When I was in the service in 1985 they were pushing everyone hard to get direct deposit. There were a few hold outs but most of us did. The reason they were pushing so hard was to prevent people from losing their whole pay checks do to theft or accidental loss. People actually did lose their wallets with their entire pay check in them. I found a wallet once when I was on guard duty. $480.00 in it. The O.D. and I counted it together and logged it in our separate duty logs so their would be no question. The guy who lost the wallet gave $15 .
Back before I retired from GM, the UAW fought tooth and nail against direct deposit, because they didn’t want their spouses to know how much money was actually coming in. They wanted to cash their check at the bar and bring cash home.