Nearly two decades ago, in 2002, I remember being appalled at how slow money transfer worked. If I deposited my paycheck at my bank, it could take two or three

Nearly two decades ago, in 2002, I remember being appalled at how slow money transfer worked. If I deposited my paycheck at my bank, it could take two or three days before that money was available (and my bank compounded the sin by including the amount in the "total" for my account but not all of that money "in" my account was actually "available"). In late '02 I was so irritated by this[0] that I actually started cashing my paychecks at the issuing bank (which was across the street from the building where I worked) and walking the money to my own bank two blocks away and depositing it. Cash deposits were, I believe by federal law, immediately available. Even then, there was no excuse why physically walking cash from one place to another, with in-person interactions at both ends, should have been faster than a direct electronic transfer, but it was, by a factor of something like 150. Improved electronic infrastructure has been a LONG time coming. [0]The final straw was the time I deposited a check at the bank, then wrote a check on that money, put it in an envelope and mailed it, and the check still bounced. It still kind of boggles my mind that the system was that slow, although I kind of assume there was a certain amount of bank-being-gougy in there too.