think is typical? I'm not sure. Your personal bank determines how much they will allow per transaction. Some banks are more generous in this amount than others.

I believe that Venmo uses your phone number as it's "account number". So to have someone transfer money to your bank account, you just give them the phone number you have associated with the Venmo account tied to your bank account. I'm not sure if you can just pick a made up phone number to use with Venmo. There is probably some validation that is required to set things up initially - like they have to be able to call the phone number and verify it's you on the line. But I don't know the specific details.

But if you want to send me some money, all's I'd have to do is give you my phone number, you would enter that into the Venmo app on your phone, along with the amount that you want to send, and the transfer is instantaneous. I usually shy away from these "simple money transaction" things, due to my wariness about security, but supposedly this is quite secure. Probably more secure as handing your credit card to a waiter in a restaurant. If you give someone your Venmo phone number, they can put money INTO your account, but they can't take money OUT of your account. That's much more secure than a credit card or debit card right there. Someone could even guess your phone number and put money into your account. Too bad for them!

 

[Supervisor42]

I buy a pre paid money card and I give you the number and you put it in your pay pall account. once it clears, you send me the shirt.

I have a tall stack of prepaid gift cards with $4-$8 left on them that will never be drained. Too much trouble.
People should add this into the actual cost of them.

 

[Caribou]

If you want to use a prepaid card it works just like any other credit or debit card. You give it to the vendor and they run it. I have emptied one a couple of times by using it up and then paying cash for the rest. I have emptied multiple gift cards on a single purchase by just handing the cashier one card after another till the transaction was complete. I expect you could do the same with prepaid cards.

If you want to accept prepaid cards they are just like any other debit card.

 

[Caribou]

P.S. A gift card is a prepaid debit card except it only works with one vendor. The wife buys Lowe's and Amazon gift cards at Fred Meyer's (Kroger) so as to get $ off on gas. They have many other gift cards available.

 

[Caribou]

Sorry, I should have had this all in one post.

There is a certain amount of privacy in using a prepaid card. If someone runs you credit cards those purchases don't show up on any card that you have in your name. It is not tied to a bank account. The account disappears when you empty the card.

 

[Supervisor42]

P.S. A gift card is a prepaid debit card except it only works with one vendor. The wife buys Lowe's and Amazon gift cards at Fred Meyer's (Kroger) so as to get $ off on gas. They have many other gift cards available.

Well, that can be a problem.
Here's a gift-card for $150 I got for a casino 60 miles away, that will never be used:

A lot of money flushed down the toilet.
On topic, joke: "Merry Christmas, ya' filthy animal!!!"

 

[Caribou]

Well, that can be a problem.
Here's one for $150 I got for a casino 60 miles away, that will never be used:
View attachment 93804
A lot of money flushed down the toilet.
On topic, joke: "Merry Christmas, ya' filthy animal!!!"

Assuming you can visit the place. Buy some chips, turn in the chips shortly after for cash. They may be willing to cash out the card.

 

[Supervisor42]

Assuming you can visit the place. Buy some chips, turn in the chips shortly after for cash. They may be willing to cash out the card.

Sure, I could easily turn it all into cash... if I went there.
But when you factor in an overnight stay at a hotel, and gas to 'go get it', it would be a wash.

 

[Haertig]

Not every merchant may be willing to sit there and ring up all those transactions as you keep handing them card after card with $1.17 on it, $3.74 on it, $5.00 on it, and finally finish up with cash. There are some friendly merchants that may be willing to do that, but I wouldn't count on it. Plus, you gotta carry all those near-empty cards around in your wallet. And keep track of how much money is left on each card, which usually requires you to go to their website and enter the card number. Or call them.

Many gift cards charge a "maintenance fee" as well. Just for you being allowed to have the card in the first place, you have to pay them for the privilege. These maintenance fees kick in somewhere around a year after the card is issued in my experience.

There is no protection for a gift card. You lose it, and someone else gets to use it, no questions asked (you don't have to provide any ID at purchase time - so finding or stealing one is pretty much a crime that you'll never get caught at). And you can't do a chargeback on a gift card like you can on a credit card if you run into a bad purchase from a shady merchant.

IMHO, gift cards provide zero benefit for customers, and all kinds of benefits for the issuer. I just give cash, or a direct bank transfer of money myself.

 

[Caribou]

Not every merchant may be willing to sit there and ring up all those transactions as you keep handing them card after card with $1.17 on it, $3.74 on it, $5.00 on it, and finally finish up with cash. There are some friendly merchants that may be willing to do that, but I wouldn't count on it. Plus, you gotta carry all those near-empty cards around in your wallet. And keep track of how much money is left on each card, which usually requires you to go to their website and enter the card number. Or call them.

Many gift cards charge a "maintenance fee" as well. Just for you being allowed to have the card in the first place, you have to pay them for the privilege. These maintenance fees kick in somewhere around a year after the card is issued in my experience.

There is no protection for a gift card. You lose it, and someone else gets to use it, no questions asked (you don't have to provide any ID at purchase time - so finding or stealing one is pretty much a crime that you'll never get caught at). And you can't do a chargeback on a gift card like you can on a credit card if you run into a bad purchase from a shady merchant.

IMHO, gift cards provide zero benefit for customers, and all kinds of benefits for the issuer. I just give cash, or a direct bank transfer of money myself.

The big chains don't seem to care, in my experience. The person at the register is paid by the hour, they don't usually care. If you have that many throw them in your glove compartment and use one or two every time you go into an appropriate store. If that is too much trouble give them to a charity, most stores will cash them out to charities, it is bad advertising not to. I try to stay away from cards with maintenance fees. I keep a running balance on all my gift cards as I use them.

 

[Caribou]

Sure, I could easily turn it all into cash... if I went there.
But when you factor in an overnight stay at a hotel, and gas to 'go get it', it would be a wash.

Give them a call, they might be willing to cash it out over the phone and mail you a check or debit card that you can use anywhere. Where is the casino at?

 

[Sparky_D]

Ok, back to the jokes and humor...

 

[Sparky_D]

 

[Sparky_D]

 

[Sparky_D]

 

[Sparky_D]

 

[Magus]

Sure, I could easily turn it all into cash... if I went there.
But when you factor in an overnight stay at a hotel, and gas to 'go get it', it would be a wash.

Cram them all in a pretty box and give them to someone you almost like and let them run ragged cashing them in.

Wasn't there a gift card cashing service online once? forgot the name.
Anyway, here's how you get cash.
https://artsandbudgets.com/convert-visa-gift-cards-to-cash/

 

[Haertig]

Ok, back to the jokes and humor...

View attachment 93806

Oh, don't ruin it for me. It's real! It's real! And those poor people are still out there.

You see, they didn't PLAN to travel more than a "three hour tour". Assuming out and back, that's 1-1/2 hours each way. Most boat tours are indeed round trip. A one-way ocean voyage would not be popular with the tourists when they had to swim back. At a max speed of 12 knots, a three hour round trip would be 18 nautical miles each way (which is 18 * 1.151 = 20.718 statute miles, for you land lubbers). So their plan was to not go very far from their port in Hawaii, assumed to be Honolulu. 20 miles would get them slightly over halfway to the nearest island over - Molokai.

BUT ... they were caught up in a storm, and traveled an unknown amount of time under the power of that storm at an unknown speed (not under their own power)!!!

Phew! I'm so glad I thought about that storm. Otherwise they would have been rescued in very short order by all the other tourist boats navigating between the islands. Sooo ... it's real, it's still true! There is still a chance they can be rescued! They're somewhere out in the middle of the Pacific, not halfway between Oahu and Molokai.

 

[joel]

Darn. I don't do anything money related online.

I have used paypal, it works for me, I have a checking account just for paypal, that I transfer monies into & then used paypal.
That way if you hack paypal or my computer, you may get a hand full of money, but not all my money. I know I am weird, but what else can a retired person do.

 

[Magus]

Good thinking!

 

[joel]

Well, that can be a problem.
Here's a gift-card for $150 I got for a casino 60 miles away, that will never be used:
View attachment 93804
A lot of money flushed down the toilet.
On topic, joke: "Merry Christmas, ya' filthy animal!!!"

I have two rules when giving gift cards, has to be a place you like & use. Like Home Depot or Belks & the card is never more than $50.00.
Also I go to grocery store & buy gift cards for big items, like a stove.
When I buy the $500-$1500 stove from home depot I get points from the other store.

 

[Haertig]

When I buy the $500-$1500 stove from home depot I get points from the other store.

That's why we buy everything on credit card. We bought an entire car on one once. We got quite the "cash back" on that one, despite the strange looks the car salesman gave us at time of purchase. We paid the entire purchase off on the first statement, so as not to accrue any interest.

I didn't know you could get points for a gift card. It would be fun buying a car with one of those too!

 

[Neb]

That's why we buy everything on credit card. We bought an entire car on one once. We got quite the "cash back" on that one, despite the strange looks the car salesman gave us at time of purchase. We paid the entire purchase off on the first statement, so as not to accrue any interest.

I didn't know you could get points for a gift card. It would be fun buying a car with one of those too!

That last two new cars The Princess bought were purchased with GM cards. Drove off the lot for about $10k.

Ben