Didn't stores used to have pads of blank checks for local banks?

[Kimballkid]

@aceplace57

Wow, nothing identifying on that except the Bank and the person’s name.

I had assumed people filled in a short account number.

Some had a space for account number. The ones from the local bank I remember did. Probably just depended on the bank.

[PoppaSan]

@caligulathegod

On a side note, I am amazed checks are even used in this day and age. We give other people a piece of paper that has our bank account number and our signature? My own bank has it obscured when I look at my account online! It just seems to be a relic of the days when you didn’t lock your house.

I still use checks. And cannot recall the last time all four outside doors into my house were locked at the same time. Maybe 7 years ago when we went on vacation but I think not as the neighbors needed access to the garage for dog and cat food. We probably locked the door between house and garage though.

[septimus]

I watched an episode of Truth or Consequences circa 1960 in which a contestant had to cash a check written on a watermelon. (I’ve mentioned this at SDMB before.)

[Lucas_Jackson]

@BeeGee

The little west Texas town where I’m from still had counter checks available until 1985. In addition to finding them at stores, I remember seeing them at church as well. My grandmothers were both unhappy about having to remember to start carrying their checkbooks with them when they went shopping.

I find that odd. Presumably, even using a counter check you still needed to show ID. If she could remember to bring that, why not her checkbook? Or why not just leave it in her purse?
It seems like remembering a long bank account number would be harder than remembering to bring checks.

Not doubting your story, I just ding it strange.

[Schnitte]

There is a treaty under international law called the Convention Providing a Uniform Law for Cheques. Under this treaty, participating countries agreed to introduce into their national laws a uniform statute governing checks (or cheques, in the British spelling used for that treaty). The United States never joined the agreement, nor did the UK, but most continental European and Latin American countries did, and for most of those it is still in force. Article 1 of that uniform law provides that the defining criterion of a check is that it must contain the following elements, and if it does it is a check no matter what it is written on:

1. The term " cheque " inserted in the body of the instrument and expressed in the language employed in drawing up the instrument ;
2. An unconditional order to pay a determinate sum of money ;
3. The name of the person who is to pay (drawee) ;
4. A statement of the place where payment is to be made ;
5. A statement of the date when and the place where the cheque is drawn ;
6. The signature of the person who draws the cheque (drawer).

[Schnitte]

@Lucas_Jackson

I find that odd. Presumably, even using a counter check you still needed to show ID. If she could remember to bring that, why not her checkbook? Or why not just leave it in her purse?
It seems like remembering a long bank account number would be harder than remembering to bring checks.

If you use checks regularly, you’ll easily memorise your account number by means of sheer repetition. My account number has ten digits (probably longer than a typical account number in a small-town local bank in days gone by), and I know it so well from continuous usage (on direct debit orders, not checks) that I can recite it straightaway any time of the day without hesitation. Plus, remember that this was a time when people would memorise way more numbers than we are now used to; many people would be able to recite the phone numbers of their best friends by heart.

As for the ID: If you regularly shop at the same place and the staff there know you, then they won’t ask for ID.

[Mk_VII]

Until fairly recently, not many people had bank accounts, the bank staff would probably have known most of their customers. Most people could go through life without one, and the banks didn’t encourage the common people to try to get one.