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June 10, 2024 • Issue 24:06:01

Flashback: a checks retrospective

[Editor’s note: It may seem difficult to believe, but 25 years ago checks Today, checks passing through the U.S. Mail system account
were Americans' favorite way to pay and get paid. In 1999, The Green for more than a quarter of Postal Service revenue. Ameri-
Sheet published a special report, The paper check's surprising survival can consumers and businesses are writing checks worth 25
and continuing growth on the eve of the 21st century, penned by the percent more than five years ago and 50 percent more than
publication's founder, Paul H. Green. Following are key excerpts.] a decade ago. ... [A]ccording to Dr. Alan H. Lipis [payments
y the late nineteenth century, checks in the expert at the time] "The value of [check] float to banks is
United States had already become a dominant worth more than the total cost of check processing."
form of payment. As the 21st century approach-
B es, most U.S. consumers continue to find the According to Alice Rivlin [then] vice chair of the Board of
Governors of the Federal Reserve, "Indeed, we appear to be
paper check as much a household staple as food and cloth-
ing, and considerably more enduring in their lives. the only industrial country in which the per capita num-
ber of checks written is still rising, despite rapid growth
in payments by credit and debit cards or other electronic
While many of the nation's fads have come and gone, the means."…
paper check has continued to be the non-cash payment
method consumers and businesses use most. In fact, the Urban myths
check has become so ingrained in our thinking as a nation,
most of us give little thought to checks as we use them, and Despite the facts, in the late 20th century an urban myth
the paper check can be undervalued by those whose lives began to develop concerning checks. It became a "payments
and businesses are check dependent. industry" belief that the paper check would soon be extinct,
and this belief has been popularized in the media. ...
Overall, checks exceed 68 billion items a year, with 31 bil-
lion written by business and government, and more than
37 billion written by consumers. The primary payee for
individual consumer checks continues to be the business
community, representing 87 percent of the total checks Contributed articles inside by:
written by consumers. Consumers write between 33 and Allen Kopelman .....................................................................................24
35 percent of their total checks at the point of sale (POS),
and 52 percent from home for recurring bills. ... Walter Akolo ...........................................................................................26
The primary payee for business checks (57 percent) is other Ken Musante ..........................................................................................29
businesses, while the primary payee for federal, state and
local government checks (78 percent) is individuals.

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