My bank recently started allowing me to deposit my checks through my phone (I know, a cool feature that almost every other bank had, but they give me free checks so I stick with them). I had been really happy when I first got the feature, I could hardly wait to use it. Now, I am considering not using it any more because I found it introduced a void in my life.
I live 30 minutes away from the nearest branch of my bank. Conveniently, the bank is surrounded by a fully featured city complete with shopping and delicious food vendors. Thus, previous to my mobile check cashing days, checks meant not only money (which is always a good thing) but also a drive with a friend (or friends) and then often a meal with said party before another drive back home. It was a rare excuse to spend time together. While under the guise of necessity, everyone knew that it only takes one to deposit a check yet we were all glad for the time spent together and the excitement of breaking out of escaping, however shortly, the boring cycle that small towns can lock you into.
Now I find myself in a new quandary. While I fully recognize that my previous reasoning was nearly invalid, I am struggling to come up with a new excuse of any validity. No excuse seems to be able to combine sufficient seriousness to justify the drive while still allowing enough levity to not encumber the evening.
“Want to go want the wind mills?” is dismissed with, “That’s a good date, but not a good group activity.”
“Want to go shopping and have dinner?” is met with, “If we had money to spend on frivolous things.”
“Want to peruse a distant thrift store?” gets, “That’s a long way for nothing.”
Even if I break down and call it what it is: “Want to go catch some dinner?” I still have to overcome, “What’s wrong with the restaurants in town?”
Alas, I will still use my mobile deposits because I would feel lame to not use it (plus, mobile deposits do not cost gas to drive 30 minutes one way), but I will still fondly remember the “good old check depositing days” of yore.