[secabeen]

The compelling thing for me still with checks is that the banks take on nearly all the costs of processing them, and what costs are imposed on the customer are fixed, and do not scale with the amount of money being transferred. It's possible to do fixed-cost transfers using other systems (PayPal, Venmo, etc.) but it always feels like those transfers are only tolerated, and they really want to push you to their other offerings where they can get their vig.

[drsopp]

> the banks take on nearly all the costs of processing them

Not for me. I live in Norway. I suddenly became an absent party of a class action lawsuit in the USA. The settlement came in the form of a check. A small amount, maybe around $50. But the cost of cashing it in Norway was more than the value!

[astrange]

You could sell a picture of it to someone in the US.

[drsopp]

Don't you need an ID matching the payee to cash it? Anyway, it's expired now.

[toast0]

If you cash it, maybe. If it's deposited, probably not. Especially for a small dollar value.

When did it expire? Depending on the terms of the settlement, they may have forwarded it to a state's unclaimed property office... It's probably not worth your trouble for $50, but maybe you can still get it back.