[blackdog]

And thus every check I flew was a fed system document. I had just assumed that since the delivery vans met the plane with bags marked for each fed city that it was how they processed everything. Kind of like the Federal Express model.

I guess you are saying those vans also would make local stops after the planes were met with the bags routed for local banks? Makes sense. I guess that's why when you pay your bills for satellite television or credit cards, the PO Box is not too far away even though the company is? I guess they maintain PO Box's and an agent in every region in order to speed up the processing time at minimal expense.

[Hurricane Andrew]

blackdog,

You got it. Also, there are a significant number of checks that never need to be flown anywhere. For example, checks that are drawn on and deposited or cashed in other banks that use the same data center that my bank uses are cleared via ground courier runs from the member banks to the data center. They probably account for about 25% of our check volume. Many of the larger banks have very sophisticated models on which checks to send where for clearing based on the routing information. It really is a science.