Much has been made of today’s decision to phase out the use of cheques – although only by 2018 and provided there are suitable substitutes in place, so not exactly the final nail in the paper payment’s coffin, but its days are numbered.
What does this mean to most of us?
Well, there will need to be a new way to pay in certain situations, such as when we have plumbers to do work, and there are still plenty of occasions where cheques are used by small businesses.
Three-quarters of a billion personal cheques are written each year, and whilst that figure is declining (see graph from BBC above), all of these payments will have to be made in another way. This will be a good opportunity for the development of new and improved methods of payment, such as using mobile phones to pay small bills.
But Bitterwallet has identified the real losers when cheques disappear: telethons, which will need an alternative to the ubiquitous over-sized cheque:
The large novelty cheque will be replaced by someone leaping onto the left button of a giant mouse to electronically transfer the funds via a giganto novelty PC?
Another loser will be 70’s game show Blankety Blank, which will struggle to find another main prize to replace its eponymous cheque book and pen.
photo credit: CarbonNYC
Regarding the discussion on cheques, what about the thousands of small clubs and associations who collect their membership fees by cheque? There is still no cost-effective electronic way of acepting payments of small sums like £10 and £20.