You should just ask them to mail you cash. It's about equally reliable, from a buyer's perspective.

I can spend cash at the corner store if it comes down to it. Bitcoin, not so much.

Now, there's an argument for greenbacks. McDonalds takes greenbacks. Brb guys... fry cravings.

Someone already mentioned how easy it is to buy bitcoins on coinbase.com.

Another option is https://www.bitinstant.com : deposit cash in any CVS/Walmart/etc location and instantly receive your bitcoins.

For US users Coinbase is one of the easiest ways to buy bitcoins. Link your bank account like you would with paypal and it's straightforward from there on.

I would be very hesitant to give a new entrant my bank account information, no matter what they did with it:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4703704

My PayPal strategy, which I'd reuse for Coinbase et al, is to just create a separate checking account for that with a few clicks. I think the most they can screw me over is one or two overdraft fees before I tell my bank to stop ACH transactions.