On Saturday, April 18, 2020 at 8:57:24 AM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>
> I would expect poverty
> areas to have a higher incidence of late bill payment than the well to
> do areas.
>
This really has nothing to do with the water being cut-off discussion but
25 years ago I would pay all my utility bills at a drugstore about 2 miles
from my house. It sat at the edge of the projects and I would stand in line
with the black, white, and Hispanic folks living there and paying their
utility bills as well. It was a learning experience for sure. For one,
I was the only person who paid her bills with checks. Two, I did not
know you could only pay so much on a bill and still have service. Third,
the drugstore did a bang-up business selling money orders. Money orders
were purchased for other bills and so send money south of the border.

When the utility companies started doing auto bank draft I was signing up
immediately. Standing in line behind folks buying money orders and paying
a dib and dab here and there on their bills was a sure way to kill time and
be bored to death.