Early Delivery Of Checks To Some On East Coast

A press release from Social Security:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that benefit checks are being delivered to some Atlantic coast residents on Thursday, September 2nd, before the arrival of Hurricane Earl and ahead of the regular September 3rd payment date. About 737,000 beneficiaries in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C. are affected by this early check delivery.

"Delivering checks early to these residents eliminates one concern beneficiaries might have as they prepare for the storm,” Commissioner Astrue said. “As beneficiaries take steps to ensure their own safety, this is one step we can take to help them. They should also be aware that Direct Deposit is a more secure and convenient way to receive payments, particularly when natural disasters strike."

Social Security worked closely with the U.S. Postal Service and the Department of the Treasury to make the early delivery of checks possible. Beneficiaries living in areas with the following first three digits in their zip codes will receive early delivery.

State	3-Digit ZIP Code Prefix	City
North Carolina	270 – thru – 289 and 297	Greensboro, Raleigh, Rocky Mount, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Kingston, Hickory, and Asheville
South Carolina	290 – thru – 296	Columbia, Greenville, Charleston, and Florence
Maryland	206 – thru – 212, 214 – thru – 219, and 267	Linthicum, Baltimore, Cumberland, Eastern Shore, and Frederick
Washington, DC	200, 202 – thru - 205	Washington DC
Virginia	220 – thru – 225, 228 – thru – 239, and 244	Richmond, Culpeper, Norfolk, and Farmville
Pennsylvania	189 – thru – 194	Philadelphia and Southeastern PA
Delaware	197 – thru – 199	Wilmington
New Jersey	070 – thru – 074, 076 – thru – 078 and 080 – thru – 088	DV Daniels, NNJ Metro, South Jersey, Newark, Trenton, Monmouth and Kilmer
New York	100 – thru – 104, 110 – thru – 114, and 116, 115, 117, and 119	Manhattan, Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Western Nassau
Massachusetts	021 – thru – 026	Brockton, Boston, Northwest Boston, and Cape Cod
Rhode Island	027 – thru – 029	Providence

The Department of the Treasury, through the Federal Reserve, has requested that financial institutions in the affected areas honor the paper checks.

From the viewpoint of someone who lives in North Carolina (although not on the coast), this seems like an overabundance of caution. We could easily have two or three other hurricanes traveling up the East coast before the end of this hurricane season, indeed before the end of the month. In this case, the checks are to be delivered on the same day the hurricane is supposed to be skirting (we hope) the NC coast!