The cheque is still in the post

On Friday I trotted up to the bank in the village to pay in a cheque, only to return home and find that the postie had delivered another cheque to me. That means at some point tomorrow I’ll be strolling back down to the bank (Hopefully not trudging through the snow) to pass another piece of paper over the counter.

It amazes me quite how many companies still use quaint old payment methods involving pieces of paper. I forget how many years ago we were promised a paperless office, but we’ve not even managed to fully transition to paperless payments yet, although personally I can’t remember the last time I used a cheque book, certainly not in the last eight years but probably longer.

Electronic payments aren’t all that good either. We hear constant complaints about PayPal and that occasionally PayPal withdrawals still aren’t instant. It’s just the same with electronic bank payments though. BACS payments still aren’t instant and when someone tells me they’ve paid me I’m never quite sure if the money will be instantly available in my account, whether it’ll be the next working day, or whether the funds will magically materialise about three days later.

I should say I’m all in favour of getting paid. Please don’t think I’m complaining, I’ll take payment by any legal means whether it’s PayPal, Bank Transfer, BACS, Cheques or even good old cash. It just amuses me that we’re now in 2013 and some companies still use payment methods that not only aren’t instant, but also probably cost more to process than if everyone switched to electronic payments.