International payments and remittances

The recent thread about sending contributions to MMD has raised anew
a subject that has always frustrated MMDers since I first joined;
making small payments to people in other countries.

I have to pay my dues to foreign mechanical music societies and make
small purchases like rolls or CDs from people in other countries.
It is understandable that these people, like MMD itself, can not
justify the cost of a full service "SSL Credit Card" payment system.
Alternatives like wire transfer ($40 and up) or buying foreign checks
at one's bank ($10 or more) make such payments infeasible.  MMDers
suggest resorting to bootlegging cash through the mail, but buying
foreign currency is usually expensive.

My bank, PNC in Pittsburgh, has a web site where I can have them write
a check and mail it to any payee in the USA.  The cost is little more
than the cost of a stamp.  All big banks, including PNC, have branch
offices or correspondent banks in every country, linked by computer,
making millions of dollars of net transfers of funds between countries
at the end of every day.

It is inconceivable that some big bank has not thought of extending
their check writing systems across international borders.  At one's
request, the foreign branch could write a check in the local currency,
and put it in an envelope addressed to the payee.  With their interbank
computer networks, the cost would be zilch, except for the price of the
stamp.  They would make a fortune charging a buck a throw for this.

Among the thousand or more MMDers, there must be a banker that can
tell me the _real_ reason why this has not been done.  Are there legal
or regulatory impediments of some kind?

If not, I'll bet such an MMDer could become a big hero at work, (and
in MMD), by suggesting the implementation of such a scheme.

Richard Vance