Young people have no idea …

We pretty much just write a check for rent. And we sent a couple of checks to kids of friends who just graduated high school. I wanted to mail a wad of cash but my wife vetoed that idea.

Also, I LOVE driving a stick shift. Feels more engaging and fun.

 

Since my third car, they've almost all been a manual transmission. I'm ready for an automatic.

 

In Australia, a significant portion of merchants don’t TAKE cash. Some even gripe about my corporate card, which was issued by a US bank and doesn’t offer tap (only a chip) because their point-of-sale systems generally require a signature for it. During my year and a half over here, I’ve visited an ATM exactly once — for a trip to the casino. I can barely tell you what Australian money looks like. And my bank here didn’t even offer me checks as an option.

My rent is paid using a service called BPAY, which acts as an intermediary between my bank and the property manager. Landscapers, plumbers, etc., all take BPAY.

 

This has become all about money, but I use my ATM card so little that I can't remember the PIN. My dad always was a wad of cash in the pocket guy and I followed suit for a long time, but I never have or use cash anymore. COVID and cashless systems really killed it for good.

Our bank used to give some benefits for using the ATM card in stores and places, like a little cash back, but they stopped. So there is no reason to use it. No points or other benefits and the security on the things suck. My wife, myself, and one of my kids have all had fraud on our ATM cards over the past year. All of them were small, like they were fishing to see if they could get away with it before doing more, and caught right away. But then it took a couple of weeks to get the money back, whereas a credit card would pretty much do it right away. I also don't know how at least mine happened because I never use it.

I told my wife to stop using hers after her incident, but she still does even though there is no benefit. It's like she takes comfort in not having immediate debt, and old habits die hard, or something even though it is a security crapshoot. Get the credit card points and pay it off and move on!

 

I run the track and field program at my kids’ school, which is “sponsored” by the PTA. Participation was $25 a kid.

Last year, they didn’t have any way to take electronic payment, so I had to take paper checks or cash for all 150ish kids at practice. What a giant pain in the ass. I felt like I was in that scene from The Jerk where Steve Martin is writing out a billion checks for $1.09 each.

This year, the PTA treasurer just used her personal Venmo, and all but a handful of parents paid electronically. Saved more than a few hours.

 

My checks are so old they have an address on them for a place I haven’t lived in 10 years.

 

My Mazda has a manumatic option. It's an automatic, but you can also shift into manual and push the stick up or down to shift gears. There's no clutch.
I've had Mazdas for 16 years and all of them have had it. I've never used it on the open road, though. Too afraid I'll forget to shift, or accidentally throw it into park, and cause a wreck or blow up my engine.

 

I was explaining to my son today that when I was a kid, I had to deposit his grandmother’s paycheck from being a teacher every two weeks at the bank and he asked me why would people go into a bank.

 

I used to feel guilty using my debit card for small amounts, like say $3 for a coffee, knowing merchants pay fees on charges.

But I’m over that. Recently, I used my card for 12 cents. I had a grocery store gift card and tried to match my purchase to the amount. I went 12 cents over and had no cash in my wallet. I could have got the change from my car, but the store was about to close so I used my debit card.

 

OUTING ALERT:

 

I write a check every 2 weeks to the kid that mows my lawn. That's it. The USPS pissed me off years ago. Everything else is drafted.