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Oh well keep writing those checks (but perhaps to someone else).

One of our local shopping stops is an outfit called Winco, and they cater to po' folks such as myself (cheapest in town on darn near everything, it's a big square box full of food and not much else). They don't take debit cards, only checks & cash, they say the transaction fees for debit cards is too high. The only exception to the no debit card rule is for the Oregon Trail Benefit Card (its official name, us regular folks call them food stamp cards).

Another interesting aspect of that place is they have eliminated all of the express lanes - so when you go in you just have to take your chances that there will be a short line somewhere. But their main clientele is those with the food stamp cards. Now this is a cheap place, but they do have the usual selection of those overpriced prepackaged convenience foods, fancy name brand stuff, and high end cuts of meat & seafood. As for our family, we pay our own way, and we can't afford the fancy stuff - we go for the store brands and the hamburger and get fancy stuff like steaks & fresh seafood when it is on super sale (and usually at another store because that stuff is almost never on special there).

With no express lanes we have plenty of opportunity to observe what other folks are buying and how they are paying. Most times if the cart in front is loaded with the sort of things I can't afford, I have to buy it anyway because it will be paid for with a food stamp card that is filled every month with funds that were removed from my pocket at the point of a gun.

I say all that because, yeah, it sort of chaps my butt. To me it is a bigger annoyance than anything they could have in their check or debit card policy (but then as I said upthread, I pay with folding green cash at the supermarket).

IN RENO we have a couple of WINCOS and their prices are always cheaper, but their service stinks they are employee owned so they pretty much treat everybody like kaka, and their steaks and beef and seafood products are always pretty much overpriced, I try to avoid that part of the store which means going to two different food stores a week.