That’s what the plan is in England. This article reports that the United Kingdom Payments Council (a group of major banks) voted to phase out paper checks by the year 2018. Paper checks have been around for 300 years but declining use and the high cost of processing has lead to this banking group to make this decision. The article reports that other countries, including Switzerland, Ireland, and Australia are also considering eliminating checks.
So if this indeed happens, what does this mean for the churches in those countries? Is this a movement that will end up being implemented in the USA? Will technology outdate more than beepers, letter writing, and floppy disks?
The move to online payment options instead of checks in the offering plate is underway in churches across America. Since the introduction of the online giving feature 
in Access ACS, we have seen a growing adoption rate; both in the churches using this service and the dollars being given from online transactions. Many of the younger generation already have a “no check book” lifestyle. I blogged a while back that my daughter and her husband set up an account with a local bank for the sole purpose of writing checks to place in the offering plate.
While the USA may be a few years behind the rest of the world on forcing technology on its citizens, we may see market forces (like a check processing service charge) lead us all to retire our checkbooks to the dresser drawer where we keep our old beepers, stationary, and floppy disks.
Last 5 posts by Marvin Owen
- ACS User Groups - February 7th, 2012
- Still Here. - January 5th, 2012
- ACS Saints - 2011 - November 16th, 2011
- Steve Jobs 1955-2011 - October 6th, 2011
- ACS Technologies 5K Run/Walk - September 26th, 2011