I don't undertand why there is not a better alternative in US, like a bank transfer/wire. In the EU, these transfers are often free at most banks, or at most, they incur a fee of 1 or 2 euros.
I probably spent four or five hours dealing with the paperwork engendered by just giving them money for a car. Transactions handled locally would have amounted to half that at most. Get cashier’s check from my bank, give to dealer, leave with car and go to tax office, hand them paperwork, leave with tag.
Do you think cheques are not processed by computers?
I'll give you "slow," but it depends on how you define slow. Checks where I am often clear in a day. Rarely longer than two days.
As for the rest, no, those problems are not solved by replacing checks with electronic transfers. They still exist, just in different forms.
And I never said checks aren't processed by computers. I stated that replacing checks with computers adds more points of failure.
Or do you somehow not notice the litany of things that go wrong with computers every single day right on the front page of HN.
Just because it's all electronic doesn't mean it's failsafe.
That's extremely slow. Electronic transfers are basically instant these days.
> I stated that replacing checks with computers adds more points of failure.
It literally doesn't. A cheque is one big point of failure that doesn't exist with electronic transfers.
> Or do you somehow not notice the litany of things that go wrong with computers every single day right on the front page of HN.
"Computers" aren't a single thing. Bank transfers are ridiculously reliable. Far more reliable than cheques. And as I've already explained, cheques are processed by computers too so you aren't somehow skipping the possibility of programming bugs by using them.