[toomuchtodo]

Write check, friend deposits with mobile check deposit app. Everyone has a bank of some sort, I have yet to meet anyone who is using Venmo.

[Jtsummers]

It's friction. If you have two entities providing the same service (money exchange), but one is easy to use and one is much harder to use, the easier one will win (all other things being equal.

Check method:

  Needed items:
    Payer - checkbook, pen
    Payee - phone

  Steps:
    Payer        Payee
    Write check
    Give check   Receive check
                 Sign check
                 Use app to photograph and submit check

Venmo method:

  Needed items:
    Payer - phone
    Payee - phone

  Steps:
    Payer            Payee
    Send $x to Payee

A similar occurrence in the financial field, mobile banking. Depositing checks via phone is easier than going to an ATM which was easier than making it to a physical branch of the right bank during business hours.

Cash is a better equivalence to Venmo, but only works when you're physically collocated. And then requires one or both parties to carry around cash (and it's not as easy to be precise, if you care about getting it right down to the penny).

[toomuchtodo]

How do you handle someone who won't install Venmo and sign up for their service? Not pay them back?

[Jtsummers]

Switch back to cash, check or another transfer mechanism. Or have them buy the next round at the bar and call it good.

[HaloZero]

You then have to write out a check to the right person, the amount, the other person has to sign it and then take two pictures. Venmo just reduces all of that to. Send $10 to X

[toomuchtodo]

Perfect example of the HN bubble.

[morgante]

You're the on in the bubble. Young people don't write checks. Full stop.

[avn2109]

Agreed. I am a millenial and I was super pissed when I discovered my new landlord required me to pay by check. Mostly because this required me to figure out how to get checks from the bank.

[nommm-nommm]

"Super pissed?" Really?

Unless you have some sort of obsolete bank then paying your landlord by check is just as easy/fast as any app.

This is how I pay rent:

1) login to bank website

2) click bill pay

3) put in amount in the right place (this was previously set up)

4) Click make payments

The bank then mails your landlord a check. You can even schedule payments automatically.

If get a new landlord:

1) click add company or person to pay

2) click person

3) Enter person's name, address, and phone number.

4) Click add person.

And do you expect your landlord to pay a premium to take a credit card?

You can also pay every one of your bills at the same time (credit cards, loans, etc...)

[toomuchtodo]

Why would you be super pissed? Accepting credit cards costs the merchant 3%, a substantial amount for the amount charged by a landlord.

Which is why check payments dominate larger transactions. Merchant fees are expensive compared to an ACH check fee (25 cents tops).

[mojowo11]

Yep, I bet Venmo processed $1.6 billion in transactions in the last quarter of 2014 entirely from Hacker News users.

EDIT: Oh, apparently we're going to talk about their business model now instead. Jeez, it's hard to keep up.

[toomuchtodo]

$1.6 billion in transactions, and they're still not profitable (backstopped by Paypal's profits).

Good luck with that long term!

[DanBC]

When you say cheque I think "fax", or "betamax" or "pager number".

[toomuchtodo]

Unfortunately, America hasn't reached the same level of financial sophistication as the UK regarding money transfers. It will eventually, obsoleting hacks like Venmo.

[pkamb]

What is the sophisticated UK alternative to Venmo?

[toomuchtodo]

https://www.vocalink.com/

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2013/10/04/229224964/episo... is a Planet Money episode that goes into details of how it works.

[phormat]

https://tilt.com

[bronson]

Who carries checks everywhere anymore?

[morgante]

> I have yet to meet anyone who is using Venmo.

And I have never written a check.

I doubt the people in Venmo's demo even know where their checkbook is, if they have one at all.

[protomyth]

"Everyone has a bank of some sort"

I think we've had quite a few articles on HN that show that isn't true.

[Vraxx]

I don't know about all banks, but my bank has a flat fee on that service, which seems like it would make it significantly worse for paying back small sums (of which the flat fee is a greater percentage of).

[superuser2]

I have yet to meet anyone under 30 who knows where their checkbook is.

[toomuchtodo]

Meet "the Venmo line":

http://qz.com/277509/read-what-happens-when-a-bunch-of-over-...

Your kid's school doesn't take Venmo for field trips. Or school lunch programs. Or extracurricular activities. That's just to name a few "adult" things Venmo doesn't support, and requires a checkbook.

Great, you can pay friends back for rent, drinks, or eating out. #millenialproblems

[Jtsummers]

It seems more like #twentysomethingproblems, not #millenialproblems. As a GenXer this was stuff I dealt with far more in college and just after than I do these days. I imagine it was similar for my Boomer parents.

[toomuchtodo]

I think that's my point. Once you get older, this problem drops away. You probably don't have roommates (no need to split rent or utilities) and you probably eat out less often (and when you do, you can split the check).

If you're a parent, you're paying for things that require a check or cash. The check then become's "frictionless" as you already require it.

[Jtsummers]

This is true. And I had a longer, but more rambling reply, saying that.

I can still see situations where I'd prefer this (or similar) to cash. For covers at bars ("oops, forgot to hit the ATM! Can you get me?"), for buying tickets to shows (to ensure we're seated near each other), and other situations. But they're still infrequent compared to a decade ago for me.