Electronic fund transfers! From one corporation to another! In days, not hours!
On Tuesday I asked online for the cash balance of my brokerage account and the sales of some mutual fund shares, the proceeds of each to be transferred to my local checking account. Neither transaction was confirmed until Wednesday afternoon. My bank account did not show the deposits until eight o'clock Thursday. About 46 hours after I had made my request, I saw the result.
Two days is what it takes to send in one Netflix DVD and receive the next! In fact, the time from pickup to confirmation is less than 16 hours. I am notified of the shipment of the next DVD about noon and receive it before 10 the next morning. Hm! With a 12:30 pickup and a 10:00 delivery, that's less than 46 hours! A two-way transaction is faster than a one-way transaction!
The first is done completely by computers. The second is done by a lot of hard-working people, both government and corporate.
Oh, yes, the last two DVDs have been from southwestern Wisconsin, not from Duluth. Unbelievable, a Postal Service truck is faster than corporate computers!
