First Western Union has shut down its telegraph business, now the concept of travelers checks is fading away. An article from the Baltimore Sun talk about how some travelers are having trouble cashing their travelers checks when traveling around the world, while ATMs are almost everywhere you look.

Also, American Express and Visa now have electronic money cards that work like credit and ATM cards that are loaded with money and can be replaced within 24 hours.

Traveler’s checks are nice to have if you have a habit of losing things or are traveling to a destination with a high crime threat, or to a very remote area,” said John Briley of IJET Intelligent Risk Systems, international travel security specialists. “Otherwise, ATMs are virtually everywhere these days, with most accepting a variety of cards.”

Ed Perkins, a consumer advocate, advised: “Forget traveler’s checks unless you’re paranoid about security issues with plastic.”

American Express said its sales of traveler’s cheques (AmEx’s spelling) were up 2 percent in 2004 over the previous year, but didn’t have 2005 figures. Visa said it doesn’t release traveler’s check sales figures “for competitive business reasons,” but AAA, perhaps the largest purveyor of Visa traveler’s checks, indicated that its sales were “flat,” according to Justin McNaull, AAA’s national spokesman.

via the baltimoresun.com.