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It blows our hivemind that the United States doesn't use the ISO 216 paper size standard (A4, A5 and the gang).
Like, we consider ourselves worldly people and are aware of America's little idiosyncrasies like mass incarceration, the widespread availability of assault weapons and not being able to transfer money via your banking app, but come on - look how absolutely great it is to be European:
The American mind cannot comprehend this diagram
[Diagram of paper sizes as listed below]
ISO 216 A series papers formats
AO
A1
A3
A5
A7
A6
Et.
A4
Instead, Americans prostrate themselves to bizarrely-named paper types of seemingly random size: Letter, Legal, Tabloid (Ledger) and all other types of sordid nonsense. We're not even going to include a picture because this is a family-friendly finance blog.
Source: Financial Times
I think that's the issue. Also how common direct deposit for paycheques in the US? I hear it's rare but in Canada, it's the norm and all our banks here can do e-transfers.
I've had direct deposit for every job since around 2004, before that it was a paper check on payday. Really I signed up for direct deposit after my manager gave me a hard time when I came in to pick up my check on a day I called out sick.
I've had direct deposit at every job I've worked for over a decade. Before then, I only had one job that didn't offer it, though I had friends with jobs that did have direct deposit. Very common to have it these days. Some jobs can even get you direct deposit for the amount you worked that very same day, so I'd work 8 hours and by the time I get home, I'd have my pay from that day, and it's like that everyday.
Source: US citizen
It's relatively common, unless you work for a typical cash pay job (usually labor jobs, like construction)