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As you note - they "go to a check cashing place to cash it". It is EXACTLY what they do. There are NO banks in their neighborhood. But these same neighborhoods will have little check-cashing places every couple blocks (along with the pawn shops, that I noticed are making a come-back).



They LITERALLY go to the utility company, all of which have offices around the city, and pay IN CASH. When they get their electric bill in the mail, once a month they will hop on a bus or trolley and go into the electric company's retail/customer location, and hand them the cash to pay the bill and get a receipt. There are cashiers there just for that purpose. Same with the gas company and the same even applies to the cable company (I know whenever I had to go to a Comcast outlet - for example, to return cable equipment, there would be a CSR there for people who were paying their bills and they were doing so with cash.

Many people in these neighborhoods are also renting (whether an apartment or a house), so they pay their landlord IN CASH.



As I said - they don't have any supermarkets or pharmacies in these poorer neighborhoods. That is why you see people use the term "food desert". It's the very definition of it. They rely on the "convenience stores" or Dollar Stores for food and household goods and any that do take credit cards, continually have the problem of the skimmers (which are also often stuck on self-serve gas station pump card readers) and the blown-up ATM machines.

Looking at your user name, I would tell you that these folks are the BOTTOM of the 99%. People complain about why they eat at so many fast food restaurants - it's because "it's lunch" or "it's dinner" and whether a chain or one of the local food shops, they take (and often require) "cash" and are just about all that is available outside of being able to have access to a food pantry (and those are about to be completely wiped out with all the federal funding cuts).

ETA - this is a typical check-cashing place (there are also chains of them) - this one in the Kensington neighborhood in Philly by the El -



It's next door to a "mini market" that has groceries. They cash the checks, and in some cases, they can actually pay utility bills in those places, then buy some stuff in the mini-market, and then hop on public transit (or walk) back home.