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Articles
Laser Checks
Make Your Own & Save $$
Originally appeared in The Flash, "The Premier Journal of Laser
Printing" .
This article has also been reproduced at PrintUSA.
In these tough economic times we all need to cut costs and improve productivity. Firms
of all types and sizes have found that they can save time and money by printing their own
checks. In the last issue of The Flash Mark
William's brought us up to the present with his article Check
It Out about the history of checks. New products now allow an entire check to be
printed at your business, including the logo, signatures, and the MICR (Magnetic Ink
Character Recognition) encoding. Lets now look at how you can do it yourself, what you
need and what you need to know before investing in these products.
MICR, pronounced either "my-ker" or "micker", are the unusual
characters at the bottom of checks. These characters encode the account number, bank
transit and check numbers. When properly prepared, checks with MICR encoding can be
processed automatically by the bank's equipment costing the bank very little per check.
When a check cannot be processed automatically, it costs the bank $6.00 to process it
manually.
Although not difficult to use, the technology is poorly understood. The result is
considerable misinformation, and a growing problem for the banks. Therefore, it is
important that anyone planning to use these products realize that there is some education
required, there are regulations that need to be followed, and that there is a need for
ongoing quality control.
Why bother printing your own MICR characters? The best starting point is to picture
your current check productions process. If you or your staff are hand-writing checks, then
you know how time-consuming and non-productive this task is.
Many firms use a computer to generate and track checks, printing them on a computer
printer. Every time you have checks to print, there may be several steps involved: the
current forms must be removed from the printer; check forms retrieved from storage; checks
loaded into the printer; alignment tested and adjusted as required; checks printed; checks
removed from the printer and stored; normal forms loaded; checks burst/separated;checks
signed.
Now picture that you have several accounts to manage. Depending on the type of business
(e.g. payroll service, property management), some companies have 30, 50, and even 100
accounts. Imagine the office space tied up just storing check forms!
The more accounts and/or the higher your check volume, the worse it gets. In addition,
you have to keep track of how many checks you have in stock, as the lead time for check
forms can be weeks (bad news if you've run out early!). Add to this the fact that check
forms have been historically very expensive, a trend which is changing.
A laser printer check printing system can overcome most, if not all of these problems.
To start with, check forms designed for laser printers tend to be much less expensive than
those for impact printers (dot matrix and daisywheel). A single check form can be used for
all accounts by delegating the printing of company information (logo, name,. Address),
bank information (name, address, routing) and MICR encoding to the laser printer. These
systems offer additional benefits as well. One popular feature allows the laser printer to
sign checks for you. If this concept makes you nervous, bear in mind that the software
will allow you to specify that the automatic signature(s) should only appear for checks
less that some amount determined by you. There is also the option of the security
cartridge mentioned below. Another accounting advantage is that the laser printer can MICR
encode the check number produced by your accounting software so that the check numbers
will appear on your bank statement, simplifying bank reconciliation. Also, you don't have
to throw our expensive unused checks whenever you change banks or bank accounts, or move.
No more four to six week lead times for your checks to be printed.
MICR capable laser printing systems have the following in common:
Laser Printer. Not every laser printer can be used for MICR printing. MICR toner
from a reputable source must be available, and a MICR font should have been specifically
designed for the printer. In addition, its paper handling needs to be very accurate,
especially that it not "skew" or tilt the paper. "Curl" is an enemy of
the bank's check processing equipment - therefore , the fewer curves in the printer's
paper path, the better.
MICR font. The font must not only be visually accurate, but magnetically
accurate as well. This means that the font must be designed for the specific combination
of laser printer engine and configuration (for example, print smoothing features like HP's
RET), toner and paper.
MICR toner. Normal toner can not be used; it does not have the proper magnetic
characteristics. Printers using toner cartridges (such as the HP LaserJet and Apple
LaserWriter) allow you the option of switching between MICR toner for checks and normal
toner for other applications.
Security Cartridge. A cartridge containing the MICR font, logos and signatures.
When the cartridge is inserted in the printer, checks can be printed; when it is removed,
the printer can still be used for office applications, but not for checks. Some vendors
store this sensitive information on the computer rather than a cartridge. This is fine for
some, but it may be too much of a security compromise and inconvenience for others.
Check Stock. The paper must be carefully selected to match both the bank and
laser printer specifications. The specifications cover the materials, inks, colors,
reflective and structural criteria, perforations and more. The design should be very
general to avoid obsolescence. In addition, the design should incorporate the use of
preprinted security features which will deter all but the most serious counterfeiter.
Although you could use a completely blank check stock, we do not recommend it: it is risky
and the additional toner required will probably defeat any savings.
Quality Control. It is vital that anyone involved in producing checks have an
ongoing quality control program in place. At the very least, a thorough visual inspection
should be carried out at the start of the check run, and preferably during and at the end
of the run as well. The simplest pare of the inspection is to ensure that the print
quality is excellent. MICR alignment and position is easily inspected using a special MICR
"template".
Thorough visual inspection should catch 95% of all problems that could occur on a good
system. However, it will not catch problems with the magnetic quality of the printing. Be
sure that the vendor offers magnetic check testers, and/or a check testing service.
Software. The best scenario is for your accounting/financial application to
directly support the specific laser check printing system you intend to use. However,
since few accounting systems fall into this category, 3rd-party check-printing software is
designed to pick up check output from your accounting software and rework it for
laser/MICR printing. MICR check software is available to work with most micro- (DOS,
Windows, Macintosh, etc.), mini- and mainframe computer systems.
Vendor selection for your check printing systems is critical. The components must be
carefully matched, and the company behind the products must understand the technology, the
issues and the standards. Has the vendor invested in a MICR analysis system? Do they offer
all of the required pieces, and if not, how can they assure that their piece will work
properly with the others, now and in the future? Your vendor should have worked with the
financial institutions in the development and testing of their products.
Laser printers have proved their suitability to the task of check writing. Many
organizations have freed up considerable time and money that used to be wasted in the
production of checks. With time, technology keeps improving and giving us more time.
When published, Les Cseh was Managing Director for CHEQsys, a firm
specializing in complete check-writing and check-printing solutions. CHEQsys has since
been purchased by dataCHECK who can be reached by telephone at (904) 273-9350 and by
e-mail at 72272.2172@compuserve.com. Les Cseh can now be reached by telephone at (888)
85-CHECK and by e-mail at lcseh@asapchecks.com.
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