I saw an obviously distressed/very low income guy sitting on the sidewalk in Manhattan last week with a sign that said he had worked for two weeks with uber eats but they didn't tell him they will only do direct deposit not a cheque and he needed help because he doesn't have a bank account.
There are tools out there for this circumstance. For instance: Bluebird. It's by AmEx, sold at WalMart.
Unfortunately, income inequality and knowledge inequality go hand in hand when it comes to upward mobility.
What do you think is more likely - that the man you saw is ignorant of alternatives to bank accounts and has attempted to solve the issue in good faith, only to be unable to find any way to get a bank account or proxy... or that he was lying and hoping to play on the sympathies of passers by?