Talk:Money order

History

The money order system was first unformally established in Great Britain in 1792, by a private company. It didn't do very well, and in the mid-1830s the system was taken over by the post office. The trend caught on in the U.S. as a safe way to send money and as a guarantee that the money would be available. [1] --Can Not 20:57, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Tracking

Does anyone know the typical tracking features of Money orders and how they work?

Proposed merge

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

The result of this discussion was article merged...

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I propose that we merge international money order with this article as their does not seem to be sufficient differences in the international vs. standard money orders to warrant a separate article. --Cab88 15:29, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

• international money orders and money orders are two very different things.
• money orders cant go anywere out of the US, international money orders are made to go out of the US.
• ln section within the article and the difference between the two is made crystal clear!
• International Money Orders can be very expensive to cash in other countries (up to $50 US). This fee should be mentioned on this page so as not to mislead others to send money abroad where its recipient will be forced to pay a large sum for its cashing.
• i searched for money order, if i wanted an international money order i searched for that. So no merge, i suggest.
• i agree they are very different things and one could search for either that he wanted.
• I'm for the merge. They're effectively the same thing, and there's insufficient content here to warrant a separate article. The best thing to do would be to merge and leave behind a redirect-- then people find the right information regardless of their search terms. Eric 23:34, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

US-centric

The current 'Money Order' page is VERY US-centric. It is basically saying a Money Order is a US thing, and all other (and International) money orders are something different (eg the footnote on India). I think we need a generic (international) description of what a Money Order is, with details of the local differences in national systems and the nature of an 'international' money order. (Mark Carden 7 April 2006)

I agree about the US-centerness. Using the phrase "a regular money order" for the U.S. one is really funny (In section International Money Order): it is regular only for the people living in the U.S. The same kind of money order as in India exists also in Russia. I suppose there are more than two countries using this kind of money order, so the description really calls for improvement.

Okay, here's my 2 cents, we could have a supertopic, "Money Order", which would not be the International Money Order page, but would include US, India, Japan, Russia, and specific information thereunto pertaining. I agree this page is US-centric, and we can't expect only US people to have their own page, without referring to it as such, so I say re-organize this page to start the _idea_ of money order, then section it off by country and other information (counterfeiting, history, etc.). What do you think? Rhetth 01:22, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Totally agree that this is far too US-centric. Canada Post issues and cashes 25000 Canada Post Money Orders a day, as does Royal Mail in the UK. The product is the product - different countries sell them locally and internationally.

Who signs?

I got a money order for me from a relative, but it was unsigned. I began to fill it out (for example, putting my name into the To: portion, and began to sign the lower right signature part as well, but stopped after putting my first name in because the money order resembled a check, which the originator of the funds signs, rather than the recipient. Who signs a money order? LeoO3 21:05, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

I realise that this is a bit late to help you, but... firstly, you should not have received a money order with the "To:" field left blank. This would have made it easy for a third party to steal the money by filling in their own details.

As for signing, it depends. There may be up to 3 signature fields, you need to read the description of each one. Usually there is one on the front for "drawer" or "purchaser." This should be signed by the person who buys the money order in the first place, and constitutes agreeing to the terms and conditions. Again, it is highly irregular to receive a money order with this field not filled out. The issuing cashier should not have issued it until after it was signed. There may be an additional field on the front for the cashier to sign to indicate a valid issue of the order, although that may be replaced by a stamp or something similar.

Finally, there is a signature field for the payee (that's you, the guy who's receiving the money.) This is usually on the back. You don't sign until you are cashing it. The cashier should ask to see proof of ID, and then witness you signing it. This is to protect you from theft; if you pre-sign the order, it's as good as cash (but usually worth a lot more than a large banknote) and would be easily stolen. -- 202.63.39.58 (talk) 12:54, 14 May 2012 (UTC)

Confusion of Money Orders as negotiable instruments with "orders to the post office to receive cash and pay out cash"

There appears to be some confusion about the difference between the negotiable instrument "money order" and orders to transfer cash money.

In English-speaking countries, a Money Order is a (negotiable) instrument, like a check, issued by a postal service or a bank, promising the payee to pay out to him the amount printed on that instrument. In continental Europe, such instrument were never issued, with some exception to "International Money Orders". In particular, the Brunswick "Postanweisung" depicted on the page was not a negotiable instument:

In contrast to the Money Order, a "Postanweisung" worked as follows: The payer went to a Post office, filled in the pink form (identifying himself, the payee, and inserting some information about the purpose of the payment and the amount to be transferred), paid in cash the amount of the money to be transferred, and a fee (1 Groschen on the Brunswick sample - see the red stamp on it), and surrendered the filled-in pink form to the clerk. The clerk, then, issued a receipt to the payer, registered the payment, declared on the pink form that the payment had been registered, and sent the pink form to the post office, in the district of which the payee was settled. At that destination post office, the pink slip and sufficient cash were (together with others) taken by a specialized postman ("Geldbriefträger" in German), who brought the slip and the amount to be transferred - in cash! - to the home or business premises of the payee. Those postmen were all male and armed. A portion of the pink slip, containing the information about the payer and the purpose of the payment (e.g. an invoice number) was handed out to the payee together with the money (in the Brunswick example, the whole pink card altogether). The payee acknowledged the payment by signature.

The "Postanweisung" service was abandoned in Germany in 2002; in Austria, it is still offered for domestic payments.

Source: German Wikipedia - Postanweisung

--77.87.224.100 (talk) 13:50, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

Historical Error - USPS

The article states that the USPS started selling money orders in the 1860s. This is a neat trick, as the United State Postal Service did not exist until the Postal Reorganization Act was passed in the 1970s. Until that time, it was the United State Post Office Department, a service of the US Government for the people; the establishment of which is in Art. II of the US Constitution. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.201.206.156 (talk) 20:59, 31 December 2016 (UTC)

One extra proposed merge

I'm not 100% sure, but I think this article could also be merged with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_order

Or maybe just linked to. My guess it's that they are US and UK versions of the same subject matter. Regards, — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.50.121.64 (talk) 18:06, 23 July 2017 (UTC)

Only have the money order stub

money order got ruined 99.109.164.192 (talk) 06:02, 25 October 2023 (UTC)