Electronic Transactions

Lea and I shopped at Crossroads Mall today.  I always use my credit card to pay for purchases whether online or in real life.  Paying by credit card is usually faster and slightly cheaper—I get a 1% reward on cc purchases.  Plus, I don’t have to write checks, carry a lot of cash or end up with several pounds of change in my backpack.

I also pay my household bills online either by sending payment through my bank’s online system or by debiting my bank account when paying rent each month. 

Much like how a horse used to be primary transportation and are now for rich equestrian hobbyists; stamps on envelopes used to the primary way of paying bills, now stamps are used for mail greeting cards to friends.  The post office has conceded that by selling universal stamps that never expire no matter what the current first class postage rate is.  A booklet of 100 stamps is easily last through years of mailing cards and the occasional letter.

Home Depot has a deal where they email receipts to accounts associated with a given credit card.  It is a little creepy on the privacy invasion side, but actually works really well for finding the receipt for old purchases.  It is near infinitely faster for me to search an email folder than hope to find a receipt that I almost undoubtedly through away.

I am grateful for the convenience of electronic transactions.  They make my life easier, better and speed up bill paying chores.