Paycheck? Not At Wal-Mart. Here’s Your Debit Card!

I love computers. I especially love how they make my life easier, and I’m willing to pay for the privilege. For example, most of our clients pay us via PayPal, which has the effect of us not having to go to the bank (not to mention cutting down on our collection expenses). We pay for PayPal to handle things for us, in much the same way you might pay your credit card company to handle those transactions.

But what if your employer made non-physical-paycheck mandatory?

Wal-Mart has done exactly that. Now, you can either have your pay put in your bank account via direct deposit, or (presumably if you don’t have a bank account), get it put on account on a pre-paid debit card.

I’d like to call Wal-Mart to task for this, because there are going to be fees involved for the employees who choose the debit card model and they are exactly the kind of people who can afford them the least.

But at the same time, this saves Wal-Mart money, which at some level saves many people money, and also is environmentally sound. In fact, since they are Wal-Mart (and own their own bank anyway) how about if they make a truly free bank account option for their employees, thereby eliminating the problems?

All that’s left then is getting people to accept the change that not receiving a paper check represents. And frankly, that’s an idea whose time has come.

Change is sometimes good in ways that you don’t even need to debate. Embrace this change.