Random Thoughts

[1995hoo]

People still order checks?  I haven't done so in years.

The most recent time we ordered checks, we used Walmartchecks.com. It was considerably cheaper than ordering them through the bank and they were both fast and reliable.

That's all fine and dandy, but I don't have to order checks at all.  I've had an ample, hardly ever used supply for a decade now.

I suppose I should have responded to ZLoth's comment about ordering the cheapest checks the bank offers, rather than to your comment, because my comment was mainly focused on how Walmartchecks.com was cheaper than the bank. (A lot of people don't know you don't have to order checks through your own bank.) Walmartchecks.com didn't charge extra for some of the basic designs (lighthouses, national parks) compared to plain old blank checks, so in that respect it didn't make much difference.

Regarding ours, I don't know when it was that we ordered them. Not within the last couple of years, anyway. I do know we ordered checks in 2017 because my wife's bank account got hacked just after Memorial Day that year—we believe, but cannot prove, that someone at a car dealership did it, as over Memorial Day weekend that year she had used a personal check to make the down payment on a car purchase, and her account got cleaned out three days later. (She got the money back and the bank closed the account and gave her a new account number, which is why we had to order new checks.) Lesson there—use a cashier's check for the down payment if they won't take a credit card for the amount you want to put down.

My wife does write more checks than I do, though, because she uses checks to donate money to various charities and to stick in birthday and Christmas cards for our relatives' kids in Florida. I typically write one check a month to move money between banks because writing a check and doing a mobile deposit is, for whatever reason, faster than doing an electronic transfer between banks.

[jeffandnicole]

Which goes back to some of my original questions:

• Does anyone really look at these custom check background even if has a Route 66 Background?

If you're reimbursing someone here, they may be impressed with the check, then irritated they need to cash the check.  And of those people, a good percentage will probably do it right in front of you on their phone, then hand the check back to you or tear it up.

If you're mailing the check for a credit card payment or similar, more than likely it goes thru an automated system and a person never sees the check.

Thanks, I'll stick with the cheapest and most basic (and boring) checks my financial institution offers. At the rate I write checks, they will last me a few years.

My checks still have the old bank name on them from 20 years ago, but since the ABA is still valid, no reason to update them.

My wife has a business so we do write checks for that, albeit minimal.  Occasionally I'll get new checks from an online discounted check printing business.

[7/8]

I've never written or purchased my own cheques. The last time I remember holding a cheque was probably before 2010, bringing one of my parent's cheques to school (for a field trip or something).

[webny99]

I've never written or purchased my own cheques. The last time I remember holding a cheque was probably before 2010, bringing one of my parent's cheques to school (for a field trip or something).

I have never had my own checks for personal use either, although I see them quite regularly in the mail and for business purposes. The US is well behind most of the rest of the world in terms of business to business payments still being made by check.

[JayhawkCO]

It's still a little bizarre to me that scribbling some ink on a paper is how we define if something is legally binding.

[kphoger]

The argument about graphic/plain checks seems very similar to the argument about graphic/plain license plates.

It's still a little bizarre to me that scribbling some ink on a paper is how we define if something is legally binding.

Isn't that basically what contracts are?  You know, the way things have been considered legally binding for centuries?

[Rothman]

The argument about graphic/plain checks seems very similar to the argument about graphic/plain license plates.

It's still a little bizarre to me that scribbling some ink on a paper is how we define if something is legally binding.

Isn't that basically what contracts are?  You know, the way things have been considered legally binding for centuries?

The MIRC numbering also matters...

[kphoger]

MIRC

[Rothman]

MIRC

Whups.

[LilianaUwU]

Brainstorming session at Ford headquarters, circa 2016:

"Anyone remember OJ Simpson?"

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Is Rochester pronounced "Raw Chester" or "Rawch Ester"?

[GaryV]

Is Rochester pronounced "Raw Chester" or "Rawch Ester"?

Which one?

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Is Rochester pronounced "Raw Chester" or "Rawch Ester"?

Which one?

Any of them

[vdeane]

Is Rochester pronounced "Raw Chester" or "Rawch Ester"?

More like "Rah Chester".

[webny99]

Is Rochester pronounced "Raw Chester" or "Rawch Ester"?

More like "Rah Chester".

Agreed for Rochester, NY. There's not really a w sound at all, and it sometimes gets blended even further to more like "Rach-ster" with a short a sound.

I have some friends from Maryland that once tried to pronounce it "Row-chester" and I found that hilarious. You won't hear anything even close to an o sound locally.

[Rothman]

Rauster.

[vdeane]

Is Rochester pronounced "Raw Chester" or "Rawch Ester"?

More like "Rah Chester".

Agreed for Rochester, NY. There's not really a w sound at all, and it sometimes gets blended even further to more like "Rach-ster" with a short a sound.

I have some friends from Maryland that once tried to pronounce it "Row-chester" and I found that hilarious. You won't hear anything even close to an o sound locally.

And given how often I had to clarify further where I was from one time I was in Maine, I think Rochester, NH might be pronounced the same way.

[CtrlAltDel]

It's still a little bizarre to me that scribbling some ink on a paper is how we define if something is legally binding.

Technically, things don't usually need to be written down at all to be legally binding. Parol (spoken) contracts and so on.

[Rothman]

It's still a little bizarre to me that scribbling some ink on a paper is how we define if something is legally binding.

Technically, things don't usually need to be written down at all to be legally binding. Parol (spoken) contracts and so on.

Judge Judy yelling arguments come to mind.  Get it in writing.

[tmoore952]

Is Rochester pronounced "Raw Chester" or "Rawch Ester"?

More like "Rah Chester".

Also how I remember hearing it pronounced for the character on "The Jack Benny Program" (which I only saw in reruns).

[7/8]

Is Rochester pronounced "Raw Chester" or "Rawch Ester"?

More like "Rah Chester".

Agreed for Rochester, NY. There's not really a w sound at all, and it sometimes gets blended even further to more like "Rach-ster" with a short a sound.

I have some friends from Maryland that once tried to pronounce it "Row-chester" and I found that hilarious. You won't hear anything even close to an o sound locally.

This discussion gets more confusing when you consider the cot-caught merger. For those with the merger, including myself and possibly TheHighwayMan394, "rah" and "raw" are the same sound. But to those without the merger, they are different sounds.

So for me, "RAW-chester" is the same as "RAH-chester" (both pronounced like the latter).

[dlsterner]

Is Rochester pronounced "Raw Chester" or "Rawch Ester"?

Which one?

Any of them

One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes the same city name may be pronounced differently in different states - some examples include Newark (NEW-urk in NJ, new-ARK in DE) and Lancaster (LANC-a-ster in PA, LAN-cas-ter in many other states).

[tmoore952]

Is Rochester pronounced "Raw Chester" or "Rawch Ester"?

Which one?

Any of them

One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes the same city name may be pronounced differently in different states - some examples include Newark (NEW-urk in NJ, new-ARK in DE) and Lancaster (LANC-a-ster in PA, LAN-cas-ter in many other states).

I happen to know people from both Newark, OH and Newark, NY -- both of them say NEW-urk (NJ pronunciation).

[1995hoo]

Is Rochester pronounced "Raw Chester" or "Rawch Ester"?

More like "Rah Chester".

Agreed for Rochester, NY. There's not really a w sound at all, and it sometimes gets blended even further to more like "Rach-ster" with a short a sound.

I have some friends from Maryland that once tried to pronounce it "Row-chester" and I found that hilarious. You won't hear anything even close to an o sound locally.

This discussion gets more confusing when you consider the cot-caught merger. For those with the merger, including myself and possibly TheHighwayMan394, "rah" and "raw" are the same sound. But to those without the merger, they are different sounds.

So for me, "RAW-chester" is the same as "RAH-chester" (both pronounced like the latter).

Heh. My mother's late mother (she lived in Brooklyn, if it's relevant) insisted that I was mispronouncing the name of the capital of North Carolina by pronouncing it like "rah-lee" instead of like "RAW-lee." My response pointing out that I lived about 20 minutes outside Raleigh and that I knew very well how to pronounce it didn't seem to carry any weight whatsoever with her. So she plainly heard different sounds but was adamant that the wrong one was correct. (And yes, I plainly hear the difference. "Cot" doesn't sound at all like "caught," either.)

[Scott5114]

How do you make cot not sound like caught? Are you saying the latter as "Kuh-ow-ut" or something?