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Five years ago I moved to eastern Oregon and I was shocked at the number of checks I had to start writing.

The cleaning service and the car detailing service were cash or check only as was every vendor at the farmers market - which as small operations kind of makes sense.

But so was the propane service, garbage service, the dump - and the electrical utility charged $36 a year to use an E-check (no credit cards accepted).

I wrote a lot of checks.

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The last place I rented (about 5 years ago), in a major metro area, my landlord would only accept a check from a local bank. I mostly used on-line bank accounts, but I had one account at a CU with a branch 30 minutes away. They would drive to the CU to deposit the check each month.

Most of the checks "I" write are actually written and delivered by my bank. That's the case with utilities, garbage, etc. But checks still are the easiest and most natural way to give a person or a service person money on the spot most of the time. I'll use Apple Pay or whatever if that's what someone wants but a check is easy and straightforward.

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