ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 7, 1996 TAG: 9608070010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LEE QUARNSTROM KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
What's perhaps the first everyday harbinger of the impending end of the millennium is so tiny it's barely noticeable:
As 2000 approaches, the space to write the date on most new bank checks no longer includes the helpful ``19'' followed by a space for the annum, i.e., ``96'' for the present 12-month period.
``Yes, it's because of the end of the century coming,'' an employee of Deluxe Corp., the country's largest check-printing firm, said last week.
Indeed, the current Deluxe catalog includes only a smattering of checks with the printed ``19'' for bank customers too lazy to write the entire four-digit number for the year. The vast majority of new check styles include one long, blank line for customers to write the date.
``It's only a little thing,'' said Coast Commercial Bank representative Becky Tanaka in Santa Cruz, Calif.
``But as the 21st century arrives, these little things will ultimately add up to big change.''
This ``little change'' doesn't personally affect Tanaka's boss, Coast Commercial President Harvey Nickleson.
``You don't ever have to write the whole date out,'' he said. ``What I do is just use numbers, like 8/2/96 instead of August 2, 1996.
``The biggest question, though, is, will we still be using checks, or even using cash, in 10 or 20 years?
``The answer is, yes, we will. Their demise was predicted in 1960, when people started to talk about the `paperless society.' Sure, there are more and more transactions using debit cards and credit cards and electronic transfers and phone banking, but there will be cash and people will still be writing checks.''
LENGTH: Short : 40 linesby CNB