There are lots of different situations and different people all of us have to deal with. Take into account the people you are dealing with before you decide how to take payment. Don't put yourself at risk of losing something you can't afford to lose. It is very difficult to get your cattle back if the check bounces, you could even be arrested for stealing or trespassing.
I write checks for everything. I have never had a person turn down or question one of my checks. I would not even think about carrying 50-100 thousand dollars in cash in the truck when I go to look at a group of cattle. Plus all the problems with the cash at the bank and accounting have been brought up in another post.
I am a little different from many of you in that I do not work for people, I do not sell hay or cattle to indivicuals, and I do not sell machinery to individuals. I keep my machinery until it is worn out. I sell my cattle at the sale barn. If a neighbor needs hay, I tell him to get what he needs and give me back the same number, size, and quality hay next hay season, in other words, replace the hay. I do alot of work doing odd jobs or some tractor work or things like that for neighbors, but I do not take money, I tell them up front, I do not work for the public, you can help me out sometime later and we will be even. I have never lost anything by doing things this way.
I am not totally naieve, however. I do understand that just because the sales barn writes me a check, it doesn't mean it is 100 percent safe. If they do not get their money, someone can come after the money from the check. They might not get it, but they can cost me alot of money in legal expenses. I also know that if I buy cattle at the barn, they could have been stolen cattle and they will come after the cattle. So, even the salesbarn is not 100 percent safe.
Many of you sound like you would not want me to come to try to buy cattle you have for sale. When I go look at cattle, I will look them over and decide if they are something I want or not. If they are something I want, I decide what they are worth to me. If they price the cattle to me and the price is what they are worth to me or lower, I tell them I will take them. If they price them to me higher than what they are worth to me, I tell them what I would be willing to do and that is my offer. I don't go up from that and I don't offer low to try to meet in the middle. If the cattle are priced way above what they are worth to me, I just tell the person that the cattle won't work for me and drive off. I don't insult him with an offer that is way below what he is asking. If he is out of line, he will find out pretty quickly without my telling him. I have never had a situation where a person was the least bit aggravated by my dealing. But, there will be a first time, I am sure.
Many of you say you have no time for anyone who makes you an offer of less than the price you have on your product. It has been my experience that every place I have looked at cattle or an item for sale, they want an offer. No one wants to let you drive away without an offer. I think that comes from people wanting to get an idea of what others are willing to give for their product and they feel they have that amount to count on if they do not get a better offer. I very seldom leave offers dangling. My offer is good at that moment, for the most part. Thus my statement that alot of you wouldn't want me trying to buy your product.
A couple of months ago, a neighbor priced me some old cow-calf pairs for 1100 per pair. The market was not very good and they pairs needed to be split and cows slaughtered and the pairs would have weighed out around 850 per pair, tops. He was the kind of guy who would have been real insulted if I had offered him 825, so I just told him I really didn't have a place for them. A couple of weeks later, the market had fallen some more and he took them to the sale barn and cleared just over 800 per pair. He found out how far off he was in his pricing without me making him angry.
I would just say be smart in what you decide about holding checks, accepting checks, carrying boxes of cash in your truck as you drive around and all those things. Good luck in how they turn out for all of us.