There was time when people used cheques, and used them a lot. Cheques once accounted for 86 percent of all non-cash payments, and were the hot new payment technology. After second World War, the Americans adopted cheque writing like never before. In 1940s and 1950s, the overall number of ‘chequing accounts’ (frequently spelled as a ‘checking account’, like someone is always checking what we do with it :-)) in the U.S. doubled. The number of cheques written peaked to about 8 billion in mid 1950s.
When debit cards got introduced, over time they basically became a ‘cheque killer’. Today most of the people predominantly pay using their credit and debit cards and manage they bank account activities mainly via ATM and mobile / online banking. Cheques may still be used occasionally (about less than 5% of volume / value of all payments), but they seem well on their way out. Cheques only seem to continue to be a popular payment method for people over 65, with 68% of this demographic group still using them. However, the payment habits of younger generation are quite opposite, with 88 per cent of 16-to 34-year-olds now very rarely or never using cheques.