Bye bye cheques.
And good riddance.
During the lunchtime news on Radio 4 the other day was the story of the beginning of the process to phase out cheques.
The usual neigh-sayers were there. ‘Boo hoo – how am I going to pay my bills now?’ they said. ‘Cheques are so convenient’ they said.
Balls.
Cheques are an outmoded, out dated pain in the arsehole.
How come I was listening to the lunchtime news on Radio 4? Because I was in my car – driving 10 miles to the nearest Post Office (30+ to the nearest branch of my bank) to stand in a line for 20 minutes to pay in a bloody cheque. Now I’m waiting for it to clear. For the next month or however long it takes.
Cheques are fine if:
- You live near your bank branch or a Post Office
- You can get to said office at a time that suits you and a time they will be open.
- You don’t have anything better to do with your time than stand in a line nattering about the price of cat food and hair nets.
- You don’t have anything better to do with your money than leave it stagnating in a zero percent interest current account
Online banking, BACs transfers (Faster Payments even better), Direct Debits, Paypal, Google Checkout. All much more convenient, much faster and much better than cheques.
Now – if we could only get rid of cash as well. I mean, come on – it’s just bonkers. Carrying around a piece of paper and a metric tonne of nickel which, if you drop is gone forever? Crazy.
Contactless payment? Yes please.