I never really knew how evolved bill-paying was in the US until I saw a less-evolved model to compare it to. In the US I, like many middle-class Americans, had many monthly bills to pay: electricity, gym, cable/internet, dental insurance, visa, discover, etc. And I spent about 1 minute per month paying all of them thanks to a little something we call automatic scheduled transfers.
Automatic scheduled transfers are not really a thing here. Instead, people wait in line for exorbitant amounts of time at various locations in the beginning of each month to pay all their bills. The fun starts at the bank, where lines can be half a block long for a few days, as everyone needs to first withdraw cash to be able to then wait in line everywhere else. After that everyone rushes to pay their electricity, water, and phone bills, and whatever other monthly payments they need to make. And each of these payments comes with a nice line-wait as well - 45 minutes might be standard, just to give you an idea.
Since exercising restraint in making smart spending decisions isn't a strength of many people here, they have wisely developed the necessary habit of withdrawing small amounts of money at various times throughout the month. If they withdrew it all at once, they would likely spend it all at once. This means several trips to the bank - of which there is only one in San Ignacio, and it has only one ATM for the 11,000 inhabitants. Despite taking these precautions, many people often run out of money a bit before the end of the month anyway.
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