By Mark Jaugey, PayPal
The common check has a colorful history. In the 1930s, Sir Alan Patrick Herbert, a British humorist created the urban myth that a man called Albert Haddock won a landmark court case to force the tax collector to accept a check written on a cow.
The story was pure fiction, but reminds us that a check was simply an instruction for a bank to pay someone a sum of money. Long ago, people wrote checks on whatever scraps of paper they had at hand.
The earliest recorded check in the UK was dated 16 February 1659 - which means we have just passed its 350th anniversary.
Personally, I saw my first check as a rite of passage when I turned 18. Every year, like many of us, I struggle to remember to write the right year on the check each January. But times have changed.
The check is in the mail often reveals the uncertainty of a timely payment. In 2009, the idea of paying with a piece of paper which embarks on a slow clearing journey might seem outdated. In France alone, the over 3+ billions checks issued every year represent more than 4000 tons of print paper.
In the UK, Tesco and Marks & Spencer have stopped accepting checks. Why? To speed up checkout, reduce fraud, enhance tracking and cut costs… In Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, Belgium and the Netherlands, checks have been replaced by direct payments and electronic payments issued by consumers.
After the financial sector turmoil, banks may perceive the cost of processing checks too expensive, considering the availability of alternative options. Although small businesses are often portrayed as championing the check, we’re finding more and more of them are jumping at the chance to take online payments.
The tangible process of writing a check remains, for some people, a more reassuring way of paying; it provides a higher level of control and assurance. In most EU countries, adults are more concerned about misuse of their credit or debit card information than about electronic payments.
Paperless money will not happen overnight, but… Most flight tickets are now replaced by one’s passports and a booking code. The Amazon’s Kindle is reshaping the book publishing model. The countdown for the check’s extinction has started…
Mark Jaugey is Communication Director at Paypal Europe. Founded 10 years ago, PayPal provides electronic payments to 184 million consumers in 190 countries.
