On 2/16/2016 10:02 AM, KenK wrote:
Don Y wrote in
:

On 2/15/2016 9:44 AM, philo wrote:
It seems that no matter how carefully one takes precautions, the one
thing that is going to get you is that which you have not planned
for.

Unless you are living in an area where it's a known fact that there
have been "mail box" thefts I don't think it's worth worrying about.

Here, there was a spate of instances of folks having checks stolen
from their mailboxes, washed and then rewritten (payable to CASH,
etc.)

The Uniball 207 ballpoint says that it is protection from washing checks,
etc. I use one all the time for check writing.

Dunno. I'm not sure how they actually *wash* the checks so wouldn't know how
to test/verify/disprove that claim.

OTOH, I am not sure how many folks still use checks to pay bills!

Me. Makes it handier than a credit card to see when and how much I paid
for something, even long ago. I suppose I could keep a file of credit
card statements in date order - but I don't.

You'd be screwed, here. No one provides canceled checks with
your statement. Few will actually *mail* you a statement!
So, you'd be forced to print online statements -- and then
keep those in date order (assuming you print "image copies"
of the checks and not just the "amount summaries").

I dropped checkwriting privileges on my last account when they
wanted to charge me $8.95/month for it! Esp when I was just writing
a couple of checks each month (to pay off credit cards -- that
were where all the day-to-day expenses were charged!)

Now, I walk into the bank and have them issue a *free* cashier's
check -- if I need one. Silly. Has to cost *them* more (and
me LESS) but that's the way they want to set up their pricing
structure (no doubt taking advantage of folks who write a lot
of checks, etc.)

For big ticket purchases, I intentionally do those on credit
cards (not debit) to gain the added protections that this
affords. And, as they are big purchases, the receipts tend
to be saved as a matter of course (esp if business related).

For the little things, SWMBO has a database that she maintains
that tracks our expenditures. While we can't look at the
line items and see what we paid for toilet paper last month,
we can make an educated guess as to which charge included a
particular purchase -- then drag out the original receipts
(up to a point; she doesn't keep them for very long).

[she did that sort of thing for a living so it was a natural
extension for her to do the same at home]

Of course I would take a package with valuable contents directly to
the post office.