By Karen Webster (CEO, Market Platform Dynamics)
“Truth loves an appeal to the common-sense of mankind.” – “American Independence” by Samuel Adams (August 1, 1776)
As we celebrate the 235th anniversary of our independence, here’s the common-sense truth about payments: a lot of them still happen via paper check. Sure, as an overall percentage of payments, it is declining, but for crying out loud, paper checks have been around since about 1500 and don’t seem like they are going away any time soon. Be honest, how many times a month do you still write checks in spite of all of the electronic methods available to make payment?
Ask the Industry: What payments instrument will you “declare independence from” this year?
Virtually all of the service people I deal with (plumber, electrician, landscaper, etc.) invoice me and ask for a check as payment. When it came time to pay the piper (well actually, the doctor and hospital) for the balance due from my winter broken wrist escapade, that had to be done by check, too. (In truth, I could have written my credit card number on the billing receipt, but as long as I was writing, I might as well just write the check and be done with it). Now, it would be much easier to rid myself of my check dependence if two things happened: the people I paid each month were part of my online banking biller directory (or even had online bill payment capabilities) and/or the mobile acceptance revolution made its way to my service providers. Both strike me as another revolution away from happening.
The other paper dependence that I would love to shed, but don’t think I will any time soon, is being paid by check. That, as we know, is among the last bastions of electronic payments and will take time. I will say though that it is really ironic, that an industry that has done so much to further electronic payments still uses paper checks to pay its own bills. That in and of itself is an interesting insight into the challenges of cracking that chicken-and-egg dilemma, the industry not eating its own dog food or whatever. But make no mistake, getting paid – paper check and all – is certainly better than the alternative.
In the infamous words of Samuel Adams, “Courage, then, my PYMNTS.com countrymen!” and help us shed the shackles of paper check and experience the freedom of electronic payments!
And, have a wonderful 4th!!!
Declaration of Electronic Deposit Access Independence
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death (of Paper Checks)
Help Me Declare Independence from Receipts
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