I’m angrier than a former retail store manager who sees that, in 2024, retail customers still want to pay by personal check? This isn’t, say, 1989. Apparently, some stores still accept a form of payment that has pretty much gone the way of the dodo.
Target still accepts personal checks. That is, the retail chain announced, until the fifteenth. Here’s the thing: why is there a need to use a paper check anyway? I do have a checking account, and the bank sent me paper checks in a small cardboard box. Where are they? In my storage unit. How many times have I needed them in the 13 years I’ve had the account? Zero. Every business accepts debit or credit cards. Hell, my landlord accepts rent through Venmo.
These days, everyone has a checking account. Everybody also has a debit card. Many have credit cards. Why, then, would anyone have the need to write out a paper check and hold up the line? The only reason that I can think of is that a check writer is trying to get one over. I mean, if the funds are there, just use your debit card. What’s so difficult about that?
I was once a retail store manager. When I started, the store accepted paper checks. On my first day, I eliminated checks as an acceptable payment method. Sure, customers complained, but I point out that if the funds are there, they should simply use their debit cards.
Paper checks are selfish in a retail environment. The time it takes to write the check and to have the cashier process it is time that could go to the next guy. A paper check writer is giving you the finger and giving the store a potentially worthless payment method.
Target made the right call. Let’s see if others follow.