I'm familiar with Western Union, as it's how my local neighborhood sends money back home in stacks of twenties and hundreds, one money order at a time. The problem is theirs (and Moneygram's) fees can be insanely steep due to a lack of competition or government equivalents; the author of the original article rightly points out that wire transfers in the US can be INSANELY expensive as a result (my bank charges $20 per transfer; a domestic money order from USPS, by comparison, tops out at $3.60 for $1,000; WU quotes ~$45-$60 depending on country and method, with another $25 for credit cards). Add in growing nationalism about penalizing sending money across borders via these methods (as migrants often do when sending money back home), and the costs add up shockingly quick for what's effectively a digital ledger transaction on the back end.

To WU and Moneygram's credit, however, they do offer more digital wallet integrations and direct bank transfers nowadays. Their product lines are growing, but their fees aren't decreasing as they effectively have a captured (impoverished) market. Still, since money orders can be as safe as cash, having them as a viable alternative to the private payment card industry is necessary for business to function and smaller vendors to thrive, particularly in niche industries.