Did Target just usher in the beginning of the end of check writing?

In an announcement to , retail giant Target said it plans to stop accepting personal checks by July 15, with an organization representative citing low volume of the payment method as the reason for the move. Target is emphasizing its Target Circle Cards, which may be linked to a checking account, effectively eliminating the need for a private check. The store also accepts money, digital wallets, SNAP/EBT cards, buy now/pay later services, and credit/debit cards.

While the store will now not accept personal checks at the point of sale, Target will proceed to permit personal checks to be mailed as payment for Circle Card bank card statements. According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve, of the average 46 payments made by the average American consumer every month, just one was made by personal check. In the Nineteen Eighties and Nineties, personal checks were a standard form of payment, but with the rise of credit and debit cards, in addition to digital forms of payment, writing checks has grow to be a much less common form of payment.

The pandemic has exacerbated this shift toward digital payments, in addition to the use of apps like Zelle and CashApp, that are used to digitally transfer money from peer to see, said Elisa Tavilla, director of debit and payment advisory services at Javelin Strategy and Research. Writing checks also slows down the payment collection process, Tavilla said. “It certainly creates friction at the point of sale and can slow down the checkout process for other customers because it requires more manual data entry.”

Target Official Site continues to supply personal checks, but doesn’t accept the following forms of payment in its stores: checks and foreign currency echange (depending on location, stores may accept Canadian dollars or Mexican pesos), merchant certificates and Chamber Bucks coins (select stores accept merchant certificates or Chamber Bucks coins; call your local store to inquire), money orders and cashier’s checks, company checks, and merchant gift cards (except Starbucks gift cards, which may be used at in-store Starbucks registers).

Target is not the only store that does not accept personal checks, but neither ALDI nor Whole Foods accept personal checks as payment in their stores, in keeping with Javelin Strategy and Research. According to , the prevailing view amongst firms that do not accept personal checks as payment is that other forms of payment are inherently less dangerous for the seller“There is always a degree of risk for a retailer when accepting personal checks. Most checks are not certified, and even those that are certified can be forged by fraudsters. Accepting checks for payment carries the risk that the retailer is giving away a free product. There are no easy ways to quickly verify that you have a sufficient bank balance to cover the check, so the risk of a bad check is always present and can have serious consequences for businesses.”

They continued: “Many businesses have stopped accepting personal checks altogether. The prevailing view is that cash, cards or online transactions are safer and more efficient forms of payment. Unlike checks, they reduce the processing time to receive funds, do not constrain budgets or staff resources, and do not require any of the hassle of extensive payment deposit, reconciliation and settlement.”