Waiting for money

My system for getting paid is a baroque monstrosity:

1. At end of month, calculate hours worked and multiply by the exchange rate from the front page of xe.com.  Send email to "Mr. Bear" at company 𝔾.
2. Wait for Mr. Bear to cut me a cheque (a day or two).
3. Wait for cheque to travel via snail-mail from California to New Jersey (3-5 days)
4. Wait for cheque to clear via ACH (1 day)
5. Order a currency trade via xe.com.  Their bid/ask spread means the rate I actually get is usually about 2% less than the front-page quote.  Sometimes it's 10% less if the loonie is rising in value.  Sometimes I get lucky: the loonie falls between steps 1 and 5 so I actually make money off the currency fluctuation.
6. Wait for the money to travel via ACH from New Jersey to xe.com in British Columbia (5 days).
7. Wait for money to travel via CPA from British Columbia to Ontario (2 days).
8. Decide how much spare money I have and transfer the excess to my home mortgage to reduce the principal (instantaneous).

Right now I'm at step 4: the November paycheque has arrived in New Jersey but has not yet cleared.  It looks like there will actually be some money available for a mortgage principal payment this month!

The ridiculous part: my bank in New Jersey and my bank in Ontario are owned by the same holding company!  The transfer could be instantaneous if the various governments and regulatory boards would permit it.

The stupid part: Mr. Bear has to mail paper cheques because his bank treats Direct Deposit as a premium feature that is not part of the El Cheapo business checking account that he has.  In Canada, anyone can make an electronic payment to anyone who has an email address, with no spread because it's done via CPA.  In the States, a similar service is provided by PayPal but they want a piece of the action *and* they want assurances that you are not buying something that they disapprove of (such as furry artwork).