My parents got paid every Friday and we'd go to the bank to cash my dad's check. Usually, we'd sit in the car at the drive-through window waiting for the teller. That was the extent of my parents' exposure to banks, it seemed. Within a few hours, the bills were all paid...by driving to every single office! They didn't have credit cards and my family never used checks. When they pulled money out, you could guarantee it was green. I remember at one time my dad saying that a certain establishment "didn't like the color of [his] money". I thought to myself...isn't green the only color of money? I don't think I'll ever know what happened there.
As I grew up, I started to see credit cards accepted more and more and these little boxes called Automated Teller Machines appeared outside of banks. (Of course, we never used them, but they were there.) In high school, I learned how to write a check and when I was "old enough" I got my first savings account.
As I grew up, I started to see more and more places accepting credit and frowning on cash transactions. And now it's much more prevalent. For example, at my gas station, if you don't pay with credit you have to walk in and guess how much it's going to cost you to fill up. And the popularity of RedBox kiosks that vend DVDs with plastic only transactions. I've even seen the number of fast food restaurants accepting plastic increase over the last 10 years. And within the past few years, the number of outdoor vendors accepting credit cards have also increased.
Opposite of my parents, I don't carry cash and I rarely refill the checks in my wallet. It's really not necessary thanks to the availability and ease of use of our new, plastic currency.
