But I don't understand Paladin's premise of "allowing the landlord access to one's bank account". I'm pretty sure I have acquaintances who pay monthly by check or automated bank transfer.

I know many lower-end restaurants in the USA take cash only as a probable method of tax evasion. Perhaps that is why some landlords do as well. Alternatively, such people demand cash upfront because they have thin profit margins or whatever and are too afraid of spending the time and effort to pursue someone whose check or electronic payment bounced.

@Nevermore The USA is a place where lots of people can proliferate at being technologically behind. e.g. almost no one accepts or pays by contactless yet despite the inherent security of the process. And by having a population of over 300 million we can generate large quantities of believers in the Luddite fallacy and such.

I pay by credit card whenever possible for the rewards/points, but utilities don't usually allow that so those I just pay through the online bill payment feature rather than mess around with pre-authorizations

Most monthly or whatever payments are done electronically around here, I think. Mine certainly are. Whether by pre-authorized debit, an e-transfer (transfer from one bank account to another), or your bank's online bill payment system/database

If I overpaid, it may take several months for them to pay me back the difference. If I underpaid, they're very quick with demanding the difference.

Meanwhile, I can write a tax report, but since the employer already deduced the standard legal taxes from my monthly payment, the tax report is also mostly just to let the tax authority determine if I underpaid or overpaid.

Based on my average costs for the year, they will then calculate the estimated monthly costs for the upcoming year.

At the end of the year, the power company will send me an annual invoice which shows if I overpaid or underpaid. If I overpaid, the difference may just be deduced from my December bill.

I also pay my monthly gas and electricity bills that way.

It's funny. Here in Germany, many people still pay cash in stores, restaurants etc. (the staff usually asks "cash or wireless?"), but many regular payments are handled wirelessly and automatically.

Around the same time, I get sent a slip from payroll that lists my gross income, all the deductions and the net income, i.e. the final transaction sum.

My monthly payment from my employer is wirelessly transferred to my bank account. Taxes, health insurance, unemployment insurance and social security fees are calculated by the payroll department, handled by the employer, and I just get paid the rest after taxes and everything.

yes. you're assuming US employers would pay fairly & take fairly.

we dont get paid on a monthly basis, if thats what you mean. i myself get paid every 2 weeks. some are every week. and if im telling you something you already know, just ignore me...

Which I assume doesn't work that way in the US either?

That way you may time the transaction with your monthly payment from your employer.

You don't need to give the landlord access to anything. You go to your bank, show the clerk your bank account card, give them the landlord's bank details, tell them the exact amount of the rent and which day of the month the transaction should happen, sign the order, and you're done.

most Americans wouldn't trust a landlord with access to their bank account.

Do people in other countries really still pay their landlords in cash? Here in Germany, it's very common to have the payment as an automated bank transaction on a set day of the month, so if the payment is late, it's either the bank's fault, or there's not enough money on the bank account.

meanwhile some of us are trying to calculate if they'll have a spare forty bucks at the end of the week for some food...

At least I can see where the 600 US bucks is going in this case. The MP line looks more ridiculous by the day.

It's ridiculous. I'll stick to Armadacron

If anything, shipping is going to make the actual toy's price look affordable.

Its like, $550 ish in US money (so probably about $800 for my Australian self) and is taller than TR Fort Max. He's gonna be a hefty boy.

Damn, that Unicron looks big. Not gonna be cheap

"By the way, your landlord called. Something about being late with the rent."

"Hi there, I'm Unicron. Your husband ordered me."

"Perhaps I misjudged you. Proceed on your way to the couch."

I'm just afraid of what my wife would do to me if it showed up at our door.

Giant Robot Satan has that effect on people.

So, I might not be able to get Hasbro Pulse Unicron because my mother is afraid of it

But that's neither here nor there.

Six of one, half-dozen of the other.

Both maybe?

Do you need a criminal lawyer or a criminal, lawyer.

I don't suppose the allspark has any criminal lawyers from Georgia. ;P

It seems like, with these kind of things, anything not TF-specific is either in an existing thread or just not discussed since they're not part of something deemed important enough to get its own thread already.

Yeah, but it's for Transformers specifically

There is. It's called "SDCC 2019 thread"

no general SDCC thread?

I never even bothered to see it.

O never hated it, the whole thing was an Indiana Jones movie. I didn't care for the CGI, but that's just nature of the beast.

sidebar- has enough time passed that we can stop irrationally hating "Crystal Skull" yet?

after 38 years and i dont know how many viewings, today is the first time i noticed indiana jones doesnt use a revolver in the bar fight in raiders...

@Sabrblade Depends on when you're here. I used to have the backups happen once daily, now I have them happen once per hour so you might often see a hesitation at the top of every hour for 30-45 seconds.

isn't that just Modern Family

that's right. my gym teacher is a clown. new series coming to disney channel next fall

all these clowns are making me run really fast.

All this awesome SDCC news is really making these boards run slowly.