(E-Commerce Will Not Eliminate Check Cashers)

Check cashers offer broad electronic payment options and allow customers to make "on demand" payments when they are due. The unbanked also can purchase prepaid debit cards that mimic the convenience of traditional plastic, but without the entanglements and overdraft fees of bank cards or the qualifications and finance costs of credit cards. Even the phone and transit cards that check cashers sell are much more akin to cash than plastic.

Looking forward, low-cost products and services (bill payments and money orders average a dollar and check-cashing fees in New York — the nation's largest market — are limited by law to 1.7%) should spur more cash-to-e-commerce-to-cash transaction options. A recent survey of check cashers by my company, which provides software and systems to check cashers, found that in the New York metropolitan area our user base now processes 14 million check-cashing transactions and nearly 13 million follow-on transactions annually.

Those who doubt the staying power of cash need only wait for the next disaster. When ATMs, credit/debit card approval machines, and the Internet shut down, you'll quickly see just how alive cash is — unless you've forgotten to stash some away. Until then, the unbanked and those living paycheck to paycheck will continue to stretch the dollar in every conceivable direction.