Check This Out. It Still Works.

From last Sunday’s New Haven Register: “There are a small, but growing number of national retailers here in Connecticut that no longer accept personal checks as a form of payment.”

The other retailers joining this troublesome, consumer-unfriendly trend include Whole Foods, Aldi, Old Navy and Lululemon (Oh no! Not Lululemon!)

More retailers are expected to “follow suit,” according to the Register.

Ah, but check out this headline from the New York Times, July 24: “Why Paper Checks Refuse to Die.” The subhead: “In many industries, checks continue to be a popular form of payment, and sometimes they are required.”

Those still liking to be paid by check include contractors, such as electricians and plumbers (25 percent of their payments are by check) and charitable and religious organizations (22 percent).

I remain solidly in the check-paying ranks, although I’m part of a dwindling minority group. I like the personal touch. As the Times story noted, “It’s almost like a handshake.”

And it’s simpler! I don’t need to mess around with Venmo. Nor do I need to spend time messing around with online demands. Example: Preservation Connecticut recently sent me an email notifying me it’s time to renew my annual membership. But when I clicked on the attached payment button, I was asked to put in my password. I don’t know it! And so I emailed them back and said, just mail me the renewal form and I’ll pay it by check, sent via U.S. Mail, the way I always do. They said they would do so.

That’s right — U.S. Mail! I still buy postage stamps, write out the check for what I owe to utilities, Visa, the many charities I support, my electrician, my computer maintainer, etc., then mail it off.

I know full well that check fraud has become a major danger; bad guys break into postal boxes, find checks and steal them, altering them to make money. And so I have stopped using postal boxes on the street. Several times every week I drive a short distance to the Whitneyville Post Office in nearby Hamden, walk inside (the door to the lobby is open off-hours) and put envelopes in the mailing slot. I do NOT use the mailbox outside the building.

The Times story talked about fraud issues faced by people who pay online: “Just one brush with a bad actor on Venmo or similar payment services like PayPal or Zelle — and any resulting struggle to get the money back — can be enough to push people back to paper…If you’re new to online payments, the fear of adding an errant zero or missing a payment because of a misplaced click might outweigh the hassle and fraud risk associated with checks.”

And get a load of this — I balance my check book! Every time I write a check, I enter it in my ledger and every month, after receiving a statement from my bank, I do the balancing. This enables me to know how much I have in my account. Simple.

I also carry cash! Sure, there are many retailers who have stopped accepting it (boo on them) and in those cases I use my credit card. I don’t expect them to take a check from me.

My daughters and others in their generation surely think I’m a dinosaur, although we haven’t discussed my stubborn check-writing habit. However, I’ve noticed that whenever this ol’ T-Rex writes them a check — no problemo!