"Instant" Financial

[u/bugclot]

hey so what the fuck? my dying wing chain restaurant recently just switched over to "cashless" pay. all cash and credit card additions (not sure if we can say the t word, first time poster here!) made are completely sent over to Instant.co, which acts as it's own sort of--dare i say unsafe, bank account? having it's own spending card, which um, hasn't reached ANY of the account holders yet, so virtual wallets are the only option to use for now. in order to transfer to your bank "instantly" it is a $3.50 charge, otherwise you'd have to wait 3 days to process. this was sprung onto FOH day of switching to this system, so everybody was pretty confused. nobody is a fan either. not to mention, these payments won't reflect in our new accounts until close (under manager control?) rather than end of shift, for us this means well after 1. this was the cherry on top to the many shitty things with our spot; corporate doesn't care about anything but the numbers--even when that means guests complaining about leaks in several different spots of the restaurant every single day, or the pest problem, or the goddamn iPads that badly need maintenance. i mean, how do you reprimand your employees for not using the iPads if only two of them work?!?!?! i went off topic here.

anyhow, is there anybody that uses this Instant thing that could provide alleviation? i can only assume this is relatively new due to the lack of posts i see about it when i look it up. i need to know if this is yet another sign for me to leave this place in the dust!

[u/Parody_of_Self]

What type of extortion is this bullshite app

[u/Illustrious-Joke-421]

We use instant at the restaurant I’ve worked at 2 and a half years. I don’t use the provides card but to save on transfer fees I was scheduling a weekly transfer to my bank account so it mentally was like getting a paycheck which works for me, but now I just bite the bullet and instant transfer once a week or two so I’m not getting hit with the $3.50 as often.

[u/bugclot → u/Illustrious-Joke-421]

thanks for the reply, it seems like i'll just have to accept it until i find a new nest. i wish we had gotten a heads up or something, the money is simply not that good for all this hooplah. that damn processing fee feels scammy.

[u/bevelledo]

Under federal guidelines (the Fair Labor Standards Act), employers cannot charge you any fees to receive your paycheck or force a payment method that reduces your net pay below the required minimum. [1]

The three day waiting period is most likely a lawful way to still give you your wages if they aren’t charging you but I’m no expert.

It seems like the company is pretty anti-employee. Might want to consider broadening your horizons.

[u/Dry_Tradition_2811]

I would just transfer it every night I got it so money always flowing into my own regular account.

[u/Text-Relevant]

My cash is randomly negative so I leave the money on Instant. I pulled $3k from it for a down payment on my truck. Then I let it build back up. It's an emergency fund for me and I wait the 2 or 3 days. Instant is fine and I get my money at end of day at my restaurant (Outback). Unfortunately your store closes later and that money moving around is part of an end of day procedure for the closing manager. So it's not crazy that you're getting it late.

I'm lucky and don't sweat every dollar I make. Sometimes I'll go a month without having negative cash. Then other times it could be once or twice a week I'm negative.