I do! Sending in a check is cheaper to me.
Automatic withdrawl is for those with a steady income and money in the checking account at all times.
Another thing, I've had my purses stolen before, so I don't leave money in checking for long. Learned my lesson years ago over that hassel.
It doesn't have to be auto withdrawal. My bills are ALL paid online and the only auto withdrawal is my car/house insurance because there is a big discount by doing this from the company I go through.
I have them all set up for the same pay date as I pay them all off one paycheck (the other one is for what ever) and a couple give me a discount for going paperless. They don't want to have to deal with the statements and the hassle of check payments anymore so a lot are going to paperless incentives.
How is it cheaper to pay by check that you have to pay for (unless you get them free somehow) and pay the checking fee that they charge because even the banks don't want to deal with it (unless you get that free as well) AND the cost of stamps compared to free by using your debit card/bank account number to pay bills online?
There is so much safety now with credit cards, banks, and online transactions it's not even funny. Credit card and identity theft sucks ass but they work with you really well if it happens. Plus from experience it is easier to get them to retract and pay you back for money stolen out of your account vs. getting your money back from an overdraft from not having money in the account.
Checks are an expensive process to deal with both on the consumer end and the bank's end. More and more of them aren't even dealing with checking anymore and have went to debit only or are charging a nice fee per month for checking plus the hiked fee of the checks themselves. Like I said, places are giving incentives now to go paperless.
We just recently here at work stopped taking payment by check. The machine to process it now for theft prevention is expensive and the processing company charges a fee, higher ups decided they didn't want the expense anymore. Cash or card only.