A Checkless Society? Pull The Other One, Why Don't You?

In recent years, much has been made of our evolution toward a cashless society. It does appear to be happening, but it's happening a lot more slowly than futurists and science fiction writers have predicted -- or is it?

Checks have been standing in for actual cash for hundreds of years now, especially so in the past 50 years. Think of it this way: you never actually have to touch cash if you don't want to. You get your paycheck from your boss; it represents credits we still call "dollars," and if you want, you can trade those credits for real dollars. (Most of us don't, beyond a little folding money for the week.) The credits go into your bank account, and you write your own checks for the things you owe others. Credits are removed from your account and put into your creditor's. It's all electronic, and often no real dollars are exchanged at all. That's why it was so easy for electronic bill paying to evolve in the last decade. We were doing it already, in a primitive way; all we've done is remove one more physical layer from the process, the check itself.

Electronic payments are now overtaking paper checks as the most popular form of payment, for everything from electric bills to milk. But even in our evolving electronic age, people still need checks. After all, where's the money coming from when you use your card to pay for that manicure? Ten to one it's coming from your checking account. And half the time when you pay electronically, you're paying by check. If you pay a bill on the phone, for example, they cut an electronic check that goes straight to the bank.

The long and short of it is, if you've got a checking account, you'll have checks. After all, there are still plenty of places that don't take plastic.

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