Doesn't surprise me. I live in Australia, and I'm young enough that cheques have never been common or widespread at any point in my life. The only time I've seen them used is occasionally in...
Doesn't surprise me. I live in Australia, and I'm young enough that cheques have never been common or widespread at any point in my life. The only time I've seen them used is occasionally in business-to-business transactions, though I know a couple of tradies who get paid in cheques.
As noted in the article, they were basically killed off sometime ago anyway. Most banks charge money to both issue a cheque and cash a cheque.
I still find me checks useful in the US. We use them a lot of times to pay for various contract work (plumbing, HVAC, etc.). Our banks though, don’t charge to cash them. It does cost a fee to...
I still find me checks useful in the US. We use them a lot of times to pay for various contract work (plumbing, HVAC, etc.). Our banks though, don’t charge to cash them. It does cost a fee to acquire the checks, but usually you just buy a bunch of once and that is it, no extra fees after that.
Australians are traditionally early adopters of technology. We embraced ATMs in a big way. We took up EFTPOS quickly. We're using contactless payments at an incredibly high rate. In this...
Australians are traditionally early adopters of technology. We embraced ATMs in a big way. We took up EFTPOS quickly. We're using contactless payments at an incredibly high rate.
In this environment, cheques are going the way of the horse & carriage when motor cars came along.
The fact that Americans still use cheques (or "checks") to the degree they do amazes me. How can such an advanced country lag so far behind?
My mum was the first person to use a magnetic stripe bank card in Australia - she tested it in the R&D department at Westpac. They explained the new technology to customers with a TV ad showing a...
Australians are traditionally early adopters of technology. We embraced ATMs in a big way. We took up EFTPOS quickly. We're using contactless payments at an incredibly high rate.
My mum was the first person to use a magnetic stripe bank card in Australia - she tested it in the R&D department at Westpac. They explained the new technology to customers with a TV ad showing a bank teller working inside the machine (as a way of saying it does everything a human teller does) and mum had to reply to the people writing in to apply for the job.
The fact that Americans still use cheques (or "checks") to the degree they do amazes me. How can such an advanced country lag so far behind?
America is a populous country with a strong culture of self-reliance, vouch leads to am awful lot of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' decision making, whereas Australia is a culturally conformative country, with few industries, all of which are dominated by a few big businesses that can change things fairly quickly.
I mean, I live in the US, and I haven't used a check in 11 years. At worst, contractors take zelle, cashapp, or venmo, but in general most of the more "legit" ones take card. Rent payments are...
The fact that Americans still use cheques (or "checks") to the degree they do amazes me. How can such an advanced country lag so far behind?
I mean, I live in the US, and I haven't used a check in 11 years. At worst, contractors take zelle, cashapp, or venmo, but in general most of the more "legit" ones take card. Rent payments are usually through zelle or if it's a large real estate company, then they have a full on payment portal.
Some people will always prefer the old ways, but I wouldn't generalize too much.
I went with my granny to help her but some furniture from Harvey Norman. (I know...) When granny said she wanted to pay by cheque, the shop assistant had to go find a manager to find out how...
I went with my granny to help her but some furniture from Harvey Norman. (I know...) When granny said she wanted to pay by cheque, the shop assistant had to go find a manager to find out how handle that.
I worked as an auditor in Canada for a while, cheques (at least until 2021 or so when I stopped) were still very common in the small/medium sized business world. I work with some Europeans now who...
I worked as an auditor in Canada for a while, cheques (at least until 2021 or so when I stopped) were still very common in the small/medium sized business world. I work with some Europeans now who have only heard of cheques in the same context as "bill of exchange", as a historical process that hasn't existed in a really long time.
Doesn't surprise me. I live in Australia, and I'm young enough that cheques have never been common or widespread at any point in my life. The only time I've seen them used is occasionally in business-to-business transactions, though I know a couple of tradies who get paid in cheques.
As noted in the article, they were basically killed off sometime ago anyway. Most banks charge money to both issue a cheque and cash a cheque.
I still find me checks useful in the US. We use them a lot of times to pay for various contract work (plumbing, HVAC, etc.). Our banks though, don’t charge to cash them. It does cost a fee to acquire the checks, but usually you just buy a bunch of once and that is it, no extra fees after that.
Australians are traditionally early adopters of technology. We embraced ATMs in a big way. We took up EFTPOS quickly. We're using contactless payments at an incredibly high rate.
In this environment, cheques are going the way of the horse & carriage when motor cars came along.
The fact that Americans still use cheques (or "checks") to the degree they do amazes me. How can such an advanced country lag so far behind?
My mum was the first person to use a magnetic stripe bank card in Australia - she tested it in the R&D department at Westpac. They explained the new technology to customers with a TV ad showing a bank teller working inside the machine (as a way of saying it does everything a human teller does) and mum had to reply to the people writing in to apply for the job.
America is a populous country with a strong culture of self-reliance, vouch leads to am awful lot of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' decision making, whereas Australia is a culturally conformative country, with few industries, all of which are dominated by a few big businesses that can change things fairly quickly.
I mean, I live in the US, and I haven't used a check in 11 years. At worst, contractors take zelle, cashapp, or venmo, but in general most of the more "legit" ones take card. Rent payments are usually through zelle or if it's a large real estate company, then they have a full on payment portal.
Some people will always prefer the old ways, but I wouldn't generalize too much.
I went with my granny to help her but some furniture from Harvey Norman. (I know...) When granny said she wanted to pay by cheque, the shop assistant had to go find a manager to find out how handle that.
I worked as an auditor in Canada for a while, cheques (at least until 2021 or so when I stopped) were still very common in the small/medium sized business world. I work with some Europeans now who have only heard of cheques in the same context as "bill of exchange", as a historical process that hasn't existed in a really long time.