CHEQUE GOES TO CHECK-OUT

A message that recently came from the bank said from December 31, 2021, ‘cheques are being phased out’.

I won’t say it stopped me in my tracks but, in signalling the end of an era in the history of personal behaviour, it created a moment for reflection. And for decision-making; should you throw away your half-full cheque book? Or pass it down to generation after generation so that by the year 2500 AD it might appear on that era’s equivalent of today’s enormously popular ‘Antiques Roadshow’? You can just imagine people, probably in their Star Wars type kit, saying – is that how they used to buy stuff? And didn’t they have something called ‘money’ in those days; you know, pieces of whatever rattling in their pocket?

Demise

The truth is that we haven’t been using cheques for some time; their demise was inevitable. Especially if you are in business, electronic payment systems have enabled you to save so much time and effort. You can make an online or card payment in minutes, compared with writing a cheque and then getting it to your supplier. And now, of course, we have the irresistible MoMo enabling you to remain with the addictive smartphone in your paws for a bit longer each day. But in case you’re tempted to dream of innovation stopping there, forget it. At this moment you have technological geniuses in a dramatic scramble to bring the next innovation to market. And the rate at which technology is dominating the daily life of humans is almost frightening. Especially when you project ahead, applying to the future the exponential rate of change we have seen over the past few decades. But it is, nevertheless, interesting to reflect on the time when cheques became the modus operandi; not hugely innovative of course. It was preceded by the bill of exchange and in use for centuries in ancient Rome, India and Persia (now Iran). Nevertheless, when the cheque took over, it must have seemed revolutionary to be able to just write an amount of money on a slip of paper, rip it out and hand it over as payment.

Dramatic

Apart from death, one of the only things certain to happen in life is change. Information, communication and technological change have been truly dramatic. About 140 years ago the technological sensation was from the application of the internal combustion engine to the motor vehicle. Around the end of the 1800s there were a lot of clever people. Contributors to vehicle engine development include names that are still with us in one form or another, including Gottlieb Daimler, Karl Benz and Rudolph Diesel. But the innovations that dominate our lives for a century can sometimes prove to be a curse. Transport, along with electricity production, is the main emitter of greenhouse gases.

The top three greenhouse gas emitters – China, the EU and the United States – contribute 42 per cent of the total global emissions. China is responsible for a huge proportion of that figure but at least it also dominates the global fleet of plug-in electric vehicles. Mainly, I’m sure, because its urban inhabitants now have to wear masks; and not just for COVID-19. Electric vehicles are set to dominate roads of the world in the coming years but will it be too late to help achieve the global climate control targets? In the meantime, let’s ensure the warning is clear to people who wander across the roads with earphones in – electric vehicles make very little noise!

Internet

The internet has transformed human access to information and communication, and could arguably rank in top place for the outstanding invention of modern times; the best reference library in the world, and in your office or sitting room! Want to know how to spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocios? Or how cyclones arise in the Indian Ocean and make their way to Eswatini (they will and more often because of global warming)? Or how to clear a blocked drain? Or who won the 400 metres race in the 1960 Rome Olympics? It’s all there, at the flick of a button. And the email is a remarkable facility, despite causing a looming extinction for the letter. I wrote one last week and couldn’t remember where you put the stamp (LOL). Credit and debit cards will also join the future antique pile at home. You’ll probably just extend your arm at the payment point in the supermarket and the ‘arm reader’ will register the payment. Don’t extend the arm too far or they’ll think you’re trying to take the cash from the till. Hang on, there won’t be any cash by then. Even today, coins and notes account for only one per cent of Sweden’s economic activity, compared to eight per cent in the US and 10 per cent in Europe. Those who keep their money under the mattress had better watch out.

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