Some things get lost as time goes on. Probably because they are small and inconsequential. Nobody writes about it, even if it is an every day, every week, every month event.

I obviously remember banks, we had savings accounts, and a little book of deposits that was kept in a curious manila envelope that had two brown buttons, with a string to wrap around them to keep it secure. Why? It was paper! You could rip it in half if you wanted to get in to it.

Banks saved your money, banks loaned you money, but only the very rich had checking accounts. Who would trust a common man to write checks?

Banks would cash your salary checks, but only if you had an account there. The other possibility was your local bar or tavern, but only if you drank there. The bars had an understanding with their banks, and two party checks, particularly salary checks were approved.

So a small economic cycle occured with groups of bars on the streets of workers coming home, stopping to cash their checks for the week. Salaries were weekly. It was very rare to be paid every two weeks, or even monthly. Monthly salaries only became popular with direct deposit to the bank. Ha! Direct deposit only became popular when personal checks were accepted.

We forget how things were, shopping at stores that gave green stamps, collecting “blue chip” stamps and redeeming them for a blender or cake mixer. I once got a transistor radio! It ran on big batteries for several hours! Of course it was only AM frequencies, but it was high fidelity!

No one will find this interesting, unless they also “will remember when…”