Hi Jim,

Since one of our main products prints checks on plain paper stock I thought I'd add my .02 in here.

1) The special magnetic laser toner used for MICR coding is so expensive (about 3 - 5x regular toner) that there is no monetary savings to be had from printing your own checks on blank stock,

***It is now a little less than 2x as much.

2) The mag toner plays havoc with you printer,

***This is not necessarily so but you have to go with only certain printers such as a HP 4000TN

(3) Preprinted check stocks are fairly cheap in larger quantities, so buy many at one time, and

***Yes but if you are assigning the serial numbers preprinted on the check to a register in the software it only takes one paper jam to mess up the serial numbers which results in a nightmare for the client to resolve.

(4) As soon as you start buying lots of MICR toner, the Secret Service counterfeiting guys are going to visit to find out what you are up to.

***I don't know if this is true or not since all of our clients are banks and we have been in the business for over 12 years, I have yet to see of the Secret Service. Say who's that fellow in the black trenchcoat at the receptionist desk.

One further note: It is a real mess to properly set up the MICR since the tolerances on position can't vary even 1/10 of an inch. Some printers in their day to day printing can mess this up. It may indeed be the best bet to use the preprinted checks.

Tim