The lack of fast free digital money transfer infrastructure in the U.S. is something that seems crazy to anyone in the EU.
Every EU country (and the UK) has had fast free digital bank transfers for decades now. Here in the UK we pay all “casual” services like cleaners, dog walkers etc via a simple, quick bank transfer. It’s great, I don’t need to keep cash, and person providing the services has the money in their account, ready to spend, about 500ms after I tap the “send” button on my phone.
I can see how cheques are convenient for purchasers, but for suppliers they’re a bit of nightmare, as they need physically deliver the cheque to cash it. Then wait for it to clear, and also take on all the risk of it bouncing. All of that just goes away with proper digital money transfer technologies.