Why Check Cashing Stores Look the Way They Do

Logan’s been paying a few visits to a check cashing store lately, and one of our readers directed us to this radio story from 99% Invisible, “a tiny radio show about design.” The segment addresses why check cashing stores are designed to specifically not look like banks:

MCGRAY: One of the most important things, maybe the most important things at this chain of check cashes, and you’ll see them at a lot of them, there was a big list of prices on the wall. And it was all really straightforward. And the prices for the most part, the prices were too high, but you weren’t going to wonder what something was going to cost. You weren’t going to wonder what they could do for you. And when I talked to people who chose to go to check cashers, a lot of them had had a bank at one point, they had signed up for a free checking account, but then all of a sudden they had these fees, and they would like read these statements that were pages long and they couldn’t figure out why they were getting charged what they were getting charged.

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