Only old people use checks, or when you need to send money through the mail (which is almost never). It can be handy to be able to give someone an amount of mon

Only old people use checks, or when you need to send money through the mail (which is almost never). It can be handy to be able to give someone an amount of money that isn't limited by the amount of cash you have on hand, and without requiring them to have anything more complicated than a bank account to receive the money (and even that is optional if you use a check cashing service). Which is not to say that the US banking industry isn't backwards and bizarre.