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>>and about two days later, got a Fed-Ex’ed check in the mail. I often wonder, how much time and fuel is wasted on this nonsense in the US. Couldn't they have

>>and about two days later, got a Fed-Ex’ed check in the mail. I often wonder, how much time and fuel is wasted on this nonsense in the US. Couldn't they have just.....sent him the money directly? You know, like in literally every other country in the world?

puzzlingcaptcha 4y ago
To be fair, the French tax office mailed me my tax refund as a physical cheque which I couldn't cash as I no longer lived there. I eventually got them to wire it by SEPA but it required explaining my situation in a letter.
thathndude 4y ago
This. The number of companies still sending me checks (for client settlements) is asinine. And these are BIG companies (fortune 50). I have one of my regular companies now that ACH’s. The amount of money spent on overnight mailing in the legal profession is astonishing.
- kaon123 4y ago
  Why is this?
  - thathndude 4y ago
    Large organizations are big, dumb, and slow. Only a tiny bit of that is hyperbole.
    - swores 4y ago
      Is it possible that even a small % of people losing and forgetting to actually use the cheques saves more money than a little added cost to each payment?
  - paulgb 4y ago
    I wonder if companies want to have an image of a cashed, endorsed check as proof that the funds were sent, given the antagonistic nature of the relationship. With ACH/wire you can prove that the money was sent, but it is harder to prove that it landed in the customer’s account. Kind of a TCP vs. UDP thing.
    - thathndude 4y ago
      This is probably partially right. Although it might sound silly to this crowd, the idea of asking people to get ACH and acct number is full of opportunities for things to go wrong (wrong info, typo in info, etc). Sending a check is the good ole fashioned way that everyone understands.
  - Tabular-Iceberg 4y ago
    My guess is simply superstition. I don't know if this is true (I heard it from a local), but for decades there was not a single ATM on the Falkland islands. The local bank said ATMs just don't work on remote islands. So a Stanley petrol station took the matter into their own hands and just bought one. ATMs don't care if you're on an island, you just plug them in, put money in them and then people take it out. I can at least verify that that part is true because I was there, saw the machine and got money out of it. Another personal anecdote is an industrial application where safety critical updates had to be received on DVD-Rs that were routinely left unsupervised with untrusted intermediaries in very shady parts of the world. I suggested putting a message authentication code to ensure it hadn't been tampered with. The industry professional I was talking to would hear none of it, thinking the only way would be to transfer the entire contents of the disk over a very expensive satellite link to the head office and have it compared bit by bit. That MACs are a real thing that actually works, and that sending the data back and forth and comparing isn't actually secure unless a MAC is also used was like water off the goose.
atraac 4y ago
That's what surprised me the most too. Like... it's 2022, I'm sure we have banking systems capable of transferring miniscule amounts of money on demand, everywhere in the world. Right? For the amount of tech that comes from US, it seems to be incredibly backward on a lot of things.
Hamuko 4y ago
I don't understand why Americans don't do direct bank transfers, they're fantastic. And with SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, it's even better than ever. I have a secondary bank account in Germany (N26) and if I transfer money from my Finnish bank account to it, I get a push notification from the receiving bank basically a second after I push "Confirm" on the transfer UI.
- dymk 4y ago
  > I don't understand why Americans don't do direct bank transfers we do...
  - gambiting 4y ago
    Well, yes, which makes the whole situation even weirder - American banks support direct bank transfers, yet companies and individuals continue using cheques. Fedexing a check for insurance claim is like super duper weird to me - it must cost money to send it, it cannot possibly be cheaper than just wiring the money.
grumple 4y ago
You see an inefficient system. Companies see a way to hold onto the money for longer, which makes them better able to use that money elsewhere in the meantime like continuing to earn from investments, benefit slightly from inflation, and potentially make other decisions with that money. Holding onto 2k for a few extra days might not be a big deal, but when you do it for everything you pay out that can be a substantial benefit over time.
srvmshr 4y ago
Its hilarious when selling/buying used books. I have had, on few occasions, been sent sale receipts of 1 or 2¢ on books which were re-sold. I would rather have them keep the money. It takes 40-60¢ to post that check.

puzzlingcaptcha 4y ago

To be fair, the French tax office mailed me my tax refund as a physical cheque which I couldn't cash as I no longer lived there. I eventually got them to wire it by SEPA but it required explaining my situation in a letter.

thathndude 4y ago

This. The number of companies still sending me checks (for client settlements) is asinine. And these are BIG companies (fortune 50). I have one of my regular companies now that ACH’s. The amount of money spent on overnight mailing in the legal profession is astonishing.

kaon123 4y ago
Why is this?
- thathndude 4y ago
  Large organizations are big, dumb, and slow. Only a tiny bit of that is hyperbole.
  - swores 4y ago
    Is it possible that even a small % of people losing and forgetting to actually use the cheques saves more money than a little added cost to each payment?
- paulgb 4y ago
  I wonder if companies want to have an image of a cashed, endorsed check as proof that the funds were sent, given the antagonistic nature of the relationship. With ACH/wire you can prove that the money was sent, but it is harder to prove that it landed in the customer’s account. Kind of a TCP vs. UDP thing.
  - thathndude 4y ago
    This is probably partially right. Although it might sound silly to this crowd, the idea of asking people to get ACH and acct number is full of opportunities for things to go wrong (wrong info, typo in info, etc). Sending a check is the good ole fashioned way that everyone understands.
- Tabular-Iceberg 4y ago
  My guess is simply superstition. I don't know if this is true (I heard it from a local), but for decades there was not a single ATM on the Falkland islands. The local bank said ATMs just don't work on remote islands. So a Stanley petrol station took the matter into their own hands and just bought one. ATMs don't care if you're on an island, you just plug them in, put money in them and then people take it out. I can at least verify that that part is true because I was there, saw the machine and got money out of it. Another personal anecdote is an industrial application where safety critical updates had to be received on DVD-Rs that were routinely left unsupervised with untrusted intermediaries in very shady parts of the world. I suggested putting a message authentication code to ensure it hadn't been tampered with. The industry professional I was talking to would hear none of it, thinking the only way would be to transfer the entire contents of the disk over a very expensive satellite link to the head office and have it compared bit by bit. That MACs are a real thing that actually works, and that sending the data back and forth and comparing isn't actually secure unless a MAC is also used was like water off the goose.

atraac 4y ago

That's what surprised me the most too. Like... it's 2022, I'm sure we have banking systems capable of transferring miniscule amounts of money on demand, everywhere in the world. Right? For the amount of tech that comes from US, it seems to be incredibly backward on a lot of things.

Hamuko 4y ago

I don't understand why Americans don't do direct bank transfers, they're fantastic. And with SEPA Instant Credit Transfer, it's even better than ever. I have a secondary bank account in Germany (N26) and if I transfer money from my Finnish bank account to it, I get a push notification from the receiving bank basically a second after I push "Confirm" on the transfer UI.

dymk 4y ago
> I don't understand why Americans don't do direct bank transfers we do...
- gambiting 4y ago
  Well, yes, which makes the whole situation even weirder - American banks support direct bank transfers, yet companies and individuals continue using cheques. Fedexing a check for insurance claim is like super duper weird to me - it must cost money to send it, it cannot possibly be cheaper than just wiring the money.

grumple 4y ago

You see an inefficient system. Companies see a way to hold onto the money for longer, which makes them better able to use that money elsewhere in the meantime like continuing to earn from investments, benefit slightly from inflation, and potentially make other decisions with that money. Holding onto 2k for a few extra days might not be a big deal, but when you do it for everything you pay out that can be a substantial benefit over time.

srvmshr 4y ago

Its hilarious when selling/buying used books. I have had, on few occasions, been sent sale receipts of 1 or 2¢ on books which were re-sold. I would rather have them keep the money. It takes 40-60¢ to post that check.