Snail mail/U.S. Mail, how often do you check your mailbox?

[georgina]

I check the mail every day. When we go away I will let it sit there if a week or less, when gone for 2 weeks I will get a neighbor to grab it once or twice. Our box is locked, the only issue is the junk mail can build up after a week!

Our box is 4 or 5 houses away, there are 20 boxes in a stack.

My DD doesn't check hers often, maybe once a week?

Our informed delivery email does not always correspond with what is actually delivered.

 

[OhDannyBoy]

Every day it is delivered as mail theft is a big thing down here

 

[disykat]

We have a PO Box and check it probably twice a week. We still get some mail at our home box, so we check that most days as well. We have to walk up our driveway and all the way across the street(image the difficulty!) to get to the bank of boxes, but can't see any reason we wouldn't be able to clear it out daily to keep junk from accumulating. Sometimes delivery drivers stick things in the mailbox too. It's worth the extra footsteps.

 

[CdnCarrie]

We're getting older, so we like paper bills which we pay with paper checks. I don't like the idea of anyone, other than us, being able to withdraw money from our checking account .

Now.....get off my lawn!

I'm always shocked when I hear places still take cheques.

 

[Mommb]

I don't get much important mail, but I check my mailbox several times a day until mail is delivered when I'm at home, just in case I get something interesting.

I refuse to do online-only billing, because I get far more mail in my email inbox than in my physical mailbox and I know I'll miss bills if I don't physically put them in my bill file. I don't do automatic online billing because sometimes I want to wait to make a payment until I'm sure my husband and I have been paid, and because I want to look over all bills to make sure they're accurate before paying them.

 

[easyas123]

I'm always shocked when I hear places still take cheques.

I had to pay by check today, had someone from a large pool company (in our area) come out to measure for a new cover and I had to give a $180 deposit/measuring fee and pay the guy via check.
Our Company still gets paid in checks by some large clients, some private & some government. While we do payroll via direct deposit, my accounting dept. cuts checks twice a month because not all the subs & vendors we use want to go the ACH route, although we are hoping to move in that direction.
I still use write Company hand checks for various things as well, such as donations for local things we like to support. Like the kids at the county fair, we buy a few pigs, lambs and sometimes a cow every year, have it butchered & pass the meat out to employees. 10 year old little Joey's Mom & Dad don't usually take credit cards so it's cash or check for the animal.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

We check the mailbox every day. It's easy because it's fastened to the wall right outside our front door. My aunt still gets bills through the mail, and often small packages are put in there by the delivery people.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I had to pay by check today, had someone from a large pool company (in our area) come out to measure for a new cover and I had to give a $180 deposit/measuring fee and pay the guy via check.
Our Company still gets paid in checks by some large clients, some private & some government. While we do payroll via direct deposit, my accounting dept. cuts checks twice a month because not all the subs & vendors we use want to go the ACH route, although we are hoping to move in that direction.
I still use write Company hand checks for various things as well, such as donations for local things we like to support. Like the kids at the county fair, we buy a few pigs, lambs and sometimes a cow every year, have it butchered & pass the meat out to employees. 10 year old little Joey's Mom & Dad don't usually take credit cards so it's cash or check for the animal.

I haven't written (or received) a cheque in probably 10 years. Not sure I still even have a cheque book.

 

[tvguy]

I haven't written (or received) a cheque in probably 10 years. Not sure I still even have a cheque book.

I don't write a lot of checks but some things are still strictly cash or check. Wrote one today for lunch for a service group I belong to. Cash or check only because we haven't felt spending $800 to set up an electronic payment method was a smart thing for a non-profit to do.
A lot of home improvement services are still cash or check only. Had drip irrigation installed last month, contractor was cash or check only. Had siding on my house replaced, had the house painted and new windows installed, those contractors were all cash or check.
Having my HVAC ductwork replaced, they WILL take a credit card, but add a 4% surcharge for taking plastic. $9000 project, no way I'm going to pay $360 extra to use a credit card.

 

[mommasita]

We check the mailbox every day. It's easy because it's fastened to the wall right outside our front door. My aunt still gets bills through the mail, and often small packages are put in there by the delivery people.

Same here.

 

[disneychrista]

I haven't written (or received) a cheque in probably 10 years. Not sure I still even have a cheque book.

The US is very behind in the use of electronic transfers for paying for things, such as what @tvguy mentioned. Contractors, plumbers, etc. I had to write several multi-thousand dollars checks for electricians, HVAC, roofer etc. in the past few years. They just aren't set up for the electronic payments.

 

[LoveDaisy]

We check the mail every day. It is delivered to the mailbox right by the front door. It has been really hot and DH puts a cooler out with water and Gatorade for the mailman. Ours walks his route.

 

[team bradfield]

In our rual area Amazon/Walmart etc. use USPS for delivery, so pretty much daily

 

[focusondisney]

I'm always shocked when I hear places still take cheques.

I can’t think of any business around me that doesn’t take checks. All retail shops take both checks & credit cards along with some contractors & home improvement companies. Those are a mix if they add a surcharge for using credit cards or not, but most prefer a check. Even a few utilities have a surcharge for using credit. Our town & county taxes charge a surcharge for credit as well. I can’t imagine how much extra utilities & taxes would cost if those 3-4% cc fees were passed on to consumers.

 

[disneychrista]

I can’t think of any business around me that doesn’t take checks. All retail shops take both checks & credit cards along with some contractors & home improvement companies. Those are a mix if they add a surcharge for using credit cards or not, but most prefer a check. Even a few utilities have a surcharge for using credit. Our town & county taxes charge a surcharge for credit as well. I can’t imagine how much extra utilities & taxes would cost if those 3-4% cc fees were passed on to consumers.

About 3-4% more.

 

[barkley]

Checks were stolen & altered & cashed by the thieves.

the thieves here took it to another level-

purposely stole outgoing mail for utilitie payments b/c they are unlikely to notify of a missed payment until the next month's payment is due which buys them some time. 'washed' the checks to create a template for new checks that they then used to make purchases. one neighbor would not have caught it before her account was drained had it not been for an observant employee at the local credit union who questioned a totally out of character purchase for neighbor being submitted for payment.

I don't get much important mail, but I check my mailbox several times a day until mail is delivered when I'm at home, just in case I get something interesting.

I refuse to do online-only billing, because I get far more mail in my email inbox than in my physical mailbox and I know I'll miss bills if I don't physically put them in my bill file. I don't do automatic online billing because sometimes I want to wait to make a payment until I'm sure my husband and I have been paid, and because I want to look over all bills to make sure they're accurate before paying them.

I'm not big on electronic payments either but I do opt for it on my cell phone b/c it's a $10 per line discount if I autopay with my checking account (w/my additional $10 AARP per line it adds up ) and my disney+ subscription cuz american express does a $7 statement credit monthly for using them (again-it adds up).

Having my HVAC ductwork replaced, they WILL take a credit card, but add a 4% surcharge for taking plastic. $9000 project, no way I'm going to pay $360 extra to use a credit card.

several of these types of companies around us have the same policy but it's usually if it's over a certain dollar amount. when we had our HVAC replaced last year I think it was if you were charging over $10k so I had them do the first $10k on my no fee rewards card and the remaining balance I paid with a check (so I pocketed the percentage points).

 

[CdnCarrie]

I can’t think of any business around me that doesn’t take checks. All retail shops take both checks & credit cards along with some contractors & home improvement companies. Those are a mix if they add a surcharge for using credit cards or not, but most prefer a check. Even a few utilities have a surcharge for using credit. Our town & county taxes charge a surcharge for credit as well. I can’t imagine how much extra utilities & taxes would cost if those 3-4% cc fees were passed on to consumers.

Most places here won’t take cheques. Maybe private contractors.
For example you can’t go to a major grocery store chain or Walmart in Canada and write a personal cheque.

USA is notoriously behind in banking systems

 

[barkley]

Even a few utilities have a surcharge for using credit. Our town & county taxes charge a surcharge for credit as well. I can’t imagine how much extra utilities & taxes would cost if those 3-4% cc fees were passed on to consumers.

here property taxes are charged a fee for debit or credit (I send a check every 6 months), my power company charges no fee but the one my oldest has (in town) you either need to walk in and pay or mail a check or you will be hit for either a debit/credit card fee or a 'convenience fee' for paying online from your checking account (they waived this during COVID but it's back in practice). no fee for paying w/ a card w/garbage company. landline carrier charges for any kind of online payment as well,

 

[focusondisney]

About 3-4% more.

At least! But the way the utilities operate around here, it would more likely be 5-6%. They have to pad the profits, ya know?

'washed' the checks to create a template for new checks that they then used to make purchases.

Yes! That’s what they did here too. I wasn’t sure if washed was the right term so didn’t want to say that & be wrong.

 

[tvguy]

Most places here won’t take cheques. Maybe private contractors.
For example you can’t go to a major grocery store chain or Walmart in Canada and write a personal cheque.

USA is notoriously behind in banking systems

Our banking systems are up to date, but people are choosing not to use some of those digital payment systems, or can't. I think people with no bank accounts are part of the reason. People not wanting to pay a fee are another park. And of course, people who are just stubborn.
We pay every bill we can electronically. And I have purchased groceries with a credit card for at least five years. Because of that I did not even notice my grocery store no longer takes checks. But that used to be the number one no no on the list of things that can get you into credit trouble. Buy items that are gone before the bill comes. When I paid for groceries by check I knew what my balance was and adjusted my shopping to come in below that. Now I just swipe or tap and pay little attention to whether I have the money on hand.