# Out of checks. They cost HOW much? Need answer fast. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697 "2012-10-14T16:08:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697/41 "2012-10-16T00:15:50Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I think that just about all professionally printed checks these days have safety paper that makes it obvious if the check has been altered. If I decided to print checks up myself, on my home printer, I would not feel secure about that, though. Check21 has pretty much rendered safety paper obsolete. I’ve worked in the banking world. I’ve seen the new orders of checks & what we are imaging. The default pale marbled background design doesn’t show up in the image. Therefore, if I write you a check, you alter the amount & take it to the bank, the altered safety paper may not get picked up. If you Remote Deposit Capture the check (image it yourself - take a picture with your smartphone & upload it) no bank employee ever sees the original. Yes it’s illegal to do, but w/o the original to prove forgery it becomes a he-said/she-said type of thing. For the few checks I still write (school stuff, lke PTA funds & field trip expenses, which gets handed it as opposed to mailed) I have duplicate checks. As for the OP, even though issue has been resolved. The last time I ordered checks, they told me it was some ridiculous amount. When I asked if there was a cheaper option, I was told I could save about $20 by getting them regular mail instead of overnighted. Given the size of the vendor, & the amount of checks they’re sending out daily, I know that they’re getting favorable pricing from FedEx/UPS & therefore the majority of that $20 was pure profit for them. Sneaky little bastards. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697/42 "2012-10-16T13:13:48Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I think that just about all professionally printed checks these days have safety paper that makes it obvious if the check has been altered. As per the Walmart link given above and mentioned in my earlier post, _some_ of their checks are safety ones. In the category of “basic checks” it’s just 2 out of 18 types. Safety checks are basically for the paranoid or people who write checks to dumb criminals. Once you have someones check of any type, there’s a lot of bad things you can do that’s worse than changing the amount. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697/43 "2012-10-16T13:29:36Z")
“Checks in the Mail” is what I’ve used - they’re reasonably priced for both first-time and repeat orders. Plus, if you’re not a total cheapskate, [you can get SpongeBob checks!](http://secure.checksinthemail.com/product.aspx?lineid=1459&productid=977) I’m a total cheapskate. Mine are just tan. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697/44 "2012-10-16T14:24:53Z")
Holy cats. My bank, US Bank, has a link to a check company that they’re partners with (I think it’s Deluxe or some such) right on their website. And mine were free, totally free - even got a new checkbook cover. I only got one box; probably there was a charge for more boxes. And it’s probably tied to what sort of account I have too; maybe there would’ve been a charge if I had a different level of account. Even then, they were only something like $6 a box. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697/45 "2012-10-17T02:05:42Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Funny, but that’s the company I’ve just aluded to. First time customers can get a deal. I can get those two boxes for only $65. Thx, CU. But, no thx. Wowsers. Last time we paid for checks was a year or so back, and it may have been 10-ish dollars for a boxful. You can purchase them from any number of places, probably with online ordering. Try Walmart’s site as someone mentioned, maybe even VistaPrint (though I seem to have heard that they will spam you / try to rook you into paying more, when you’re ordering business cards; that’s a very vague memory though). I tried Liberty just now and they won’t sell checks unless they’re partnered with your bank. Deluxe wants 28.95 for a box of 100 duplicate checks (their regular ones are slightly less). So as scary as that 65 dollars sounds, it’s not unheard-of. What a rip-off!! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697/46 "2012-10-17T04:31:33Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > As per the Walmart link given above and mentioned in my earlier post, _some_ of their checks are safety ones. In the category of “basic checks” it’s just 2 out of 18 types. > > Safety checks are basically for the paranoid or people who write checks to dumb criminals. Once you have someones check of any type, there’s a lot of bad things you can do that’s worse than changing the amount. Huh. My main concern is about someone possibly altering the amount of the check, or altering the payee. I was under the impression that just about all commercially printed checks would show evidence of such tampering. Of course, nowadays I very rarely write checks, I mostly use the card or cash. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697/47 "2012-10-17T06:02:11Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Huh. I’ve never had a checking account that didn’t just give me free checks. I’ve never paid for them either. A couple of weeks ago I wrote my first cheque in almost three years. It was about the third or fourth last one in the chequebook. The bank automatically sent me a new chequebook, for free. It has 100 cheques in it. I can’t see myself ever getting through all of those. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697/48 "2012-10-17T06:08:11Z")
You can print your own checks?? I thought you could only get them from the bank. Are other countries like that, or only the U.S.? Now check printing machines make a bit more sense. I thought they were only used to fill out checks. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697/49 "2012-10-17T06:13:38Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > It sounds like you have found your solution but I just looked and there is an ad on my next to last book of checks offering two boxes for $21 and a statement that says to check the web site to see if there is a better deal. Indeed, I just ordered the closeout check style for $4.50 a box (I bought 4 boxes which is probably about a ten year supply at my current rate.) and they gave me 200 address labels. Granted there is a fairy in a garden on every check, but what the heck do I care. The only people who see it don’t know me. I even gave myself a nickname Dis “Garden Fairy” Heavel on them as I thought myself hilarious. I also started the numbering for each box of checks at 666. With such cheap checks, I couldn’t help but have fun with them. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697/50 "2012-10-17T12:31:00Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > You can print your own checks?? I thought you could only get them from the bank. Are other countries like that, or only the U.S.? Now check printing machines make a bit more sense. I thought they were only used to fill out checks. The bank (or their contracted check printing company) would like you to _think_ you can’t get them anywhere else but yep, there’s nothing magical about it except the convenience. Oh, and maybe the cost: I pulled up the “order checks” link from my credit union, and a boxful (150 or so?) would have only been 4ish dollars. That’s quite a bit less than others have mentioned in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697/51 "2012-10-17T20:27:04Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > You can print your own checks?? I thought you could only get them from the bank. Are other countries like that, or only the U.S.? Now check printing machines make a bit more sense. I thought they were only used to fill out checks. Actually, I remember a local news feature in the mid 1970’s (before widespread popularity of home VCR’s) from downtown San Diego at the Federal Buildings. It was early April and a business owner was making a point that the IRS was taking the shirt off his back so, with cameras rolling, he showed a graphic of a check on the back of a button-down shirt and made a big deal of taking it off and handing it to an IRS official. The business man said he had checked with the manager of his bank who told him that, as long as all the numbers were correct, the draft instrument would be honored. So, since he was in the T-shirt printing business, he made up a graphic and ironed it to a shirt. He signed the bottom of the check with a huge black marker and gave the shirt to the IRS guy who smiled, said thank you, and told the viewers that regular checks by mail were more than sufficient; there was no need to hand-deliver specially-formatted checks. Things have become a bit more strict since then: Banks started using Magnetic (MICR) ink so the numbers at the bottom of a check could be read by machine and, for the machine’s benefit, they started restricting the placement of those numbers to a certain range of space at the bottom of the check. Tellers can still hand-type the numbers in [which is probably what had to happen with the shirt], and there’s also a way to add a sticky-note type of strip to the bottom of a check and put the numbers in MICR ink on the strip [which seems to me to be redundant to just hand-typing the numbers in on a computer terminal] so the reader can detect the routing and account codes. Also, the industry has restricted endorsements to a small space on the back of a check. Anyway, save yourself the set-up costs, reordering costs, shipping-and-handling fees, processing delay headaches, and the inflexibility of someone else’s graphics catalogue and stop by an office supply store to look at check-printing software. You just have to make sure the black ink or toner in the package will work with your printer. —G! Your wheels ain’t turnin’, you’re out of gas You pay by check but they take cash . --Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) . _On Through the Night_ . High and Dry [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-checks-they-cost-how-much-need-answer-fast/637697.md?page=2)