<center><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/steemimgimgs/2016/10/30/checkbook-688352_1280bf2c3.jpg" alt="checkbook-688352_1280bf2c3.jpg" border="0"></center>

Cheques used to be an efficient way to transfer money to someone or a business, such as to pay bills. But that's no longer the case.

The decline of the cheque has been forthcoming for many years with the advent of electronic methods of payment. Debit cards and credit cards cemented the foundations of the decline. Now online banking, paypal, and other electronic methods such as smartphone payments and bitcoin, are building the new infrastructure that will eventually make paper cheques obsolete. 

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Anything transfered or transported physically requires a cost (certainly higher than electric transfers), and paper cheques are no stranger to costs for banks to process. There is also the time required to process payments, compared to electronic speed. Many banks are now charging for the use of cheques as a method of discouraging their continued use. Electronic banking is easier for the banks and the customer, and it reduces cost for the one's offering the service. The direction we are headed is clear: full electronic banking. At least with bitcoin, the blockchain and other cryptocurrency projects, we may be able to free ourselves from the banking cartel grip.

Currently, banks hired people and companies to process physical paper cheques arriving in trucks. Their is a huge amount of paper-shuffling for banks to do each month. Next year, more banks are adopting an end to paper cheque processing within their institutions, as their will be digitizing them for internal processing. No more costs for the paper trail continuing, and no more costs for those employees, as they are no longer needed.

<center><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/steemimgimgs/2016/10/30/640px-FANUC_6-axis_welding_robotsb67d0.jpg" alt="640px-FANUC_6-axis_welding_robotsb67d0.jpg" border="0"></center>

Robotization and automation are taking over many industries, and the financial sector is one of them. There are less bank tellers now, as ATM's have largely replaced their role in many areas. According to Antony Jenkins, former Barclays CEO, half of the people working in UK's financial services industry could lose their jobs in the next decade.

The death of the cheque will take time, since many small businesses don't accept electronic payments yet, even basic debit cards. In 2012, cheques accounted for 12% of noncash payments ion the USA. That is still a large number. If someone doesn't have cash, a cheque can be a handy person-to-person payment option. Also if you're paranoid of some electronic mishap or erasure, cheques do create a paper trail.

Despite all the electronic hype and blockchain that's getting into the mainstream, the UK alone had $609 billion (500 billion pounds) of cheque payments in 2015. In 2012, the US had $26 trillion in payments. That's huge! At least 50% of UK customers sent 1 cheque between March 2014-2015.

With the decline of the paper cheque at the internal business processing end, with digital scans taking over, it seems the paper cheque will still continue to be used by people for some time ahead. This won't stop the electronic and automation era, as costs affect the bottom line of shareholders. The paper cost will eventually see the way of the dodo bird: extinct.

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Personally, I haven't used a check to pay anything, ever... I guess it's the pre-90's generations, that grew up without many electronic payment methods, who are still using what they know: the trusted cheque. What do you think? Don't get me wrong, I use cash to pay for everything, but not cheques.

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[Image sources: [1](https://pixabay.com/en/checkbook-coupon-fill-check-688352/), [2](https://pixabay.com/en/cost-dollar-finance-money-business-1183244/), [3](https://pixabay.com/en/atm-withdraw-cash-map-ec-card-1524870/), [4](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Copenhagen_dodo.jpg)]

[Sources: [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheque), [2](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-28/the-finance-sector-is-feeling-the-robot-burn), [3](http://www.bankrate.com/finance/checking/paper-checks-have-staying-power-1.aspx)]

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Author: Kris Nelson / @krnel
Contact: steemit.quality@gmail.com
Date: 2016-10-31, 8am EST