Whole Foods No Longer Accepting Checks

a store here will only take a check if you have their check cashing cards (whatever that is, i just see the sign for it)

Several stores in our area have check readers so you dont even have to fill out the check. All you do is sign a register tape and the check is posted as "VOID" and the transfre made. It beats the quick check cards and credit cards. Quick check (debit) cards are slowly being charged a fee for service like credit cards. A check is still the only way that 10 bucks on the tape is 10 bucks paid.

Also, there are ATM machines around here at certain chain convenience stores(711, Turkey Hill minit marts. and WaWa) that dont charge andy ATM fee for your "yuppee food stamps" .(What we used to call ATM fresh 20$ bills).

yeah, most stores require check cashing cards here too. I guess it's just a sign of the times with folks switching to debit cards but it surprised me.

That sounds more efficient than holding up the line while someone writes the check out.

Cheques? People still write a scrip on a piece of paper to pay for things?

How antiquated! Perhaps they should show up with chickens to barter or a few clipped coins.

Cycloptichorn

This is becoming more and more common everywhere as most people now have either credit or debit cards. If you have a checking account then chances are you have an ATM card. Stores will accept those as debit cards. Why bother writing a check? It's a convenience for the customer, really, not to have to lug a checkbook around. And, of course, it's a big advantage to the store: a person can write a bad check that'll bounce; not so with a card which is scanned and available balance is verified.

lot's of barter on the manitoulin island, we go to the farmers markets, and the guys there are always trading stuff, the veggie guy exchanges his stuff for baked goods, the honey guy trades for veggies

Checks are so obsolete when debit cards make the whole process more streamlined.

I have never understood how people could take a checkbook to the store, knowing they are going to go through a line, and not have the check completed except for the amount.

Still, if they are going to call the store Whole Paycheck, I would think they should actually accept checks.

within a few years it will be very difficult to find a retailer who will take a check. Perhaps they will still be in use for bill paying for awhile, but maybe not for that either.

I object to random service charges on my ATM and Quickchek cards.

Yeah -- I still pay my bills by paper checks and send them through the mail using postage. Some of us simply don't like change - which is probably what it is that I can't define in my first post. Forced change bothers me, I guess... But this doesn't impact me in any way other than to perhaps speed up the process for the folks in front of me.

One thing mentioned in the article I linked from the LA Times in Sept was the sentiment that many of the elderly haven't switched to debit cards and still use checks. I think that's true.

yeah -- I hear you on folks (particularly women) who have to dig around in the purse/pocket to find the checkbook after everything is rung up before they start writing it out.

I'll be dragged kicking and bitching into the 21st century at some point, I'm sure.

me too. I seldom use one and then only at the bank that issues it.

i'm taking odds...



I don't let gram write checks when we go out.

she refuses a bank card of any kind.

ever.

I think you've made it pretty clear that you don't like change, and this is change.

Debit cards have been the standard here for around 20 years. I don't think I know anyone under the age of 80 who uses cheques regularly, and even those folks use debit cards more often than they write cheques.

Canada was behind much of Europe on this, and the U.S. is a beat and a half behind us.

I think you're probably right, ehbeth. They're certainly giving plenty of notice -- I think it goes into effect in May here. Just a sign of the times, I guess.

My stores accept checks, but we get very few anymore. 3 yesterday out of 91 customers in my main store. Older customers.
My bank charges me for each check deposited. Probably less than what I pay if the purchase was made with a credit or debit card, but still hefty.
I read, I think, that the U.K. is heading towards phasing out checks entirely by something like 2015 or so.