Should Other Retailers Join Target in Rejecting Checks?

Target will no longer accept personal checks from shoppers as of July 15, becoming the latest retailer to stop taking the increasingly rare payment form.

In a media statement, Target said the move was due to “extremely low volumes” of customers who still write checks. Target added that it remained “committed to creating an easy and convenient checkout experience, and that includes providing our guests with numerous ways to pay, including our new Target Circle Cards (formerly known as Target RedCard); cash; digital wallets; SNAP/EBT; buy now, pay later services; and credit and debit cards.”

In 1979, checks accounted for about 86% of non-cash payments in the U.S. and it was still fairly common to pay by check at cashiers. Stephen Quinn, an economics professor at Texas Christian University, told NPR, “I’m old enough that I remember — yeah, you’d go to the grocery store, and everybody in line would mostly pay with check. There was some cash, but checks were far more convenient for everybody involved.”

However, check usage dropped to about 7% of overall financial transactions by 2017, according to the Federal Reserve of Atlanta. The decline has been blamed on the arrival of ATMs, which sped up access to cash, as well as the introduction of credit cards, debit cards, and mobile payment systems like Venmo and Apple Pay that offered more convenience and speed over checks. Credit cards and some debit cards also offer perks for usage.

Additionally, checks are known as a bottleneck in checkout lines.

“I worked as a cashier at a grocery store about 7 years ago and check writers were the worst,” said a Reddit user.

Whole Foods, ALDI, Old Navy, and Lululemon are among retailers no longer accepting checks, but the wide majority appear to accept them, including Target’s competitors such as Walmart, Costco, Dollar General, Walgreens, and most grocers and department stores. Checks aren’t able to be used at self-checkout stations, however.

Landlords, contractors, and real estate agents are among those that still rely on checks to conduct business. A recent study by GOBankingRates found that although 46% of Americans did not write a single check in 2023, 15% of those in the 55 to 64 age group and 22% in the 65+ age group still write a few checks a month.

“It’s hardly surprising Target has decided to stop accepting them,” said Neil Saunders, retail analyst at GlobalData and a RetailWire BrainTrust panelist, told CNN. “That said, there will be small pockets of people, including more elderly consumers, who will lament that they are being phased out.”

In the payment space, digital-only coupons have already been called out in recent years as discrimination against the elderly.