Checks become a thing of past

Some frequent users of plastic say the method is all about convenience.

SACRAMENTO BEE

For Andrea Lepore, the personal checkbook has gone the way of the eight-track tape and transistor radio.

It's soooooo yesterday.

Lepore hardly ever writes checks anymore or, for that matter, carries much cash. Her shopping life is all about the debit card.

"I didn't know stores still accepted checks," joked Lepore, 35, who runs a sports marketing firm from her home in Sacramento, Calif.

Her mother, Katherine Iannucci, remains loyal to the old currency standards, a practice that makes Lepore shake her head in disbelief.

"I don't use the debit card to buy groceries," declared Iannucci, 67. "I never use it to buy gas. Never, never, never. I just don't have full faith in it."

For better or worse, the "cashless" society is slowly becoming a reality. Today, more often than not, Americans use plastic rather than cash or checks to buy everything from clothing to groceries, according to the American Bankers Association.

Cash and checks account for just 47 percent of all purchases in stores, falling from 57 percent in 1999 and 51 percent in 2001. Today, we can use cards to pump fuel, feed parking meters, buy a Big Mac, grab a Coke from a vending machine or gamble at a casino. Younger people are more likely to use plastic and many, like Lepore, are ditching cash and checks altogether.

Used for small purchases

People are using cards even for small purchases, which in the past almost exclusively were made with cash. MasterCard customers reported using debit cards for about one-third of all of their purchases of items costing $20 or less last year. That is a 61-percent increase since 2001, according to the company.

Louise Gustafson, assistant manager at a candy store, knows the drill well.

"Oh sure, they come in all the time and charge 59 cents or 79 cents on their cards," said Gustafson, as she kept a watchful eye on customers drooling over candy buttons and Sugar Daddies and Gummy Worms. "They don't carry cash ... and they have to have their candy!"

Her boss, Pon Sitandon, recalled an all-time low for a treat purchased with plastic.

"It was 15 cents for a junior gumball," she said.

"It's all about convenience," Sitandon said. "Yes, convenience is good, but sometimes we abuse it." Sitandon herself admitted to once paying for a $2 cup of coffee with plastic. "It was kind of embarrassing," she said.

Richard Feinberg, a professor of retail management at Purdue University, has seen the evolution toward a cashless culture in his own family. The transition is happening less quickly than many thought, he noted.

"Twenty years ago, people were predicting that no one would be using cash or checks within five years. So this transition has been long and slow. But we're definitely moving in that direction."

Marian Calabro, whose New Jersey company, CorporateHistory.net, writes and produces business profiles, likened the discussion to the "myth" of the paperless office.

"It's a figment of our collective imagination," she said. "Yes, we are seeing less cash. But will there ever be no cash? Never. Cash is tangible. Cash feels good in the hand. Cash is what all of these other things stand for."

What research shows

Research conducted during the past few years does show, however, that cash no longer is king for consumers and handwritten checks are falling out of fashion as well.

Driving that trend is the emergence of debit cards, which with a quick swipe of the hand electronically deduct funds from checking accounts.

More than 30 percent of purchases in stores now are made with a debit card, compared to 21 percent four years ago, according to the Bankers Association. Credit cards account for about 21 percent of purchases in stores, a figure that has been holding steady, the group reported.

Joyce Gioia, a business consultant in North Carolina, is a big believer in the cashless culture.

"I can go across the country now with $20 or $30 in my pocket," said Gioia, an author and public speaker.

With a debit card, she added, "You no longer have to go to an automated teller to get money. It's certainly faster to get in and out of stores. And you don't have to worry about tracking what you are spending on a moment-to-moment basis."