By Tony Hallett, 22 June 2007 16:05
NEWS
Transport for London (TfL) has joined an increasingly long list of UK organisations no longer accepting cheques as a form of payment.
Word emerged this week that the capital's body for public transport and supermarket chain Morrisons have joined a number of other major high-street brands that see cheques as too costly or generally inefficient.
A spokeswoman for TfL said there had been no big announcement but that customers will have seen a notice on the body's website since earlier this month.
Cheques account for just under a tenth of non-cash payments in the UK, according to Apacs. In some countries, even with the rise of ecommerce, use of cheques remains more popular.
A study of European consumers by Forrester Research at the start of the year found some will place orders online but still pay by cheque on delivery. Seventeen per cent of French customers who buy online pay this way, for example.
However, many others welcome the change to other forms of transaction.
Consult Hyperion has worked with operator O2 so consumers can use their mobile handsets for payments. The system uses NFC (near field communications), the same kind of contactless payment technology employed by TfL's Oyster card.
Consult Hyperion director Dave Birch said: "Some reporting about why people need to move away from cheques has been harsh. But if someone sends me a cheque I personally think it's annoying. I'd rather they use PayPal."
The use of cheques in the US remains higher than in most countries but, as in Europe, has been falling in recent years. In Scandinavia, for example, using cheques has largely been priced out of the market.
Comments
There are 5 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
COmment for Dave Birch ... I personally think PayPal is annoying. I prefer having more than one option.
2. Nick Cole
Unfortunately this is a somewhat misguided and simplistic approach. As usual someone has failed to think holistically!
How does an under 18 pay for things for example? They aren't allowed credit cards!
What happens if a credit card won't read properly or becomes damaged, and the turn around for a replacement takes weeks, instead of immediate? Or do these so-called intelligent masters of business think the world has to stop and go into hibernation while new cards are produced and delivered?
While cheques may require a bit more manual handling they don't attract the 3.75% charge! They are also flexible and easier to use if for some reason the electronic card processing is off-line.
Or do companies deliberately exclude part of their potential customer base?
3. Richard Marshall
PayPal is not without its flaws and it incurs cost to the seller, whereas cheques need not cost anything to use.
Furthermore, if you can't make an Instant Payment, PayPal's eCheques take 10-14 working days to clear, making them slower than a paper cheque and they cannot be recalled or cancelled like a cheque can.
The real reason TfL prefers electronic payment is the speed at which they get our money (compared to cheque clearing) which then sits on our Oyster prepay cards earning them interest.
We lose again.
4. Nick Cole
Paypal is fine for something straightfoward and simple. As a regular system it is awful. There is no straightfoward way of editing or adapting the payment request system, it cannot issue VAT breakdowns or anything else. All the wizard produces is an encrypted payment instruction which cannot even be cut and pasted into a formatted email. And, this of course only works if the internet is available.
Not only these constraints, but their ability to answer questions or provide advice plumbs new depths of incompetence. Any answer that isn't a paraphrase of the limited and constrained query questions (yes despite the volume) goes into a blackhole. They are clearly not interested or capable of doing anything other than taking their 3.75%.
Cash (and cheques) still has a valuable last resort place in commerce.
5. Tony Patrick
But what would they do for Children in Need? Would they have a giant debit card and reader?