Back Scratch Fever

You provide a service.  I use that service.  I pay you fees for your service.  You complete the service.  The cycle continues.  That seems like a logical and free market sort of thing to do.  MoneyGram has decided otherwise and is playing with a different set of guidelines.  Their rules go something like this:  We provide a service.  We discontinue allowing you to use the service based on any criteria we have determined is useful to us.  We won’t tell you why you can’t use our service, nor will we tell you when you might be able to use it again.  With MoneyGram, using their service is a one way street and they are driving.  I’m apparently not very welcome on that road.

MoneyGram processes money order transactions and some bill pays through Walmart’s Money Centers around the country.  Although the financial transactions take place inside Walmart’s walls, the rules governing those transactions are set forth and governed by MoneyGram.  If you’ve ever heard a Walmart employee talk about fearing to complete a transaction because they will “get in trouble”, the issues they are referring to are often from MoneyGram, not Walmart.  There are stores, even in my area, that have lost the services of MoneyGram.  That’s alot of transactions, missed revenue, and foot traffic in their stores.  For Walmart, the threat of losing MoneyGram as a financial processor is very real.

Shutdowns

I was shutdown from using MoneyGram’s services late last year, and a few days ago I got the boot again.  In the immortal words of Rodney King, can’t we all just get along?  Apparently not.  I was doing pretty heavy manufactured spend (MS) via MoneyGram before my first shutdown, mostly via money orders (MO).  I’ve cut back on that though, some via the gong show that is Covid, and also because I’ve diversified my MS to less reliance on MO’s.  Money orders get old, and volume through Walmarts walls in my area aren’t really possible anymore.

The good news is that I’m on my third go with MoneyGram.  It’s not a nine lives sort of plan, but I have a path laid out that takes into account 4-5 MoneyGram shutdowns.  After 5 shutdowns I’m not sure I’d still want to spar with MoneyGram.  With that said, I’m a little over half way through that.  In the points and miles game, sometimes there’s life after death.