You will also find some people will send entries without checks and enclose a note that they will pay at the door. I've also had some people send entries with checks that they ask you to hold for a couple of weeks. Whether to allow these sort of things are up to the discretion of the club but should not be encouraged. The club should discuss how they would like the Entry Clerk to handle the incoming checks. If an envelope were to be lost, the club could stand a significant loss.
Most people live in an area where a branch of the bank the club uses is available.
In my experience, the majority of the entries for the show will come in during the last week before close - usually the last 2 or 3 days. I plan ahead for this by not scheduling anything else important during that time. I usually take a day off from work in order to close the show, although some people prefer not to. Once you have entered the last entry in the computer and printed the last confirmation you will still have many things left to do. Entry clerking programs generally have a number of different reports that now need to be run.