It’s not quicker and cheaper when you look at the complete process, though. If the payee is in Spain, it will take him longer to get the funds than if you’d paid by direct transfer. In the end, Paypal is a front end for e-transfers.
As usual “in Europe” is a generalization. Cheques are still used relatively commonly in France, for instance (less than they used to be but still) while in Germany, people are barely aware that such a thing as a cheque even exists (and apparently never really used them commonly, using cash instead even for important amounts. We owe the € 500 bill to Germany, if I’m not mistaken).
For the record and anecdotically, nowadays, I use cheques for two things : paying my doctor and paying taxes. All my other bills are paid by automatic transfers and in shops I use cash or a debit card (another local peculiarity : in France, people rarely have a credit card. We use debit cards instead).
Yeah I use cheques less often than in the past, I had tried to paid my internet connection by cheque, it worked a few months then I got disconnected for a fake reason and the unofficial solution to get online again was to authorize a bank transfert.
So now I only use cheques in those cases when I really need to buy something but don’t have enough cash and the store refuses to take cards below a fixed amount (usually 15 euros).
I don’t think checks are too popular in America. I only use them to pay my rent, so I write a grand total of 12 per year.
In the UK and in Ireland too, this arrangement is called a “direct debit”. It’s an authorisation from you to the organisation that they can remove funds from your account - either a pre-set amount or an indeterminate amount. E.g. my mobile phone bill varies each month, and the company takes the total. Which is fine unless I’ve been abroad and racked up a lot of roaming charges.
However, to set this up, the bank requires that there is signed authorisation from the account holder before it will honour the arrangement. 99.9% of the time this works out just dandy. However, occasionally an organisation will get carried away with itself and take too much or take money without informing the account holder.
There’s a secondary arrangement called a “standing order” which is initiated by the account holder, who creates a regular payment schedule into another’s bank account - e.g. I have one set up to pay into my own mortgage account every month.
Some of the other stuff, like paying dog walkers etc. would be done by cash. Cheques are still available but I now find it quite unusual (and a bit of a pain in the arse) to receive one.
ETA: most UK supermarkets and gas station chains now no longer accept cheques as payment - this change came in during the last couple of years.
When you say you can’t send cash through the mail, are you saying there are laws against it in the US, or that it’s just not safe to do so?
I’ve been sending cash in birthday cards (Usually just a tenner) since forever, and when I was young people would do that for me. Not aware of any problems with it.
You can still get cheques in Norway, but in my 35 years of life I’ve never written one.
How would I pay the dog walker on a monthly basis?
With cash or an electronic transfer.
How does Timmy get his birthday money from Grandma 3 states away?
An electronic transfer, or cash with the birthday card. Or an electronic transfer to dad, who puts the money in with the card. It’s not impossible to send cash in the mail, it’s just not advisable/legal.
How does the lady down the street who makes craft items and jewelry get paid for items?
Cash, if I’m out or short I just find an ATM, or pop into the newstand on the corner, buy a newspaper and ask to have $100 added to the debit draw and given to me as “change”.
How do people tithe at church that put in more than $20?
Only old people go to church and tithe that much, and they always have lots of cash. Otherwise, if you’re a member of a heavily tithing congregation, you’ll have set up a monthly direct draw, and thought ahead and brought cash.
Road trip?
Everyone uses their debit cards and keep receipts for any communal purchases, add it all up later to figure out who owes whom what, and use electronic transfer.
As far as I know, there isn’t any law against it. I would always send kids cash. Some cards are designed so you can fit cash in it. Most people consider it unsafe to send large amounts of cash through the mail and some companies will specifically say to not send cash.
They’re aiming to phase out cheques in the UK: BBC News - Cheques to be phased out in 2018
I’ve noticed a lot of businesses in Ireland no longer accept cheques. We get about 2 cheques a year in our business. We write way more cheques to our various suppliers, probably 30 or more a year. For a number of years Laser debit cards have been popular in Ireland although I think they’re slowly being phased out and replaced by Visa Debit cards.
I booked a campsite in Wales for next weekend.
I had to send £14 ($22) as a deposit - in the past I’d have needed to send a cheque, but the campsite owner gave me her bank account number and sort code in an email, and I sent the money via online banking.
Because this was someone I’ve not transferred cash to before, my bank phoned me (automated call) just after I submitted the payment request.
They gave me a 4-digit number on the call, which I then entered online to verify the transaction. This stops someone setting up a payment from my account without me knowing about it.
I then got a txt message confirming that a new payment recipient has been authorised; any future payments to that person’s account can be done as “pre-approved”.
Took 5 mins and worked perfectly - the money was in the other account in less than 2hrs. Much less hassle than posting a cheque.
NB. It is possible to commit fraud with just bank account and sortcode but these are printed on any cheque you send anyway.
cf. this amusing story, in which
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an outspoken UK journalist claims that reaction to the UK govt losing personal data is overblown;
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he publishes his bank account details in a national paper to prove how safe it is;
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journalist logs into his bank account the next morning to find that a prankster has set up a direct debit for several £100s to a charity
My personal usage (I am in Germany)
(if I used such a service): cash for the first months, electronic transfer set up as a standing order if it looks if I am going to employ that business long term.
Cash in a birthday card usually. Electronic transfer if granny is very generous, but as most grannies don’t give more than €20/€50 cash does not look to be a problem. Letter boxes where you can take something out without a key are very unusual.
Cash or debit card. Most small businesses have got a debit card terminal nowadays.
Collections in the service (which as a rule does not go to general church funds but to a stated development/charitable project): cash. My regular tithe: set up by my church with the tax authorities so the latter add an additional 8% on the income tax owed (which is collected by payroll deduction) and forward it to the church. If my church did not use that method I’d probably use a standing order.
As clairobscur mentioned we Germans use cash more than our neighbours. For example my usual ATM withdrawal is 300-400 € (~ 390-520 USD) at a time.
Last time I paid a plumber it was with a cheque. I still think that is fairly usual for one-off transactions with tradespeople, unless you are going for the “and if I pay in cash?” discount. Less bother to me than faffing about with an online payment, and they don’t yet tend to have hand-held debit card terminals.
But that is just about the only situation I would use a cheque these days.
Mops already addressed the specific questions, I wanted to add the general proceedings in Germany (because, as said already, every country does things different)
Just because the banks transfer the money electronically, doesn’t mean that the customer has to go online! For years, we filled out slips of paper to authorize a withdrawal. Typical case: I order something from a mail catalogue, and receive a bill and a partly filled out Transfer slip (German, with picture). On the top are name of receiver, account nr. and Bank code. Then amount of money (and denomination - DM, EUR or GBP?), reason for the transfer, my own name, account nr., bank code, and at the bottom, date and signature. The company would fill in all fields except mine, and I would only need to enter my own account nr., bank code, sign and drop at the bank, who would then enter the stuff into the computer and transfer.
In the last years, banks have started charging a fee - 1 or 2 Euros - for processing this slip, because somebody has to enter the information into the computer, they claim (which is a lie, they use automated scanners). Or they give a reduction in account fee if you use online-banking.
Theoretically, banks are supposed to compare the signature on the slip with the signature on file for my account, but several scandals have shown that they usually skip this. Also, some laws have been changed to make things easier.
So what other options are there for transfering money? You can go into the self-service station of your bank, open 24/7: you use your bank card to open the door and see: an account statement printer; an ATM; a self-service machine. This one allows you to enter all the information onto a computer screen that’s needed for the transfer. You log on with your bank card and PIN instead of signature and thus authorize it.
If you don’t want to walk to the next self service station of your bank, you can use telephone banking: you call a service line, identifiy yourself with account numer, birth date and password, and either talk to a machine (computer voice recognition) or with a person. Usually it’s now a machine for routine things and a person for complicated stuff.
Or you go online, though I find that unsafe, because experts say it’s too easy to crack.
For things like rent that come in regularly, I sign a “Withdraft allowance” (German) with my account nr. and bank code, and send it to the receiver (in this case, landlord), who shows it to the bank. In this case, I have three weeks to protest if they take the wrong amount, whereas with a transfer that I authorize myself, I have to pay more attention that I’m doing things right.
The third option is a Standing order with my bank: I tell them e.g. to take 25 Euros on the 25th of each money and transfer them to my savings account/ my old mother/ my favourite charity etc. In this case, I only need to notify my bank to change/ cancel this, unlike the withdrawal allowance, where I have to contact the receiver to cancel.
I’m in the UK and I wouldn’t say cheques are dead yet. It was my wife’s birthday a couple of months ago and she got four or five cheques inside birthday cards from (older) relatives. Having said that, the stubs on my current chequebook reveal that I wrote the first one in 2000 and I still have about half the book remaining, so I certainly don’t write them regularly.
Until recently, one of my credit cards (Bank of Ireland, but a sterling account) wouldn’t accept payments made via internet banking, so I had to go to a bank or post them a cheque, but they have recently moved out of the Potato Famine Age at last. 
Oh, as for sending cash in the mail: I know it’s not recommended by our mail (Deutsche Post) because it’s not safe (and every once in a while they bust a ring of crooked mail carriers/ thieves who steal envelopes. Though those are mostly credit cards). However, for small amounts, it’s still common, or otherwise, direct transfer. Last time I wanted to send a cheque for safety reasons, I saw that I had used my stash (back from when I opened my account in the 90s) up, and called my bank asking for 20 new ones. Turned out my bank had a fee of 0.40 Euros per check (for printing, they said)! So I said “No thanks, I don’t need them that often” and transfered the money instead.
In Mexico, I sometimes see signs indicating that “cheques” aren’t accepted, although that could be referring to travellers’ checks. I’m not sure; I’ve never seen a Mexican check or anyone attempting to use them. Wire transfers are pretty common down here, but they’re inconvenient unless you have a Mexican checking account to transfer the money from (because then you have to go to the bank with a lot of cash). When I had to pay my company house rent myself a few years ago, I’d have to rapidly withdraw $23,000 before the Citi fraud department flagged it, or divide it up into two days and keep all that cash on me (not really safe in any country). Then go to the bank to make a deposit into the owner’s account. On other occasions to arrange for vacation activities (fishing boats, cabins, paragliding, etc.) the same deal: go to the bank. Luckily, though, more and more places are taking credit cards, and really luckily my current apartment takes my company card ($57,000 per month; don’t want to walk around with that cash!).
When in the states, I usually write a $2 check to the state of Michigan every year for income taxes (my deficit, not my total tax). Let’s see… sometimes a contractor won’t take a credit card, so once a year or so there. Ah, I get checks from my mortgage bank every year because my property value is tanking and thus I pay too much into the escrow. My checks still have the name of the bank from three acquisitions ago (and they’re still valid).
In Canada there is also the option of email money transfer. I log on to my bank account, tell them I want to send you money and enter your email address and set a password. You receive the email, click the link and enter your banking information and the password. The banks then route the money directly. I never have your account information this way.
Most of our banks participate in this although not my business account. When transferring money from my business account to my personal account I use a cheque. The only other options are withdrawing cash or a western union transfer which ends up costing me $25 in service fees. NTS: remember you’re supposed to be investigating other business account options.
What fees are associated with this service?
I did the same thing, here in the U.S., about five years ago. It was several transfers ranging from $500 to maybe $800 each.
There was a flat fee of $12 per transfer. That goes for any amount transferred – transferring a nickel costs $12.
When I went to college back in the early Jurassic era (1970s), I would be writing 40 to 50 checks each month. When I got married, my wife and I maintained three checkbooks: Two personal ones, and one centralized one with three checks on each page. We would write the checks we wrote in that book and balance it daily. Quicken was a godsend because it really helped us keep our accounts straight.
Now, we pay most bills electronically, and use credit cards and debit cards for almost everything else. We maybe writing a half dozen checks each month: Mainly for individuals here and there. In Europe, it is possible to pay various people by your cellphone. You basically “text” them the amount, and it is transferred to their account. Paypal has an iPhone app that lets you bump two iPhones together to transfer payments from one PayPal account to another.
There is also a special device that connects to iPhones and Android phones that allows anyone to accept credit card or debit card payments without having to open a merchant account.
I carry a bit more cash than I use to (usually between $20 to $60), but I don’t bother carrying my checkbook around any more.
The problem with checks is that you never know if they’re really any good. Considering your bank charges you $10 to $30 when you deposit a check that bounces, I can see why they’ve stopped being used.