Target shoppers divided after major change to checkout process

Target shoppers will no longer be able to pay for their goods using a check.

The payment method has been falling in popularity in recent years – but it is still popular among some seniors. 

Cards have become the dominant way to pay – whether in physical for linked to digital wallets on smartphones – but customers looking to avoid cards opt for cash.

The Minnesota-based retailer – the seventh biggest in the US – announced it will ‘no longer accept personal checks starting July 15,’ citing ‘extremely low volumes.’

Fewer and fewer retailers are accepting personal checks. Aldi and Whole Foods have banned them completely, as Target is doing. Others will only accept them at some registers. 

‘When it comes to payments, checks are something of a relic,’ retail expert Neil Saunders of Global Data told DailyMail.com. 

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‘They are so little used nowadays that it’s hardly surprising Target has decided to ditch them’ 

But he added: ‘That said, there will be small pockets of people, including more elderly consumers, who will lament that they are being phased out.

Checks can still be sent through the mail to pay off balances on Target Circle Cards.

In the 1980s and the early 1990s, checks were the main way Americans paid for things – for goods in shops, rent, bills and sending a gift.

Usage dropped as credit and debit cards became more popular, and bill payment could be made automatically with direct debit.

How little they are used is highlighted by the Federal Reserve’s most recent payment choice report. 

Out of the typical 46 monthly payments Americans made in 2023 – at, for example, stores, bars, coffee shops and to pay bills or friends – only one was by check.

That is huge drop on 2016, when it was three checks out of 45 monthly payments.

The pandemic sped up the ditching of checks, and the rise in digital wallets like Venmo and Zelle are a key factor too.

The change will go into effect following Target’s annual Circle Week sale, which runs from July 7-13.

Target reassured customers they can continue to pay using cash, credit and debit cards, Target Circle cards, digital wallets, SNAP/EBT, and pay later services.

‘We have taken several measures to notify guests in advance to aid an easy and efficient checkout experience,’ the spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, Target shoppers are up in arms over a rule that leaves self-checkouts closed – increasing wait times.

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Local store bosses now ‘have the flexibility to set self-checkout hours that are right for their store’. 

The new policy rolled out in March allows staff to open kiosks late or shut them early – or even during the day. 

But customers say it leads to long waits since stores do not open extra traditional manned registers to make up for the closed self-checkouts.

‘Store closes at 10pm but self-checkout closes at 9pm and there are only three cashiers between 9pm and 10pm?,’ one customer posted to X, formerly Twitter. 

‘Huge line every night between 9pm and 10pm.’