The Rise and Fall of Checks

[romneymoney]

Article in The Atlantic

The usage of checks as a payment system has plummeted in the U.S. in recent years.

Interesting to take a look a how the usage payment methods has changed over time, basically quantifying what we already knew.  It's interesting to try and figure out how things will change with the proliferation of cyber-currencies in this context.

[hilariousandco]

Cheques have been so outdated for years now. It always used to baffle me why they actually took five working days to clear. Even more annoying when they bounced and you had to foot a fee for the inconvenience.

[Benjig]

I always think that checks are not very secure, and more the old ones , the recent digital printed checks are more safe but i dont like them.. im not surprised that their use plummeted in recent years

[Ron~Popeil]

I couldn't tell you the last time I wrote a check. I still have some around here somewhere but the account number being printed right there on the paper seems really risky. 

[galbros]

Debit cards killed checks for most face to face transactions and ACH, e.g. bill pay, dramatically reduced their usefulness in the US.  Internationally, I think they were even less used than in US.

[bitbaby]

Direct Bank Wire transfers exchanged checks for most business users imho, the company I work for currently (can't name here) used to pay me in checks now they do wire transfer directly in my bank account and it's fast and convenient.

[redwhitenblue]

The majority of consumer transactions are some kind of electronic form of payment (online bill pay, credit card, debit card).

BTC solves most problems associated with electronic payments. It does still have consumer protection issues that can somewhat be addressed with escrow.

[waldox]

checks are dinosaurs , rip

[okthen]

I had totally forgotten the existence of cheques!
Wow, my granny used to have them in her purse...
I think in some years we'll feel the same way about paper agendas

[ShakyhandsBTCer]

I had totally forgotten the existence of cheques!
Wow, my granny used to have them in her purse...
I think in some years we'll feel the same way about paper agendas

Checks are still used for some larger transactions.