Should Paper Checks Be Abolished Like The Penny?

I still use paper checks to pay certain bills and the VA. I like having an option for plastic.

I might write 3 a year.
Only to avoid paying 3% fees.
It seems like more and more companies are charging them.

Interesting article.
I can't pin down the last time I wrote a check, but I believe it was just before I started by 2nd career, in 1989.
And I don't remember when I last saw one being written at a grocery store, but it has definitely been years.

But as noted, there are several checks created on my behalf every month through online bill payment. I don't know how that will be handled for payments to entities that don't accept electronic transfer.

The abolition of checks (or "cheques", as the rest of the English-speaking world calls them) is inevitable. They are an anachronism, 17th century technology that is increasingly incompatible with 21st century financial systems. The United States is just about the last technologically advanced country where they still exist as a major component of the economy.

As the article noted, Australia is legally banning them from 2030, but functionally, most Australian banks are already ahead of the game. Some banks have already abolished both the issuing and processing of cheques. All the big banks and most of the smaller ones have already abolished anyone applying for new chequing accounts, for both personal and corporate accounts. For holders of already-existing cheque accounts, the banks will either no longer issue new chequebooks or only issue them under strict limited conditions. So when you literally run out of cheques, you're forced to switch to electronic banking. So by the time 2030 rolls around, cheques will already have functionally disappeared from use.

Banks hate cheques, and all the time, money and paperwork that cheques require. So they're totally on board with their abolition, and have done a lot over the past few decades to discourage their customers from using cheques and switch to electronic payments instead.

Today I will write my one monthly check-----to my gardener who doesn't accept Venmo or Zelle. I've asked. Repeatedly.
Growing up I used to watch my mom spend time balancing hdr checkbook. One time I asked her if she ever caught the bank making a mistake. She said that once the bank shorted her a dime.

My last three checks were for home maintenance and repairs; the vendors (Painter / Plumber / HVAC) either weren't set up for Zelle / Venmo or they charged more for using a CC.
I still record my spends in a paper check register.
Thank you for sharing the article, jbuck.

I think I quality as 'older', now.
But, I've been using online banking since the days of dial-up modems, and happily dropped the checkbook when I was around half my current age of 72.
I was employed by a printing company that produced brochures for my Credit Union, announcing their new service of online banking. I went home and registered the same day, before the brochures even hit the street, LOL.

Far from being a technophobe, like many in my age group, I've been playing with computers for going on 50 years. One caveat, I am a mobile phone refusnik. Though, my home phone is VoIP, and has been since around 2010.
And I am learning that not too many people (of any age) are even familiar with that.

Not all of us old farts shun technology.