[Wrekin C S]

I know a lot of you use the standing order method to get your money in but for those of you that go out and collect do you go The same day/evening or leave until fri evenings or weekends?

[LSB]

i leave sae with some , and pay my retired father 15% of what he collects from the others , normal collecting hours 6pm - 8pm .

[TennetClean]

Wrekin, you need to give up collecting ASAP.  What a complete and utter ballache.  Just leave SAE and let them send you a cheque.  BEst thing I ever did was stop collecting

Nobody pays you for that time, and you've lost your friday evening.

[Rob_Mac]

Mugs game collecting

Listen to Tennet and leave your envelopes and you will have to pop to the bank 3 or 4 times per week with your cheques.

Damn sight easier than collecting and them not being in - wasted journey

Rob

[birdymiller]

I get around 20 cheques a week through the post, and go collecting mainly on friday evenings 5-7pm(bit too cold tonight).
Nothing finer than letting it build up for a bit then going and collecting £200 in an hour cash.

[Highrise]

Swings and roundabouts with collecying money....

I would start leaving S.A.E with a slip saying Whilst you were out today your windows have now been cleaned....
Please send chq payment within 7 days. Many thanks...

And when you go round to clean your customers windows you will find some in anyway who will pay you chq or cash, Stop wasting you time going round collecting, Wait till all the chq come through your door.... You'll love it then 

[mgba_78]

Its not often we go out specifically to collect, we phone up the night before we know we are going past or get the money left in a agreed place.

Although when we have been collecting its nice to have collected a big bag of cash over an hour or so, i think last time we did we collected over £500 in cash, nice 

Plus if you get sent a load of cheques you then have to go to the bank and wait 5 working days for them to clear, i much prefer the cash 

[Wayne Thomas]

I get my customers to pay by cheque (SAE), postal order, online banking through website, BACS. There's no need to go collecting which is a waste of fuel and unpaid time. Also, going collecting can be frustrating, especially if customer is trying to avoid paying. If I haven't been paid after the second wash I leave their windows with a bill to include a late payment fee to minimise debts to write off. Get your customers to pay you, not you chase them for cash payments, that way you get a good idea of who are the persistent late paying customers... which is handy when your workload gets too busy and you need to lose a few customers.

[bumper]

I dornt have to many cheqs going in my account ,i like cash so the tax man dornt know, what he dornt  know dornt  hurt 

[Grafters Cleaning Services]

I dornt have to many cheqs going in my account ,i like cash so the tax man dornt know, what he dornt  know dornt  hurt 

i hope for your sake the taxman isn't reading this thread

anyway back to topic........
i use SAE but have now setup online payment via paypal but i will only use as a last resort owing to the cut/% they want, but i think this will be the future

[suds window service]

do you pay for the stamps ?

[AuRavelling79]

Tennet "Flying Mallet" Clean, you may be too direct for many of our tastes but you've got this one summed up correctly!

[TennetClean]

flying mallet , lol I like that.

I know I lack tact, but seriously some guys on here take the biscuit.

About the stamps, yes you put stamps on the envelopes, 2nd class ones are fine.  The reason for this is that it encourages them to pay faster (one less barrier - cant find a stamp!) also they wont throw an envelope out that has a stamp on it because it has obvious value.

Believe me, the 22pence or whatever is well worth it.  You dont have the bother of collecting and you'd pay that in petrol anyway.  Also, beleive it or not, customers dont like you bothering them in the evening for money, they will much prefer to post you a cheque.

[suds window service]

right sae it is from now on as your right it is a pain going out on a night

[L.J.Thorpe]

flying mallet , lol I like that.

I know I lack tact, but seriously some guys on here take the biscuit.

About the stamps, yes you put stamps on the envelopes, 2nd class ones are fine. The reason for this is that it encourages them to pay faster (one less barrier - cant find a stamp!) also they wont throw an envelope out that has a stamp on it because it has obvious value.

Believe me, the 22pence or whatever is well worth it. You dont have the bother of collecting and you'd pay that in petrol anyway. Also, beleive it or not, customers dont like you bothering them in the evening for money, they will much prefer to post you a cheque.

as much asit sticks in my craw i actually agree  as of april any customer who aint in gets an env WITH a stamp....and before anyone drags up old posts i know i said never put a stamp on BUT you can claim tax back on em and it stops em finding an excuse also new pricing in april will cover the costs

[TennetClean]

as much asit sticks in my craw i actually agree

see it aint so bad to agree with ol' flying mallet.

[L.J.Thorpe]

dont push ya luck luck tuppence

[bumper]

Stamps i dornt pay for stamps  i dont earn enough  im under what they call the threshold 

[simon knight]

I dornt have to many cheqs going in my account ,i like cash so the tax man dornt know, what he dornt  know dornt  hurt 

i hope for your sake the taxman isn't reading this thread

...yeah the taxman will be hunting for a guy called "Bumper" :

[Count Phil]

If you do go the sae route, (like I did - best thing ever!) tell them!!!

I know its obvious what you want them to do with the sae but they are thick. Write on your bil, 'Please send a cheque in the envelope provided'.

Trust me, do not overestimate the intellect of your customers. As long as you tell them it works brilliantly.