In Ireland and most EU countries, the cheque is no longer used. The majority of payments are made electronically, either by debit or credit card in retail outlets or online (secure encrypted).
Payment can also be made electronically from bank to bank. I can give the payor my Bick and Iban number. These are my account details. They can then make the payment electronically TO my account. They CAN NOT withdraw money from my account.
When I make an electronic payment, on line or through the bank app, the payment needs to be verified by my personal pin number and also by a confirmation code sent to me by text. The bank software also notices if an unusual transaction should occur.
Electronic bank transfer is very safe.
I've used VERSACHECK software to print my own checks since the last Millenium -- basically for free. There's probably free check printing software that can be downloaded on the WEB.
Of course, packages delivered to single homes don't seem to be that much safer.
Most companies (and individuals) who ship high-ticket items require an adult signature. If no one is there, they don't go to the unit in search of the recipient, they leave a tag.My daughter lives in an apartment house in NY State. All the UPS, Fed Ex, and other packages are left on the floor in the lobby near the dwellers' mail boxes. You just look for your own packages. Everyone seems to trust everyone else. Hard to believe this is common practice in apartment buildings. I guess if you ordered something valuable like a camera, you make delivery requiring a signature. That would require the guy to take an elevator up to the apartment. Of course, packages delivered to single homes don't seem to be that much safer.
Bank checks should be special paper that supposedly makes them harder to forge and change details if intercepted in the mail. Do you use bank paper or regular print paper?
I use Uniball Signo 207 ballpoint pens when writing checks . They're recommended as their ink is very difficult to bleach out of the check and the details changed to pay a thief who stole your check from your mailbox, if that;s where you mail from, or from other places. Apparently, there are ways to bleach out ink from less secure pen types.
My wife refuses to leave her checks in the mailbox outside our house for pickup. She always drives to the post office and drops it off inside, not in the boxes outside.
In practical terms, if snail mail really does become obsolete, sure, that service may not be needed any more. In Germany, we are a long way from that. Not because of cheques but because a bunch of communication with public administration still only works on paper.
Having mail delivered to central locations might work for some, but certainly not for e.g. the elderly, who happen to also be one group that can't be reached in other ways.
Does anyone besides me think it's odd that a group of film shooters think snail mail is obsolete?
We thought we were so advanced when we got a beeper.
Let me check my fax machine.Does anyone besides me think it's odd that a group of film shooters think snail mail is obsolete?
Let me check my fax machine.
I shared a purchase of a fax machine in ~1986. It was $500 back then, and it used thermal paper.
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