# How does your payday work? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 6, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101 "2017-10-06T12:10:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/21 "2017-10-06T15:09:32Z")
Most of my income is direct deposit. But side jobs and free lance have, in recent years, been paid pretty much any way BUT direct deposit - paper check, cash, pay pal, in kind/barter… Not so much “old school” but “any school”. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/22 "2017-10-06T15:51:45Z")
Mostly electronic transfer, but I have had a few recent jobs where I was paid part or all in cash. There was always a physical payslip as well to refer back to in case of mix up, but I never had any problems that could be blamed on the payment method, just problems from an arsehole underpaying boss… ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/23 "2017-10-06T15:55:02Z")
My business pays employees via paper check. As the business owner, I usually just take gobs of cash as a draw. ---
**Author:** ![JHBoom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/13edae/32.png) [@JHBoom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JHBoom)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/24 "2017-10-06T15:55:32Z")
DD for regular pay, pretty much exclusively since '93. A previous employer that used DD for regular pay, paid our semi-annual performance incentive and any travel reimbursement by check. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/25 "2017-10-06T15:56:27Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Back in 1995, Sandra Bullock starred in a very important movie called _The Net_ … **snipped** Words I never thought I’d hear… Direct deposit for me, even for bonuses. I very seldom have any truck with cash/checks. I even switched banks to an online-only checking account. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/26 "2017-10-06T16:00:06Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > This. So since about 1980 I’ve had about 5 or 6 paper paychecks. > > When I was in USAF in about 1983 one of my young shy newbie airmen had a problem. His pay was set up as DD but was simply disappearing, never showing up in his account. > > He was such a good follower that he never told his NCO or his OIC = me. He kept just doing without and borrowing a few bucks from his dorm-mates to get by. After about 4 months his dorm-mates got tired of this and ratted him out to the first shirt for not paying what he owed them. > > First shirt got ready to ream the kid and discovered instead that he’d never been paid. Not a single penny since his first day in USAF basic training. Turns out he was from a farm 50 miles outside Nowheresville South Dakota and had a checking account at a Mom & Pop local bank in town. A bank so far behind the times it could not accept direct deposits. So DoD had been dutifully sending his pay into space every 2 weeks. > > We took him down to the on-base credit union office, helped him open an account, went to base pay and got him a check for his eight months missing wages and hand-carried it to the credit union. We also ensured he paid off all his dorm-mates. Then we kept an eye on his pay and his credit union account statements for the rest of his time with our unit. > > Poor kid. He was as nice and as innocent and as don’t-rock-the-boat clueless as only a rural South Dakotan can be. We can help you, but not if you keep it a secret. Ha! I grew up in rural South Dakota (Fruitdale, South Dakota- population 76). We don’t like to talk about money problems, even if they aren’t self-inflicted. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/27 "2017-10-06T16:08:35Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Not on topic but relevant: I am paid monthly and it’s the freakin worst way of being paid ever. I agree!! I’ve mostly been paid every other week (altho my pension is monthly) but my husband once had a job that paid monthly, and I hated it. I’m not sure why getting (for example) $500 every other week is easier to deal with than $1000 each month, but it is. At one point, I was also paid on the 1st and 15th of the month and in one job on the 8th and 23rd, and I really hated that. Creature of habit - I like every other Friday. It works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/28 "2017-10-06T16:21:50Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I agree!! I’ve mostly been paid every other week (altho my pension is monthly) but my husband once had a job that paid monthly, and I hated it. I’m not sure why getting (for example) $500 every other week is easier to deal with than $1000 each month, but it is. I always preferred being paid monthly, as my rent’s monthly, and so’s the phone/internet bill. My last boss actually let me pick my pay schedule- weekly, fortnightly or monthly, and monthly was the option I went for. I find it far easier to budget that way. Takes all types. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/29 "2017-10-06T16:28:11Z")
I’ve been on Direct Deposit for all of my jobs going back nearly 20 years. Always received (or had access to) a pay stub to still make sure the directly deposited monies were appropriately accounted for, and never had a problem with either the transactions going through or being able to make corrections on the rare occasions that they occurred. That said, I can’t rule out the possibility of some minor problems occurring over that time that I missed due to lack of my own due diligence. Before I was on the Direct Deposit bandwagon, it was always a paycheck. While I never had a problem with most of those jobs (which were mostly low-paying retail or fast food jobs typical for a teenager or college-aged adult), I did eventually have issues with one office job I had in my late 20s. After I was with them for a few years, they started having significant financial problems, and paychecks started bouncing. Fortunately, their accountant was a good friend of mine, so he would tip me off on when there was enough money to cover the paycheck (if I go to the bank RIGHT NOW), allowing me to avoid most of the carnage. Obviously, had I been paid by direct deposit, I would never have been worried about whether a paycheck would be good or not. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/30 "2017-10-06T16:32:55Z")
At one time I had a job that paid on the 15th, 26th, last day of month, and 5th. Totally insane. It made only slightly more sense when you learned that the 15th & 30th payments were estimated base pay for \*this \*month, the 26th was the expense reimbursments for \*last \*month, and the 5th was the “balance check” to correct the total pay from \*two \*months ago net of that month’s estimated 15th & EOM payments. :smack: 1950s paper-based systems carried forward unchanged into the mid 1990s. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/31 "2017-10-06T16:39:17Z")
I’m in Massachusetts, and the laws on paying employees are weirder than the graftmasters that roam the halls of our statehouse. Bi-monthly is illegal. Employees must be paid within a certain number of hours of the pay period closing. Another law requires that a pay period is max seven days. This makes nationwide companys stabby, but it is comply or pay fine, if anyone squawks. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/32 "2017-10-06T16:40:37Z")
Until a couple of weeks ago(before the company was bought out), I had to travel in person to pick up the check at the main office(35 miles away) every other Friday, and they would not hand them out until 5:30 pm. There was no direct deposit, you couldn’t have it mailed or delivered, and no one(even family members) could pick it up for you. I now have direct deposit, and it’s in the bank every other Friday at 3am. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/33 "2017-10-06T16:44:12Z")
All of my standard jobs have been direct deposit. The couple of times I’ve gotten paper checks it’s been a pain to get down to the bank and cash the check and sometimes those checks sat around for awhile until I got to it. I love instantaneous money showing up. Back when I work as a consultant I paid myself monthly in cash since it was the fastest and cheapest way to get money into my personal account. I’m sure my personal bank thought I was a drug dealer when I showed up with my monthly load of hundreds. I love monthly paychecks it makes budgeting so easy, money shows up, pay bills, pay for life for the month, end of the month save the remainder and repeat. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/34 "2017-10-06T17:24:25Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I agree!! I’ve mostly been paid every other week (altho my pension is monthly) but my husband once had a job that paid monthly, and I hated it. I’m not sure why getting (for example) $500 every other week is easier to deal with than $1000 each month, but it is. > > At one point, I was also paid on the 1st and 15th of the month and in one job on the 8th and 23rd, and I really hated that. Creature of habit - I like every other Friday. It works for me. I’ve actually had every kind of paying imaginable: 1st & 15th, every other Friday, every month and even every week! Every week was badass. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/35 "2017-10-06T17:26:24Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Whereas with an actual check and paystub, you have a physical object that you can point to, if the need arises. That means you can prove you got the check if you did. When you didn’t get the check, it’s difficult if not impossible to prove that you didn’t. Your lack of a stub hardly proves it didn’t arrive. The absence of a direct deposit into your account can be confirmed by the bank as proof you were not paid. The stub with itemized deductions also only shows those deductions were made, not that your employer actually paid for your insurance, etc. The stub is no better than the online direct deposit receipt and has the huge disadvantage that you can forget which drawer you stuck it into. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/36 "2017-10-06T17:41:32Z")
> [@](#): > > The stub is no better than the online direct deposit receipt and has the huge disadvantage that you can forget which drawer you stuck it into. Someone at my sister’s work found a six-month-old undeposited check and that’s when he decided to go to direct deposit. I’ve used DD since I started this job, over a decade ago. We used to get pay stubs, but we no longer do, and we log into a web site to see the information. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/37 "2017-10-06T17:51:34Z")
I’ve been paid monthly by direct deposit since my first teaching job in 1986. I’ve never once had a problem with the deposit. Now I work for the university (since 1991), and since I use their credit union, I can tell what day of the month my paycheck will be deposited. It’s standard that we get paid on the first for the previous month’s work for all state workers, but if the 1st falls on Sat or Sun, it’s the following Monday. Unless you’re with the credit union and your stuff gets posted the Friday or Saturday instead. When I was teaching, we’d get a check mid month. So we got 1 months pay about May 15th and then a week or so later we got our summer pay. Three months pay at one whack. Which sounds pretty great until you realize that you won’t see another paycheck until mid-September. Due to my chronically unemployed at the time husband, we lived for three weeks on only what we could charge at Texaco one September. Not fun. Not fun at all. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/38 "2017-10-06T17:59:05Z")
I’ve used direct deposit since the late 90s and never had trouble with it. For the few contract jobs that didn’t have time for DD, I’d get a printed, mailed paper check. I get paid monthly, and the frequency of pay hasn’t made much difference to me in a long time. I’ve kept enough of a savings account to cover more than a month’s paycheck, so in the old days I could ‘float’ off of my saving’s account if needed, and now I put about 90% of my spending through a credit card with rewards so I mostly only pay money from checking in a streak once a month. My various auto payments (including mortgage and car loan) happen right after the deposit goes in. > [@Flyer](#): > > You see, with things like that, there is **NOTHING** that exists independently of the digital transaction. Sure, sometimes you can get a print-out, but that is merely a paper copy of the digital record. If something goes wrong, your only hope is to pray that people are smart enough to listen to you, instead of believing the computer. Whereas with an actual check and paystub, you have a physical object that you can point to, if the need arises. An ‘actual paystub’ is just a paper copy of the digital record, or in the old days (or rare occasions now) was a paper copy of the paper record. If something goes wrong the bank or tax authorities are much more likely to believe a bank’s digital record than a piece of paper that I could print off at home. Not sure why you’re ascribing semi-magical qualities to them, but I really don’t see the use and direct deposit can usually send you a paper copy of a canceled check and pay stub if you really want paper. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/39 "2017-10-06T18:03:35Z")
Direct deposit biweekly. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2017, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101/40 "2017-10-06T19:09:21Z")
Direct deposit on the 15th and last business day of the month. Paper checks aren’t issued unless in an extraordinary circumstance such as a compromised bank account. I work for a financial services firm, so if you’ve got conspiracy theories about banks, you’re probably not a good fit as an employee. You’re responsible for reviewing the pay stub about a week in advance before the deposit date to correct any errors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-your-payday-work/798101.md?page=3)