Shopping At New York Target Locations?- This Payment No Longer Accepted

If you plan to shop at Target in New Hartford, Syracuse, or other New York locations, one payment method will not longer be accepted as of July 15th. Does this even affect anyone?

Target has announced plans to stop accepting personal checks as of July 15th 2024. According to News 10, this is due to a lack of shoppers that still use checks as a payment method. Target isn't alone, Aldi and Whole Foods already opted not to take checks.

“Due to extremely low volumes, we’ll no longer accept personal checks starting July 15. We have taken several measures to notify guests in advance to aid an easy and efficient checkout experience.”

Despite no longer accepting checks as of the 15th, Target still has several forms of payment including Target Circle Cards, cash, digital wallets, SNAP/EBT, buy now, pay later services; and credit and debit cards.

Read More- This Is Right In Plain Sight At Target New Hartford?

The Federal Reserve has noted a steady decrease in the amount of personal checks written over the past few decades. Recent data shows there were only around 12 billion checks written in 2021, down from 20.2 billion in 2015.

"Similar to checks, ATM withdrawals have also declined. In 2015, 5.2 billion withdrawals were made, averaging $146 a transaction. By 2021, only 3.7 billion were made, with people pulling out an average $198. Conversely, credit card and debit card payments have filled the gap left by checks and cash. From 101.5 billion card transactions in 2015, people used cards to pay for things 157 billion times in 2021."

 

Do People Even Know How To Write Checks Anymore?

According to a recent survey conducted by GOBankinrRates, 46% of Americans have not written a check in the last year. In the past year, 15% of Americans wrote a few checks a month, 17% wrote less than six checks, 17% wrote a check once a month and 4% wrote more than 12 checks.

"The practice was least popular for those under 54. Our survey results showed that 46% of those ages 18 to 24 did not write a check this past year, along with 51% of those ages 25 to 34, 51% of those ages 35 to 44 and 50% of those 45 to 54."

PayPal, Venmo and Zelle continue to be the top payment apps for 2024.