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From: hollombe@ttidca.TTI.COM (The Polymath)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: Laser Printable Checks?
Message-ID: <4354@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Date: 2 May 89 19:53:42 GMT
References: <12810@jade.BBN.COM> <555@lzaz.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: hollombe@ttidcb.tti.com (The Polymath)
Organization: The Cat Factory
Lines: 34

In article <555@lzaz.ATT.COM> hgp@lzaz.ATT.COM (H.PAGE) writes:
}In article <12810@jade.BBN.COM>, mlandau@bbn.com (Matt Landau) writes:
}
}> Has anyone ever heard of a supplier of checks supplied on forms that 
}> are suitable for feeding to an Apple LaserWriter?
}
}What would be interesting is a program to have a Laserwriter print 
}checks itself.  In addition, perhaps one of the firms that refill 
}toner cartridges can refill one with magnetic toner (is this 
}necessary?).  

Necessary and expensive.  You'd need special, expensive toner cartridges
just for writing checks.  Unless you write a _lot_ of checks, it's hardly
worth it.

The question also raises serious security problems.  You don't want just
anyone able to print your checks at will.  I once worked for a division of
L.A.  County that sent out welfare checks.  They used pre-printed checks
that had the amounts printed by computer and were signed by a special
machine.  Once someone got into the vault where they stored the blank
checks, stole a pile of them out of the bottom of a box and printed
themselves several hundred thousand dollars worth.  The out of sequence
numbers eventually tripped them up.

Imagine if they'd been able to print signed, valid checks on blank paper
with any numbers they wanted _on their own machine at home_.  If I were in
charge of such things, I'd definitely make laser-printed checks invalid,
if not illegal.

-- 
The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, hollombe@ttidca.tti.com)  Illegitimati Nil
Citicorp(+)TTI                                                 Carborundum
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.   (213) 452-9191, x2483
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