I have been working since 1996 and never been paid by cheque. I find cheques very annoying to deal with. Usually get them on some edge case like a government refund but it has been years since that even. The other rare case is a bank cheque for a deposit for buying a house etc. Although I bet that is rare now just do an instant bank transfer.

I do vaguely remember the 80s and there was a fair bit of cheque usage along with those credit card duplicator things where the sales person takes an imprint of the card. Wild times!

What if the business doesn't know your bank account prior to payment and neither of you want them to know it?

(Imagine a business that occasionally mails random people $10.48 without asking them first.)