# The decline of cash. And checks. And … **URL:** \ **Category:** Macro Economic Trends and Risks\ **Created:** [September 18, 2023, 12:44pm UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-decline-of-cash-and-checks-and/96518 "2023-09-18T12:44:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Goofyhoofy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/goofyhoofy/32/4721_2.png) [@Goofyhoofy](https://discussion.fool.com/u/Goofyhoofy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 12:44pm UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-decline-of-cash-and-checks-and/96518/1 "2023-09-18T12:44:53Z")
And here’s the other article, on the ways we spend our money these days. In case you don’t care to read the article (gifted), I offer two charts: ![IMG_0177](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/original/3X/0/2/0206fd219582cf39d66f865dc8c8b17233bb8bd8.jpeg) ![IMG_0178](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/original/3X/3/d/3d46e45a6b1dd129ac4f5898db816f97550ea567.jpeg) There are also breakouts on use of various forms of money by race, geography, and so on. My favorite line from the piece: “ In particular, we still reach for the old checkbook when dealing with contractors, charities, taxes and landlords. But you may encounter some furrowed brows if you hold up the line in Safeway or Taco Bell to painstakingly spell out “sixteen dollars and forty-four cents” > **[Analysis | Paper checks are dead. Cash is dying. Who still uses them?](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/09/15/paper-checks-who-uses/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjk1MDA5NjAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNjk2MzkxOTk5LCJpYXQiOjE2OTUwMDk2MDAsImp0aSI6IjcyMmRiNjk2LTUwOTgtNDhhZi04MzExLWI4ZDNhYTIwYThkNiIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDIzLzA5LzE1L3BhcGVyLWNoZWNrcy13aG8tdXNlcy8ifQ.XYM_nz-yFmh3GJbxIS6u4DwMo3M404kPfqFsL0YmuI4&itid=gfta)** > > Don’t be the guy who holds up the line at Safeway to spell out “sixteen dollars and forty-four cents.” And maybe think twice before fishing out a twenty. ---
**Author:** ![steve203](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/steve203/32/3302_2.png) [@steve203](https://discussion.fool.com/u/steve203)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 1:15pm UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-decline-of-cash-and-checks-and/96518/2 "2023-09-18T13:15:50Z")
> [@Goofyhoofy](#): > > In particular, we still reach for the old checkbook when dealing with contractors, charities, taxes and landlords. Remember when you could order checks 300-500 at a time? That was nice. Order once, and I’m done with ordering for a couple years. Now, the check ordering web site only offers a choice of 40 or 80. A couple years ago, the only option was for 40. I had to reorder at about the time I received an order. I burn through cash at an amazing rate these days. Used to be $60 would last me a month. Now, I hit the ATM for $100 about every week. Only major difference over the years is I eat out several times a week now, vs eating out never, before, because I was working all the time. The thing about cash and paper checks is they keep the credit card companies relatively honest. Without cash and checks, CC companies could raise their skim rate to the full extent of their desire for profits. I assume their desire for profits is infinite. How much of a skim are people willing to pay for? 10%? 25%? Steve ---
**Author:** ![flyerboys](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/flyerboys/32/2123_2.png) [@flyerboys](https://discussion.fool.com/u/flyerboys)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 6:50pm UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-decline-of-cash-and-checks-and/96518/3 "2023-09-18T18:50:17Z")
I live in Mexico where 70% or so of the population never uses anything but cash. I pay all employees and contractors in cash, and about 50% of my store purchases. And since the largest readily attainable cash bill is for only 500 pesos (about $23), I need a thick wad to make it through the week. It is a friggin PITA. Once a week I put on my “useless stoned old man USAian hippy” clothes to go to my bank to pick up my huge wad, which I stick under a package of cheap tortillas in my small backpack. david fb (and yes, I would really hate to have to have dealt with Venezuelan and Zimbabwean toilet paper money) ---
**Author:** ![steve203](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/steve203/32/3302_2.png) [@steve203](https://discussion.fool.com/u/steve203)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-decline-of-cash-and-checks-and/96518/4 "2023-09-18T20:36:42Z")
> [@flyerboys](#): > > And since the largest readily attainable cash bill is for only 500 pesos (about $23), These days, seems people give you the stink-eye if you try to hand them a $100 bill. But 50 years ago, a sawbuck had the buying power that Benjamin does now, and people didn’t treat you like an axe murderer if you handed them one. Steve ---
**Author:** ![Goofyhoofy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/goofyhoofy/32/4721_2.png) [@Goofyhoofy](https://discussion.fool.com/u/Goofyhoofy)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 9:11pm UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-decline-of-cash-and-checks-and/96518/5 "2023-09-18T21:11:54Z")
> [@steve203](#): > > But 50 years ago, 50 years ago there wasn’t a laser printer or inkjet printer in every basement, nor the internet dark corners with people offering to sell counterfeits to all comers. Different time. ---
**Author:** ![steve203](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/steve203/32/3302_2.png) [@steve203](https://discussion.fool.com/u/steve203)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 9:50pm UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-decline-of-cash-and-checks-and/96518/6 "2023-09-18T21:50:31Z")
> [@Goofyhoofy](#): > > 50 years ago there wasn’t a laser printer or inkjet printer in every basement, nor the internet dark corners with people offering to sell counterfeits to all comers. Different time. Counterfeiters have been around forever. There have been high budget operations, that, one would think, could have recruited the best engravers in the world to make the plates, then there were the low end jobs. Now, with rampant ID theft, seems a credit card should be just as suspect as a Benjamin, because the retailer is stuck whether he is charged back for honoring a bogus card, or the Treasury thanks him for the counterfeit currency he handed them, and then walks away. Ever see “Mr 880”? > **[Mister 880](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_880)** > > Mister 880 is a 1950 American light-hearted romantic drama film directed by Edmund Goulding and starring Burt Lancaster, Dorothy McGuire and Edmund Gwenn, about an amateurish counterfeiter who counterfeits only one dollar bills, and manages to elude the Secret Service for ten years. The film is based on the true story of Emerich Juettner, known by the alias Edward Mueller, an elderly man who counterfeited just enough money to survive, was careful where and when he spent his fake dollar bills, and... ---
**Author:** ![MarkR](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/markr/32/2011_2.png) [@MarkR](https://discussion.fool.com/u/MarkR)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 10:16pm UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-decline-of-cash-and-checks-and/96518/7 "2023-09-18T22:16:31Z")
Now I want to watch the movie. But $4 on prime, so I will wait until it is free. ---
**Author:** ![steve203](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/steve203/32/3302_2.png) [@steve203](https://discussion.fool.com/u/steve203)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 12:34am UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-decline-of-cash-and-checks-and/96518/8 "2023-09-19T00:34:55Z")
It’s free on youtube now. [![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/original/3X/8/a/8a84cb9df700150ac0a039e9332e3132479f1556.jpeg "Mister 880 (1950) Edmund Goulding | Burt Lancaster Dorothy McGuire | Full Movie | IMDB Score 7.1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGNlE2RBe90) ---
**Author:** ![Leap1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/motleyfoolfree/user_avatar/discussion.fool.com/leap1/32/72176_2.png) [@Leap1](https://discussion.fool.com/u/Leap1)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 2:06am UTC](https://discussion.fool.com/t/the-decline-of-cash-and-checks-and/96518/9 "2023-09-19T02:06:48Z")
Pretty sure we want some counterfeiting nowadays. It is cheaper than the US mint printing. It is figured into the total.