What the fuck… A CHECK?!?!? Like printed on paper!?!? WTF?!?!

So my partner that moved to NYC for a PhD program was complaining about their last two paychecks being sent to their old address even though they had updated everything and I just got mentally stuck on the mailed paycheck thing.

Am I in some kind of PNW bubble? But it can’t just be here because the Army also required Direct Deposit way back in ‘06. And Lowe’s is an international corporation. So WTF? Is this just an NYC thing or are there other parts of the country where they still cut checks?

Time to drag your payroll out of 1965, kids.

My partner and their spouse both work for universities so maybe that’s the issue?

But still. Maybe I have have a unique employment path but I’m pretty damn sure a paper check hasn’t been an option for me at least since I joined the Army in ‘06.

Of course people still use checks. Old people in grocery stores and people in AL and the carolinas do it all the fucking time.

Oh, and people trying to scam you.

It's an option where I work, though I opt for direct deposit. Haven't been in a bank since 2017.

Weird.

So I do know that paper checks are still a thing as Joe’s in the ID (one of the few remaining decently priced bars in Seattle) has a deal where they’ll cash a paycheck if you buy a shot (you also get a 8oz PBR beer back per shot). But I only ever see day laborers cashing them. I figured that was the last group to get paper checks. Why would anyone else still go through the hassle?

Oh, and not every person has an established bank account to cash employment checks. That is why there are check cashing places all over in poor neighborhoods. I forgot businesses often deal with them as a way to not carry cash in lieu of large payments.

It is not just day laborers. Thinking about it there is often a reason for poor people not to maintain a bank account due to the problems savings causes with government aid programs especially now that SS and public assistance have moved to their own electronic cards. Banks tend to require minimum deposits and do fees if you do not use the account enough iun a month. Plus they shut down inactive accounts real quick. You would not have an account to start up direct deposit if you were unemployed for a period of time.

I forgot about poor people as I had not dealt with it for a while, but the fact you do not know why is probably a matter of privilege as it is much more common to deal with checks and check cashing places when you do not have a bank account which means you are often in a poor neighborhood which is primarily black or brown.

Try owning a business. You do a little bit more than payroll. Not every business you work with is set up to take payments through credit cards. Checks are still a legitimate way to make large payments and not carry cash. Also, not all people have bank accounts. Sometimes you deal with contracting companies and you cut them checks.

I kept getting a paper paycheck a lot longer than I should have because I liked the ritual of going to the credit union every couple of weeks.

That was a long time ago, though. The only time I go there now is if I need to get a replacement debit card or the rare occasion somebody sends me a check for something (usually a freelance gig).

Nah, in this case it's the US being a bit behind the times.

I can't even remember the last time I saw a check in person and there isn't a single store I know of that would take one.

Has the US updated bank transfers yet? I remember a while back hearing it was a mess of different systems because there was no easy standard for quickly sending money from your bank account to someone else's.

I got my first W-2 job in 2003, and my last one in 2014, and all were either check-only or a choice between a check or direct deposit. The check-only jobs were small business/franchise things that didn't want to bother offering options and it was easier to just do everything the same way and give everyone checks.

Uber/Lyft/Postmates/DoorAss/Instacrap only do direct deposit/other electronic payments, but the gig app industry is a fairly recent development, and kind of prides itself on innovation. If they did something like mail checks they might as well also offer Pony Express-delivered certificates stating how much tobacco I owned and the warehouse in which it is stored, or whatever they did in the 1700s.

You are just dumb as fuck pie. I hgave owned multiple businesses. I have friends who own contracting companies, restaurants, and who do accounting for businesses. I also deal with poor people who do not have bank accounts because the US government and banking industry make it hard for pooir people to maintain open accounts, but they still get paid in checks for large amounts.

I will admit I do not know what they do in australia and maybe you have no need for checks (I fucking doubt it but here in america a business account comes with business checks because businesses have reason to use them because not every transaction runs on the credit system. It is getting better, but the reality is not every employee will have a bank account when starting because of multiple reasons, so you might have to cut a check. I know paycheck companies who do it for businesses.

Even if it was possible, it does not mean every person or other business has it set up. I live here in america and there are check cashing businesses all over in the areas of low income people because it is really hard to set up a bank account without ID. You will also note the same problem of not having ID stops people from voting.

You have fucking massive TDS and you need some medication because these are real things. You cannot possibly start discussing the problems of poverty in the US without discussing the reality lots of poor people do not have bank accounts to cash checks because it is a PITA to maintain them, and you cannot save up money in the bank without reporting, and when the banks report you having over a grand in the bank you start to run into trouble with SNAP, TANF, and SS disability.

I will excuse your ignorance because you are not from the US, and admit it could be made a lot better, but it is not being behind the times which causes these problems, it is often set up this way to maintain poverty and make an obstacle for coming off of public assistance. There is also a reality that if you don't have enough money to save and constantly make monthly transactions US banks shut down your accounts and charge your fees to take you money.

Do you know what wiring money and bank transfers outside of your own linked accounts costs? Bank checks cost 5 dollars a piece. Wire transfers cost 20 dollars a piece last time I checked. It is cheaper to WU money which is what most people do even though it is so easy to scam.

Have you ever owned a business and had to do payroll? Have you ever purchased from vendors? Paid contract companies? Have you ever paid the IRS taxes? Have you ever had to maintain a US checking account while unemployed and not getting income. Have you ever dealt with US social services or SS disability?

I have done all this shit here in america. Some businesses in america do not set up up the ability to take credit card payments because it is an expense they do not have to deal with because they work between businesses. Business checks work for them. Some people you might hire may not have a bank account for any number of reasons, so you cut a check. The bank gives your basic business account a check ledger for fucking free.

Know what you are talking about.

The ability to take credit cards and do direct deposit has become so much easier, especially for small business owners. It is true you are really limiting yourself if you do not set it up today.

However, there is a huge section of poor people who operate without bank accounts and deal with check cashing places because of the way banks hit poor people with fines and difficulty, and also because they report everything which would effect any social services they receive.

Yes, a society/system that doesn't make it easy for people to access modern banking systems in the third decade of the 21st century is behind the times in that area.

Don't none of y'all try to rub your anti-capitalist cred in my face after this, because there's a whole lot about this none of you have even mentioned. The paper check thing is a scam forced on employees by their employers.

The largest payroll processing company in the US is ADP. This is a tad important. When you get hired by a company that uses ADP, you've got to set up an account with them, regardless of it you're getting paid by direct deposit, check, or debit card (and the ones employers give you are an enormous ripoff). ADP will then tell you, even if you've signed up for direct deposit, that your first two paychecks will be paper, and then you'll get a direct deposit from then on. They say that's how long it'll take them to verify everything and get it all set up. A bit dubious, but not implausible, right? If you quit your job (say a couple of years later) and go to another company that also uses ADP for payroll, you can't use the same account that you have been using you have to set up a new account. And when you do so, you're told that you're first two checks will be paper while they verify everything and get it set up. Are you starting to see a pattern here?

What ADP knows is a certain percentage of people are going to cash their checks on payday, another percentage will cash it the day after payday, and another percentage so many days after payday. So, they know when 99% of the checks are going to hit the bank, and they're going to have to make good on the money. To keep it simple, we'll say it's an even 33% for all of them, with the 1% being folks who cash their checks earlier or later than expected. This means that ADP only needs to cover about 34% of payroll checks on a given day. The remaining money can be kept in an account that has a higher interest rate, and moved over as needed. ADP is moving billions of dollars, so even if they're getting a small amount of interest, you're talking millions or more that they can make every day.

Can I see some unscrupulous employer doing something similar with a person's last two checks? And if your employer wants you to have your paycheck deposited on a debit card that they give you? Read the fine print before you agree to that. Because quite often they really fuck you on those things. Some of them will charge you a fee every time you use the card. Anybody ever see an ATM that dispenses dollar bills and change? I haven't. I've encountered a couple that will allow you to draw out as low as $5, but most are $10 or $20 these days. (I'm not even sure about the $10 part.) So, even if you're smart, and draw all the money you can, you're still out at least $4.99 (more, because you're being charged a fee to get your money). You can get that $4.99 (or most of it) by using the card to buy something at a store, but you've still gotten dinged twice for a bullshit fee. And if you're working a job that does that, you're probably so stressed that even if you quit and find a better job, you'll have managed to lose that card with $2.35 (or whatever) on it, and that'll wind up going to the bank. (Again, in the fine print it'll say something like if you don't use the card for six months, they get to keep the money on it. Oh, and they'll charge you a fee for every month, so they're still getting all of your money.)

Hence why I acknowledged that I had heard it was fucked, and questioned if it had changed (since in most western nations bank transfers are free and almost instant)

half of that has nothing to do with my question, please don't give yourself a heart attack.

That's fucking dystopian.

Tell me, have you met America? Because we've been that way for a while now. It's also why I tell all my friends in the civilized parts of the world that I will happily run guns to their country if someone tries to take their socialized medicine away from them.

I am saying they have access, and it is easy to get, but it interferes with benefits, and due to the unique nature of racism in the US certain people do not want to trust it. It is also not that they make it difficult to do it, but rather that if you do it you will lose money if you are poor.

Checks are actually really convenient now that you do not even need the paper anymore. I can take a picture of a check and send that, or I can give the routing numbers and amount and process the payment. There are all sorts of digital ways I can use a check. It all comes with the basic checking account too. The problem is not the technology, but that the poor are pushed into an area of fees and limits that make it hard to have an account.

But keep on going and walk those goal posts a little bit further. You could just say you were wrong and did not know the full trouble because you live in a foreign country and could not possibly know, but your pride prevents you from just taking the obvious easy way out. I would not know what the problems are of the australian public assistance and poverty system are. I would not know how your businesses do paperwork.

What you need to do is to find a good shrink, and let them know how I have fucked your poor wittle mind up and how you cannot admit when you have no fucking idea, even when it would be completely normal for you to not know what the fuck you are talking about. How hard would it be to say you are an australian who has no fucking idea about how the american banking system is fucked up because you have never dealt with it.

Good points, repeatedly iterating how your social support systems are a Dickensian nightmare designed to funnel poor people's money to predatory services definitely makes you sound very with the times.

Yeah, tell me about how great all your systems are when a large portion of the scams I know come from money transfers outside of the american system. really, if you wanted to transfer money to a chinese bank it is free? Because I can write a personal check from my checking account, take a picture of it, and another person can deposit it in their account. I can call up my friend, give them a check number and routing number and they can deposit a check into their account as long as my bank confirms with me within country. As long as no one tries any funny business it works pretty easily.

Don't give yourself too much credit there honey, remember I am tldr fucking queen and love to hear myself type.

They use modern technology to do it. SNAP, TANF, and SSD all run on a card that can be run at any electronic POS system in the US. If I dumped some dumb fuck from AL into the middle of Montana they can take their EBT SNAP card and buy food. They can use their TANF and SS benefits to purchase anything. The money available may be archaic, but they can walk into any grocery store, pharmacy, walmart, target, gas station, or place that is hooked up to the credit card system and use their benefits as allocated at businesses.

Oh, and I will give you an out @Bailey

Just state your present point, and if it is correct I will give it to you. I won't go back and say you were saying something else, or try to argue something else. Just state what you were saying clearly and if I agree with it then I can agree with you.

that's about when I stopped paying rent with'em.

getting paid by one though? yeah, at least 20 years.

kinda different even here.
sending an e transfer is our cheapest method. My chequing account gives me something like 15 free in a month then $3 per after that-DOesn't matter what bank the recipient uses... It was how I got paid when I was doing construction and how I've paid my rent for the last 15 years. Cheques are a rip off here anyways, costing nearly a buck each just for the piece of paper, let alone service charges (at least, the last time I even had any). Come to think of it, other than my phone bill going on my credit card (because my carrier isn't a registered payee with my bank), I pay all my bills online.

Uncle Albert has taken over Lowes!

you really think he'd provide two pieces of ID without a warrant being served?