12-12-12: The End of the Check is Upon Us
Today is 12-12-12. The number certainly holds significance in human existence as illustrated by: Apart from there being 12 hours of day and night, and 12 months in the year in the Roman calendar, there 12 signs of the Zodiac, 12 Apostles, 12 days of Christmas, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 old testament prophets… you get the idea.
Some say the day symbolizes love, others completeness or fulfillment. Later this month, according to the Mayan Calendar – 12-21-12 – DOOMSDAY!
2012 to the Check Payments Industry
For check payment professionals, this day also has special meaning. The doomsday rules of 12 were correct on some topics; while not all of them.
- 12 years ago, distributed capture picked up steam and was going to replace high speed scanners
- 36, 24 and 12 years ago, many predicted the demise of the check
- Y2K! The predicted implosion of the banking industry
- 12 years ago the FED released “The Use of Checks and Other Noncash Payment Instruments in the United States”. Interesting reading in retrospect!
Today we released Accura XV 1.2 to our resellers with the ability to read as many as 96% of the check amounts (12 X 8). Is it a coincidence? I think not!
So what about 2024? I can tell you one thing, checks will still be in use… Heck, they will even be around in the UK! But as for the high-priced check processing systems and check processing experts, they’ll be working in electronic or healthcare payments!