School asked me for 20p

[MoanCraft]

Ds is going on a field trip. I'm always really busy (aren't we all), partly because I help out with lots of community things and one is the school committee.
I spend a lot of money when funds don't come through to cover for stuff that's asked for or needed by teachers etc., it goes without saying that I have given a lot of my time at events.
School asks for money to pay for school trip. I mistakenly underpay by 20p.
I get a call from the school asking me to bring in the 20p.
AIBU to be a bit miffed.

re: cheque payments, it is very easy to pay on-line to a bank account. You don't need to install a card machine.

Op did you every get reimbursed for all the times you paid over the odds.If not and you where anyway spiteful i would give them a phonecall and ask for all teh money back you have given.

Pipbin, scrapping cheques and bits of paper in favour of a decent online system would make school offices so much more efficient. I'm sure it would pay for itself.

How would it pay for itself? Not being goady, a genuine question.

I think the OP has gone.

Out of interest - to posters asking at what point she thinks the school should not waive the amount ... £1, £2, £5 ect:, well, at what point in the other direction would you think it would be petty? 5p? 1p? Still ok to phone someone up for it?

But you don't need to pay for an 'online system'. You just give account and sort code details and tell people what reference to use.

Sorry my last was an epic ... I think unless you have ever dealt with something like this - a 'business' so the books have to balance and getting money out of large numbers of people - you don't realise the hassle - it sounds straight forward - in theory easy, but in practice not
And I think parents (who are often busy, have distractions - children!) may well be the worst. They forget, they make mistakes, most genuine, some not. And as illustrated by this thread - they really don't appreciate the increase in workload that can cause.
As Iamthe says - the worst is chasing up payments! The bane of my life! Personally I don't see the shame in saying I can't afford to pay this till the end of the month - rather than 'forgetting' repeatedly - talk to the person collecting the money and you can sort something out and will save them having to hassle you!
I (as a parent too) always pay for activities/school things as soon as I get the bill now ....so bank transfer/money and slip into DCs bag straight away - so I don't forget. Makes my life easier too...don't have to think about it again.

(And merry see my epic post about why 'just paying online' is far from straightforward for this)

the point at which it is petty depends on the finances of the minimum wage school admin person making up the difference.

I would be surprised if any school sized business doesn't have online access to its accounts. It really shouldn't be that much of a palaver. A school is a small to lmedium sized business and they shouldn't be flummoxed by things like paying and receiving money electronically in 2015.

I use on-line payments to pay my children's school, and brownie and sports club subs.

Yes money can be paid in error and people can use the wrong reference, but that can also happen with cheques and envelopes of cash.

Millions of businesses have to balance their books everyday.

Merry you are talking about a few hundred payments of relatively small amounts -less than £10. -every week. Not many businesses have one person dealing with that - it is spread over a number of cashiers etc.
You could move to monthly larger payments but then people with little money might not be able to afford to do that...and you would still get a mix of people paying cash/cheques too.
As Lynette said there are things like parent pay but they are private companies and charge - per pupil and per transaction - iirc it is something like £200 per pupil plus transaction charges per year and at least some of that cost has to be passed onto to parents...as competition increases those charges should go down.
I think online is definitely the future... but we are not there quite yet...
Even the major banks are behind - not having the software/ability to provide two signatory payments....

A good illustration - 6 yrs ago one group I am involved with suggested sending information by email -a good 70% of parents said they wanted a paper copy, with 30% wanting both. Every year (new parents) we gave them the option - a year ago it was 2% wanted paper too. So now we send all info and invoices out by email (and paper for those who still want it) ... and 90% now pay online but still 10% pay cash/cheque.
I do fee notes for Brownies too - just started doing the fee notes by email but have always encouraged online payments - over the last 4 yrs I've seen a big increase but about 10% still want to pay by cheque/cash.

Actually is it only me that worries slightly ...thinking of The Handmaid's Tale etc...how much control the 'government' has over our spending/access to funds when it is all done through banks, no cash...
and also what would we do if eg terrorists brought down all the internet connections/electricity supply. ...
(dons tin hat and hides in bunker )

you owe it. what is there to be miffed about money you owe? money for the trip is no off-settable by good works and what a high quality parent you are. get off your high horse.

Don't think this would help much, but I can see where you're coming from.

In the circumstances if I were processing the payments, and knew your level of involvement in the school, then I would probably find 20p to cover you rather than inconvenience you over it. Even if that meant asking someone for 20p.

But I'm obviously in the minority.

Plenty of small businesses trade over the internet.

Many small to medium size businesses have one person managing admin and bookkeeping - often the proprietor manages all the admin and finance as well as running the business. You have to be pretty big to have an accounts payable/receivable department.

Balancing the books, paying people and allocating payments whether received online or in cash , is just normal day to day admin. Perhaps a bit of a pain if you are a voluntary organisation, but it really shouldn't be beyond the capabilities of an organisation like a school..

Clearly some people don't like paying on line. However, I fail to see why it is easier to trace cash or cheque payments to a particular payer than an online receipt to a bank account.

I'm going to invent a system for schools to use and make a fortune :)

Its not that difficult. We can apply for school places online, and book for parents evening online, and order milk online, and holiday club. I am sure school dinners and school trips could fit into this and save the staff the trouble of arsing about with cheques and cash. Then they will have more time to do other stuff.

merry really going to drop it but ...
My partner had a small/medium size business I did all the admin/bookeeping for him...
I do the admin for a similar (but smaller) organisation to a school...
I do the brownie fees
Do you believe I know what I am talking about?
Trying to think why the second two are more difficult...(and they are!)

I think it is is actually the attitude of the payees...to the organisations... a more casual attitude. And one that has been illustrated on this thread - just take it from another fund, you don't even have to pay, its only 20p, a lot of people would have paid 30p too much etc, etc. That all increases the hassle.

I guess it is a bit like people in charity shops trying to not pay the full amount etc....people wouldn't do it in Tescos!

And the fact you are paying upfront for something that isn't tangible.
So you wouldn't dream- or couldn't - buy something online and not pay the correct amount....or over pay - in fact often the amount is already filled in for you as you pay, no user error.
If you paid too little you wouldn't get what you ordered, if you used the wrong reference you wouldn't get what you ordered - you know you have to get it right.
(In the case of school lunches you can't bill people because you have to do it in advance (or you wouldn't see the money! and the canteen need to know how many they have to feed that day) and that week a child might be on packed lunches for 3 days etc...
If you didn't pay - 'forgot' for weeks - say a nursery would just not let you drop your child off...a school could stop feeding a child but that wouldn't be an easy thing for them to do.

A lot of small businesses complain about not being paid promptly but they are usually for larger amounts, from fewer people.
I guess payments to schools are more like things for much larger amounts - council tax and fuel bills - and people do need chasing for those...but one person isn't dealing that...

lowry someone has already done it - 'parent pay' used by lots of schools and they do make money - from parents having to pay more for lunches and trips...

Ah but my system will be 20p cheaper than parent pay

Parentpay charge more like £200 + £1 per pupil + transaction charge. Whether this is worth it to the school will depend on how much efficiency is gained through time saved and increased receipts. Schools have to pay for overheads like grounds maintenance, cleaning staff, IT costs, salaries of office staff etc. etc and something like parent pay is just another overhead.

I agree that state schools can occupy a strange middle ground where they are reliant on volunteers to raise funds and help in school. However, they are also professional organisations with Bursars and office staff who are presumably hired because of their training, experience and competence.

Of course there are difficulties that are specific to running a school, but you could say that about any sector.

i am a bit confused as to why an online system is any better or worse if people dont pay up?

YANBU, it's petty of them to ring you up to ask. Possibly mentioning it as an aside when they see you at school would have been a better approach but even then..