Walking Broad by Bruce Buschel

Author:Bruce Buschel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2007-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

9

DON’T SHRED THE LETTUCE

Poplar Street to Vine Street

NORTH Broad is dirty with three types of chains—fast food, gas stations, and pharmacies. At Broad and Poplar, a McDonald’s Drive Thru is connected to an Amoco station. Soon enough, someone will link the three chains into one full self-service pharmagaseteria—fill your tank, your belly, and your arteries: two burgers, large fries, two Prevacids, one Lipitor, and a liter of diet water to wash it all down.

The rest of the block, from Poplar to Parrish, is totally gone. Don’t ask where. Just gone. Flattened like Fallujah. Only there were no insurgents or freedom fighters here. Only families. Philadelphians. Gone.

When the price of gasoline goes higher, the pharmagaseterias will have to incorporate the fourth most popular business on Broad Street: check-cashing joints. Of the ten establishments on Broad Street, three of the biggest are owned by United. Like this one at Fair-mount Avenue.

“We are more secure than any bank,” says Big Jim Higgins, director of marketing for United Financial Services. “We have bullet-resistant glass, mantraps, alarms, and some things I cannot tell you.”

“What things?”

“I cannot tell you.”

What Big Jim Higgins wants to talk about are the wonderful services offered by United, since critics accuse check cashers of preying on the poor and shylocking the shy.

“We don’t keep banker’s hours. We’re available and we give instant money.”

“You give money?”

“You don’t have to wait for your check to clear. We assess the risk and we front the money.”

The money fronted by United was already earned by the consumer and taxed by the government. While United has other services—money orders, money wiring, phone cards, and the like—85 percent of its business is cashing checks and 85 percent of those are payroll checks. Some risk.

“Our clientele has unsophisticated needs,” says Big Jim. “They are transient people in service-related fields, waitress, janitor, hotel maid, gas station attendant. Most of the them have bank accounts, but still prefer our services.”

“Why?” I ask.

“They may not have the money to cover their paycheck or they may not have a checking account. We help them out.”

“Why don’t they have a checking account?”

“They may not write enough checks to make it worthwhile. Or can’t keep the minimum balance required. They may not have a bank account at all.”

“Why don’t they have a bank account?”

“Millions of consumers prefer to manage their money on a cash basis, so we buy the check after assessing the risk and then we are responsible for collecting the value of the check we purchased.”

“How much do you charge?”

“It depends on the instant risk assessment. Between one and two percent. On average, 1.8 percent of the check.”

“How much for a personal check?”

“We rarely accept personal checks.”

“How many checks actually bounce?”

“Our bounce rate is one tenth of one percent.”

Last year, United grossed $1.3 billion from 140 franchises in seventeen states. Business has doubled in the last decade. There are twenty-three United outlets in Philly and more on the way. Broad Street is good, but the suburbs are better. As long as immigration keeps growing, so will United.

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