If you’ve never used one a money order was/is like a prepaid check now days its mainly used by people that cant have or don’t want a checking account and you can get them in several places for almost nothing
I used them a lot when I was a teenager because a lot of the mail order places (video game shops) wouldn’t take cash and my atm card didn’t have visa on it (actually the only reason bank of America gave me an atm card in the first place when I was under 18 was my disability checks were direct deposit and didn’t charge me the card maintenance fee )
Not a money order, but close: cashiers check. Similar concept. Needed for things like mortgage closings or automobile purchases. Not at all uncommon these days.
In the early days of eBay I only used money orders. I also remember having used a few cashiers checks in the past year though I can’t remember exactly what for.
Money orders were the main way of paying for stuff on eBay in the late 1990s (as a Canadian buying in the U.S.), before PayPal caught on. I just went to the post office and had a postal money order (mandat-poste) issued to the seller, labeled in U.S. dollars, then I printed a little explanatory note for the seller and snail-mailed the whole thing to them. I always took care to ask a seller if a Canadian money order in U.S. dollars would be acceptable to them (or to their bank). In a few cases it wasn’t, and I had to drive across the border to New York State to get a money order at the post office there.
I also used one to reserve a hotel room in Florida, around 1999-2000 I think. They couldn’t use my Canadian credit card for a deposit. This was a small hotel, the now-defunct Bahama Hotel in Fort Lauderdale.
For a couple of years in the 1990s I had a credit card but no checking account. If memory serves, it was because I couldn’t find a local bank that offered free or low-cost checking. In those years I paid my cc bill with postal money orders. Since the late 1990s I’ve continuously had a checking account, and have used a money order only once. About 2010 had to pay my estimated taxes with a money order because I was hundreds of miles from home where my checkbook was.
In the 20th century I frequently used traveller’s checks and often kept large amounts on hand. I finally traded them all for dollars circa 2003.
I once sent money from Thailand to a friend in Japan via postal money order. Very simple. IIRC the service charge wasn’t excessive.
But mostly we use money transfers via ATM machine. $2000 per day can be sent via ATM to any account in Thailand. Often a Thai will send a photo via smart-phone of the ATM receipt to recipient as proof of payment. The service charge is about 0.1% whether interbank/intrabank. (Actually the charge is $1 per transaction, whether it’s $10 or $1000. The transaction limit is $1000 – ฿30,000 – but you get two such per day.) Do American banks offer such a convenient ATM facility?
Personal checks are almost non-existent here. Even cashier’s checks weren’t in vogue until recently. Needing $10,000 to buy a truck, a Toyota dealer circa 2003 insisted on actual banknotes rather than cashier’s check. :smack:
I used one for the first (and hopefully only time) earlier this year.
I was renting a hotel room overseas and they insisted that Western Union was the only way to pay them. (wouldn’t take credit cards).
I used a cashier’s check for the down payment on my last car purchase earlier this year.
Many years ago, my brother (who did tree trimming and landscaping) went to work in a hurricane hit area, and he sent me Western Union money orders to buy equipment to send back to him.
They’re becoming less common. Our local title companies accept them reluctantly and warn you that any transaction using them won’t be finalized until the checks clear. So if you are a seller and the buyer brings in a cashier’s check, your funds are not available for several days. They are insisting on wire transfers if at all possible.
Car dealers seem less picky. I paid for a new car with a cashier’s check a few years ago, and they didn’t hold the car until the check cleared. The dealer said they would take a personal check, but I didn’t feel right doing that.
Back in the late 80s I used money orders for a subscription BBS I had an account on. I was around 15 years old so didn’t have a checking account.
In my late 20s I was having financial issues and bounced a couple checks for the rent so was on a “Money order or certified check only” restriction. I think that was the last time I used one.
About eighteen months ago, I bought a car and they were fine with a personal check for the down payment. They just ran it through a machine that treated it like a debit transaction so there wasn’t much concern about the check bouncing or being invalid.
Cashier’s checks are very different from money orders. Cashier’s checks have almost no security, and so they can’t be cleared until the banks have had a chance to compare notes, which can be weeks (when I moved across country and had to change banks, I ended up with all of my funds completely unavailable for over a month, while I transferred from one bank to another).
Money orders, by contrast, are guaranteed: If you give someone a money order, they’re sure to be able to get the cash. When I moved into my apartment, they wanted a money order for the deposit and first month’s rent, for this reason.
I don’t use money orders frequently, but I have used them in the past. I don’t like writing checks especially if I don’t know how long the company receiving it may hold it. Most places these days, a lot can be done electronically, but once in awhile there may be a situation where I have to put payment in the mail.
I paid security and 1st month’s rent with a money order. He’s since accepted personal checks.
I work in the front office of a car dealership. We often ask that customers bring in a cashier’s check as opposed to a personal check for down payment. Just to be on the safe side…
Physical money orders, as late as the early 00’s but as online payment became widespread and standard I have not needed to use them. WU transfers as late as the early 201*s (international location that would not take a direct bank transfer). Cashier’s checks, an account closing in 2017 and before that a large down payment on a car in 2009.