Story Of A Check (1965)

[Music] [Music] hahaha many people pay for things with checks what is a check mr baird is finishing a gardening job for mrs menville i didn't want to cut this back too she wants to pay him for his work bill will this be all right yeah it looks just fine forty dollars is that right that'll be fine since cash can be lost or stolen mr baird is going to the bank where mrs menville keeps her money he wants to get cash for the check hi i'd like to cash a check please okay would you mind signing the back for me please sure do you have any identification mm-hmm so why is mrs menville able to write a check that can be changed into cash this is mrs menville's bank a bank is one of the places where people can safely keep their money mrs menville is putting money into her checking account banks and savings and loans are places where money can be held in checking accounts now she can pay people with checks instead of with cash [Music] the person she pays can go to mrs menville's bank and get cash for the check this money is withdrawn or taken out of mrs menville's checking account every time mrs menville pays someone with a check the amount of money or the balance in her checking account gets smaller [Music] if mrs menville wants to continue paying by check she has to put more money into her checking account [Music] mrs menville will mail this check to mr brown mailing checks saves her the trouble of going from place to place to pay her bills [Music] this is mr brown's bank in most cities there are many different banks instead of getting cash for mrs menville's check mr brown is going to put the money into his own checking account this is called making a deposit mr brown fills out a deposit slip and takes the slip and the check to a bank teller thank you let's see what happens after mrs menville's check is deposited mr brown has gone to his bank and deposited the check in his own account his bank returns the check to mrs menville's bank mrs menville's bank withdraws the money from her checking account and gives it to mr brown's bank this money is deposited in mr brown's account so that he can use it to write checks of his own let's follow mrs menville's check as it is returned to her bank after mr brown's bank closes a worker records the amount of each check the amount of mrs menville's check 75 is put on the bottom of the check with a special ink then the checks are sorted [Applause] the machine sorts thousands of checks a minute both the front and back of each check are photographed [Applause] mrs menville's check goes into a pocket with other checks going to her bank all the checks going to other banks are gathered into bundles and tied together then the bundles of checks are locked in a bag so that they can be carried safely each bag contains checks going to a different bank the bags are taken from mr brown's bank to a central place called a clearing house the clearing house is a place where banks exchange checks messengers from mrs menville's bank pick up the bag containing her check and take it back to her bank in one night mrs menville's check has traveled from mr brown's bank through the clearinghouse and finally has arrived at her bank in mrs menville's bank the checks are sorted again by reading the numbers printed at the bottom of the checks the sorting machine sends information to a computer [Applause] the computer automatically subtracts the amount of each check from the correct checking account and also stores this information and all of this occurs at the rate of thousands of checks a minute finally all of mrs menville's checks are sorted at the end of the month the computer prints out a statement for each checking account this statement is a record of every check and deposit statements are fed into an automatic machine the checks written that month are combined with the statements then statement and checks are stuffed into envelopes they will be mailed to every person with a checking account [Music] mrs menville will keep her used or cancelled checks as proof that she has paid her bills she compares the balance on her monthly statement with the balance she has kept in her own records hi can i help you i'd like to make a deposit people who keep money in checking accounts can write checks the balance in an account gets larger when money is deposited and smaller when checks are written banks work together by exchanging checks [Music] automatic machines handle checks swiftly and accurately and keep track of the balance in each account it is because of these machines that new kinds of banking are coming into use automatic tellers allow people to bank at any time of the day or night by using a special plastic card mrs menville can deposit or withdraw from her account [Music] [Music] by using her telephone mrs menville is able to contact a computer she can instruct the computer to pay a bill for her without having to write a check herself [Music] because of their safety and convenience checks are an important part of our lives and because of computers and automatic machines new kinds of checking and banking are being made available to us all [Music] you