My clients usually issue paper checks online. Their bank prints the check and mails it. My receiving address is my bank, which deposits checks for me when they arrive.
Yes, you can get wire transfers or ACH at most banks with a routing number and account number. But wire transfers usually cost money to send, and sometimes cost money to get. Generalized ACH transfers usually come through a service provider, and that costs money too.
Also, the same numbers can be used to credit and debit an account, and also to forge checks. So giving your payment credentials (or writing a check) is a security risk. I'm a little fuzzy on details, but someone at my employer at the time (Facebook) had my payroll data on a device in a laptop bag that got stolen in San Francisco, and as a result I had to be hyper vigilant on checking for unauthorized transactions (or get a new account number, but that's more disruptive, assuming the theft was just normal SF theft, like it probably was)
And the payee doesn’t need to share their bank info.
https://engineering.gusto.com/how-ach-works-a-developer-pers...
(From parent) > And the payee doesn’t need to share their bank info.
And this is a US concept where having the magic numbers lets you pull any amount you want, with no ability to have a "push only" number...
The account number is on the invoice..