Does Check Printing Require Special Equipment?

If you need to print checks for your company or small business, you might be wondering if you need some kind of special equipment or if you can just get started printing checks with things you already have at home. 

While printing checks from home is easy, you will need to buy a few specialty items before you can get started which means you need some seed money to get the process going.  Visiting check printing companies near you may also be the best route to print your business checks.

Basic Supplies for Check Printing 

If you have decided to print checks from home or your company’s office, here is a small list of supplies you will need:

• A printer that is MICR-compatible 
• Special printer paper 
• MICR toner
• Magnetic ink 
• MICR font which is Magnetic Ink Character Recognition 

These supplies can be bought online or from printers or office supply stores. They are often cheaper when bought wholesale or in bulk so consider that when you are trying to determine how much supplies you might need for the foreseeable future. 

If you are new to check printing, you might not know what some of the above items are. Here is a quick guide on what each item is and why it’s needed. 

Special Printer Paper 

You cannot print checks on regular printer paper. Not only is it unprofessional, but the checks will not be accepted at banks or other financial institutions. Special printer paper includes stock paper because there are added security features and the checks are harder to fake when they are put on this type of paper. 

When you get printing software, it will tell you what kind of stock to buy as not every software is compatible with the same kind of paper. Make sure you always double-check which one to buy before spending money. 

To save time and energy, you might want to consider getting stock paper that already has an MICR line. The MICR line is where all the bank info is printed like the account number and check number. 

This line is important because you want to ensure these numbers are printed securely and accurately. 

The rest of the check is not as important because it doesn’t need to have verifiable numbers. 

Magnetic Toner and Magnetic Ink 

Not every printer requires both toner and ink, so make sure you check to see if you need both or just one or the other. You have to have either the toner or ink to be able to print in MICR font which is a must for printing fonts. 

MICR font is important because it’s what prints important bank details like routing numbers and account numbers. 

MICR toner and ink can be bought online or at a local office store. Most of the time, ink is for inkjet printers and toner is used for laser printers, but double-check your printer to make sure.

When in doubt, you can always go to an office supply store and ask a professional there which one your printer needs. 

As discussed above, only the MICR line on the check needs to be printed with MICR font which is why buying stock paper that already has an MICR line is very convenient. 

All the other things on the check like the payee’s name can be printed on the stock paper with regular ink so you don’t waste the MICR ink as it’s much more expensive compared to regular printer ink. 

What is MICR Font? 

MICR font is a special type of font that is used by check printers when they want to put sensitive numbers onto checks. All checks have sensitive and important information because they have to include things like the account number and the routing number for the bank account. 

Not all MICR fonts are compatible with the same systems so make sure you get a font that can be used with the system you’re using. For example, if your computer operates on Windows, make sure you get an MICR font that can be used with Windows. 

If you use the wrong front with a different system, your check will come out misaligned and not formatted well which will not be accepted by banks. 

The Printer

Of course, to print checks, you need a check printer. You can use a standard printer as long as it can print magnetic ink. If your business has to print a very high volume of checks, laser printers are often better because they’re faster and make fewer mistakes. 

Some people are tempted to use standard checks because even checks not printed with magnetic ink can be accepted by the bank as long as a worker manually inputs the check information. 

This puts a lot of extra work on the bank employees and it also opens up the possibility for human error since the information is being inputted rather than just scanned from the check itself. 

Using a Check Printing Company 

As you can see, there are numerous special supplies needed to start printing checks from home or for your business. If you do not have sufficient start-up money, you might not be able to get all the equipment you need for check printing. 

Another solution is to use a professional check printing company. This is a great idea whether you print checks in bulk or you just have to print the occasional check. 

Either way, these companies already have the equipment and they have experienced employees who know how to use the software. You just pay the company for them to print your checks for you. You can use check printing companies to send checks to employees and customers. 

The Bottom Line 

To print checks on your own, you will have to buy a few specialized equipment items like magnetic ink, magnetic font, stock paper, and a printer. These items can be costly and might not be worth your while if you only need to print a few checks. 

Hiring a check printing company can give you all the resources and checks you need for a fraction of the price.