(2) legal documents should always have the full date (spelled out) on them anyway, so if you just use '20' then that would have been wrong anyway, but 11/Dec/20.
I always find it interesting how people of a certain age, and especially in technology bubbles, enjoy restricting their options so much, as if there is some kind of nobility in giving themselves fewer choices and less freedom in life.
Best tool for the job is on Windows? No way, I only use bespoke FrotzOS distributions on a laptop I built myself from parts I reflowed in my co-living oven.
One of the best movies of all time is on TV tonight? No way, I only watch video if it comes in an internet stream, and only from services I have to tunnel through three VPNs to reach.
Write a check? No way, I only use the Spltzit app for finances, even though it's not accepted everywhere.
Checks are a thing, and will remain a thing for many more decades, or even longer. Get used to it.
Checks are only a thing in the US because there is no proper banking infrastructure. Here in the EU we can transfer money person-to-person, person-to-business and business-to-business instantly between a very large variety of banking institutions spanning 10's of countries. No need for routing instructions, correspondent banks, transfer accounts or any of that bs, and it's cheap to boot.
There is absolutely no reason why the United States could not do the same, in fact it would be easier there. Payment systems in the United States are archaic and error prone. They also tend to offload the risk of fraud onto the consumers/merchants and I suspect that plus the fees are the bigger reasons why the banks are reluctant to get their act together.
> Tell that to the French hotel my wife stayed in 15 months ago that only took cash or American Express travelers checks.
And chip-and-pin and likely also credit cards but they tend to not advertise that fact because they hate the fees and the slow settlement. That's why in France every cab driver ever has a sign on their back seats stating that 'unfortunately, their credit card processing machine just broke down' (by law they have to accept them but if the machine broke down on that day they get dispensation for that day so this loophole is immediately abused, if this happens to you simply stick to your guns and sooner or later it will turn out that the machine works just fine).
I spend a ton of time in hotels in France (and elsewhere in Europe) and have yet to see one that did not have a wide selection of payment options.
" France is a country in which the use of cheques is also widespread. However French traders, shops, hotels etc. will not usually accept payment by cheque unless the cheque is on a French bank; some places accept cheques in Euros on banks in other Eurozone counries, but most do not, given the increased risk and the possibility of bank charges. It is generally impossible to pay for anything using a cheque on a bank situated outside the Eurozone."
Even that seems a bit archaic to me because I haven't seen checks (or rather: cheques) in France in a decade or more but American Express travelers checks may be the exception, but this post from 2014 basically says not to bother:
Brought Amex travellers cheques in Euros on our trip to France only to discover NO ONE, not even banks take or cash them. Have tried paying with them in hotels, restaurants, and stores-no takers. Exchange bureaus (even Ria which is recommended on American Express website in Lyon) would not cash them. Spent a good couple hours wandering and visiting the following to no avail: La Poste (used to cash, but not any more), BNP Paribas, LCL, Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, Bank Populaire, CE.
Take note: don't bother with travellers cheques-will never use again. BRING a debit card, credit card with chip/pin technology, and some cash."
I guess you're not including UK here? Checks are a thing in UK and is very common for .gov institutions: driving licence? Write a check. Overpaid taxes? Receive check. Pay national insurance gaps? Write a check. It's good though that pretty much every banking app has ability to scan and deposit a check to your account in a matter of seconds.
I don't necessarily disagree, but you're glossing over the trade offs in making those decisions. Windows is a poorly behaved proprietary operating system from an extremely poorly behaved company with a long history of doing questionable things. OTA TV has ads and I presume lower quality. Checks, as we are discussing, have what appears to be some long-standing security problems. By all means is the best tool for the job, but don't mistake "works (ignoring costs aid side effects)" for "best", and please don't assume that just because people are very picky about what they use means that they're not doing so for legitimate reasons.
I think the bank should have the option that the person with the bank account can require that cheques written from that account to be digitally signed. If this option is used, then the digital signature must be included in the cheque; you can calculate this on your computer, without requiring an internet connection or any proprietary software. If you do not have a computer, you can go to the bank and they will digitally sign it for you.
That is why the real date will be spelled out, typically like this: January the twentieth of the year two thousand and twenty or something to that effect. We're talking legal documents here, they don't take chances with those. The date shorthand is just that: a shorthand.
Any serious contract / deed / legal doc I have signed so far has followed that convention, the century being the optional one. The fact that there are always multiple signed copies of such documents, other supporting documents (communications, email) and that fraud in writing is punished quite severely seems to have kept me safe so far.
Or charge you a fee for paying other ways, even when those other ways are cheaper for them to process than physical checks (e.g. ACH/Debit Cards). It is often just a way to leverage a higher price on consumers unwilling to write physical checks.
Yes, it could be. That's why all proper legal documents will have the date spelled out in its entirety, the numbers are just a shorthand, ditto with monetary amounts.
Want to buy some land? Get ready to write a check to some person or government agency along the way.
Want to transfer money from your account in bank to another with zero fees? Write a check.
Want to start a business? Expect to write a check along the way.
Want to stay in a hotel in some of the world's most interesting places? Cash or travelers checks. Credit card, if you're lucky, but then with a big fee, and they might not have internet.
The real world isn't all online. It isn't all electronic. It isn't Star Trek.
Cheques are being phased out in New Zealand this year. Almost no one uses them here anymore. It's all electronic, online. Zero fees for bank transfers.
I must live in Star Trek because I can assure you I do all of that electronically and with no fees. If you give someone here a cheque chances are they won't even know what it is. I'd say literally nobody under 30 here has seen a cheque in their entire life. (Spain)
I always find it interesting how people of a certain age, and especially in technology bubbles, enjoy restricting their options so much, as if there is some kind of nobility in giving themselves fewer choices and less freedom in life.
Best tool for the job is on Windows? No way, I only use bespoke FrotzOS distributions on a laptop I built myself from parts I reflowed in my co-living oven.
One of the best movies of all time is on TV tonight? No way, I only watch video if it comes in an internet stream, and only from services I have to tunnel through three VPNs to reach.
Write a check? No way, I only use the Spltzit app for finances, even though it's not accepted everywhere.
Checks are a thing, and will remain a thing for many more decades, or even longer. Get used to it.