NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/soc/singles/31695

Text File | 1992-11-24 | 2.9 KB | 62 lines

Newsgroups: soc.singles
Path: sparky!uunet!s5!sethb
From: [e-mail] (Seth Breidbart)
Subject: Re: Money and the Single World (was: Education and the Single World
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: my opinions only
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 24 Nov 1992 01:12:18 GMT
Lines: 51

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail]
(Herb Huston) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Elizabeth Abrams) writes:
>>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Herb Huston) writes:
>>>Are you still using stone tools in your cave?  There's now software for
>>>personal computers that not only maintains a check register but also will
>>>dial up a service in Columbus, Ohio, and transmit information on about all
>>>the checks you've just written.  The service then prints up the checks,
>>>stuffs them into metered envelopes, mails them off, and places a draft on
>>>your checking account.  You can have the service schedule the payments for
>>>future dates.
>>
>>Sounds nifty.  However, I'm operating at a ridiculously low income level,
>>and the service you describe would probably cost more than I have in my
>>checking account in the first place.
>
>It's less than $10/month for the first 20 transactions.  It's more expensive
>than mailing checks yourself, but then you no longer have to suffer through
>the drudgery of writing checks, sealing and stamping envelopes, and dropping
>same into a mailbox.

Figure out the hourly wage you'd be paying yourself to write your own
checks (and remember, this is after-tax money).  Even at my income
level, it's not worth it.  (Trygve, how about you?)

>  Being able to program the payments for specific times
>in the future is nice if you have to travel a lot.

It's really tough to hand a bunch of envelopes with dates pencilled in
to someone else and ask for them to be mailed on the specified dates.
Or perhaps you don't have any trustworthy friends or relatives?

(Me, I just mail the checks early.  In fact, I prepay a lot of stuff
several months in advance; given today's interest rates, the interest
I lose on paying two months of telephone bills at a time is less than
the cost of the extra stamp.)

According to the people in misc.consumers, there are some problems
with that service.  I wouldn't want to give some random company access
to my bank account (my bank makes quite enough errors on its own, and
at least I can fight with them in person to get stuff corrected).

>  However, I began
>throwing away the check registers that the bank sends with a new supply of
>checks, and soon I hope not to have to order the checks, either.

So if somebody wants you to pay by check, instead of handing them one
on the spot, you'll claim that some company in Ohio is going to mail
them one realsoonnow.

Seth        [e-mail]