Check For Cash

I went to the store the other day and picked up some items for the house. Even the smallest of stores now have electronic check processing. That's a good thing in so many ways. Back when I was a child I remember my grandparents using checks and almost every store took them. There wasn't any question, it was as good as cash. I remember how tickled my grandparents were because checking accounts were a fairly new idea back then. Slowly the shift started, however, I think it was in my mid-20's that stores were beginning to not accept checks. People had taken advantage of the system that allowed so much freedom and less risk than carrying cash around. It was pretty gradual but by the time I was in my 30's it had become extremely difficult to find any stores that would take a personal check. I know a lot of folks that took offense. They'd never bounced a check, or at least, not on purpose and always made it right. I was one of those people, but I didn't take offense. I understood, having worked in retail much of my life, how bad the situation had become with some people purposely writing bad checks. There was no way to distinguish between those who did, and those who didn't. Various stores tried different methods. Check cashing cards where you had to apply for it and wait until they checked out your banking background. Even that wasn't all that foolproof. In the last few years though, the advent of electronic check processing has helped a great deal. Still perhaps not fool-proof it is a much more reliable, and up to the minute way of validating checks. I'm grateful for that. Now most major stores, and quite a few small ones can safely take checks again and that means I can use them. I very rarely carry cash around, and prefer not to use charge cards because then I have to pay interest on top of the purchase.