I've become my dad.

It was several years ago (well, he's been gone nearly 20 years, so maybe more than several) that he was introduced to automatic deposit. He was probably in his 70's and received a small monthly check from the VA for his service in World War II. Each month he'd get a check in the mail, drive over to the bank, deposit it...and life was good.

Then he got a notice that 'beginning next month' his pension would be directly deposited into his account. No check in the mail, it would just show up in his account each month on a certain day.

'Wait', he said, 'How does it get into my account'?

Me, being the technological genius I am, said 'It's electronic, it's automatic'. He wasn't quite convinced. 'But how do they get the money into the bank in Leota'? Hmm. 'They push a button dad, and the money shows up in your account'. Another confused look. 'So they just send the bank my check?'

I scratched my bald head, 'Yep, exactly, let's go play Rook'.

Checks. Writing checks. Receiving checks. It's all becoming a thing of the past.

It's pushing buttons now. And cards, always cards. According to Kiplinger credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, Apple pay, Venmo, Bitcoin and on and on and on have replaced...

Paper.

But, like anything else, there are adopters and resisters.

And I have this sneaky feeling that us folks of a certain age are in the latter category.

Oh, we're grudgingly moving into the 'electronic' and 'card' world. Direct deposit is a given now (Dad never could quite understand it, but as long as the 'check' was in the bank, ok). I have bills that are 'automatic' each month (and it's fine as long as the direct deposit stays automatic, too). And yes, the debit card is handy...no wait. We'd be lost without it.

But I still have my checks. Several years back my son was watching me write out a check and mentioned that he didn't think he'd actually written out a check-in five or six years.

Shut up, kid.

I still have things I write out checks for. Not as many as I used to, but some and fewer and fewer.. You see, I'm old...I'm a resistor. And there will be a day my Grandkids will open an old box of mine, find an envelope of old (really old!) canceled checks, look at each other and go....

'What's this'?

 

 

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