Is "work Appropriate Ink" Really A Thing?

[langere]

Well, at Wells Fargo I have an account where checks are completely free...

 

Erick

[BaronWulfraed]

Last time I bought checkbooks (8x -> 200 duplicating) as I'd just changed address, it ran me $38 (I remember when I used to get 500 for <$15).

 

I only use about 1-2 a year from the checkbook... But I do use about 8 checks a month. VersaCheck/blank stock templates, and Quicken to actually print the amounts. I only need a pen to sign them. (Odd -- my last /findable/ purchase of stock says 2008 and only $22 for 250 sheets -> 750 checks... I could swear I've since bought a package of blanks, but no... that IS the box sitting near the printer)

[lapis]

Wouldn't mind hearing what Amber says (or writes)....

[wallylynn]

I think my checks were about 25c each for the basic "safety check", ordered through the bank. I've always wanted the pretty ones from the newspaper flyers. But scared to send them my bank info. Though that's probably just a unsubstantiated fear.

[inkstainedruth]

I think my checks were about 25c each for the basic "safety check", ordered through the bank. I've always wanted the pretty ones from the newspaper flyers. But scared to send them my bank info. Though that's probably just a unsubstantiated fear.

 

I did order checks from one of those places years ago when I was single (don't remember the company now -- it's been too many years). But pretty sure that my husband might not like the designs I pick. And also not sure whether the current bank will allow me to order checks not through the company they use. It's just that the company they use, Harland Clarke, makes checks on such crummy paper that even Sailor Souboku out of an unfixed Noodler's nib looks like it's a written with a felt tip marker -- the spread is really bad, and I'm even getting some bleedthrough at times. The paper they use for their registers is much better....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[NeverTapOut]

I go through bottles of MB Royal Blue. I have had a bottle of MB Midnight Blue for years that I never opened. I started filling out birthday cards to clients...what a pleasant change and look of sophistication.

There are just certain colors that MB produces that look first class in business...Royal Blue, Midnight Blue, Mystery Black (I don't use because I can't tell it it is an original.)

 

MB Toffee Brown...great color...I use it for personal stuff however never in a business setting.

[BaronWulfraed]

 

And also not sure whether the current bank will allow me to order checks not through the company they use. It's just that the company they use, Harland Clarke

 

I don't think they have any legal ability to limit you. As long as the content follows banking standards (the MICR line on the bottom, format differs between personal checks and larger business checks, and basic features: fields for pay-to, signature, text value, numeric value, date, and account holder and bank information).

 

Checks don't even get routed through processing centers anymore -- they get digitized by the bank (or by an app on your phone ) and images are routed. I don't even worry about using magnetic ink for the MICR strip (regardless of how much the VersaCheck people want to sell ink cartridges and printers -- it wasn't too bad when using an HP printer where the ink nozzles are in the cartridge, but I won't risk magnetic ink in printers with separate cartridge/nozzle...)

[bemon]

$80? YIKES! For me to order 100 checks directly through my bank, I think it's about $12-$13 US -- probably less if I went through one of the companies that puts ads in the batches of flyers that come in the Sunday paper or in the mail. Annoyingly, I don't get a discount for ordering two hundred. And these aren't anything fancy like the kind that have the carbonless forms, or even fancy designs. Just ones with our names and address and the bank account information....

Frankly, I'm not completely convinced that e transfers are 100% safe. I keep hearing stories on the news about places getting hacked. And after this past week, when there was suddenly an issue about whether the phone bill got paid or not (which involved long phone calls with Verizon going "No, I'm NOT the primary person on the account -- just the person who signs the CHECKS every month. And I have the check register showing me that the August bill's check has cleared, and the previous month was before we changed the plan, and I have the September bill where in theory it was paid in person at the Verizon store, and the stub has been removed. Oh, and after getting the text message saying that the account was overdue this morning, the NEW bill came in this afternoon's mail. So here's the account number, AND the invoice number AND the email saying that my husband paid the two month's worth of bills sent to me -- with MY EMAIL on it, as well as the last four digits of the credit card.... And you're telling me that you can't access the account because I'm not the "primary" on it? WTH?" (Oh, my response to the original text on my cellphone was to send back a text saying "We can't pay a bill that we haven't RECEIVED, now can we?" I spent hours checking online banking to see what checks had cleared (because we'd had several temporary checks bought from the bank for an exorbitant amount of money, and didn't remember what all they'd been used for).

The first time my husband was helping with balancing the checkbook with the new bank, he didn't realize that e transfers were not sorted with checks for which there was a scan of the physical check....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Everything costs more in Canada. Toronto in particular. But I think the price for a batch of cheques has gone up because banks (most business) are discouraging out dated modes of payment.

 

I’ve heard some scary stories around e transfers too but they all seem to boil down to bad personal security. So when the super said “send me your e transfer, just make the password my name so it’s easy to remember” I said well have to handle the password end of things a little better.

 

Daycare has automatic deposit set up so when I send the transfer I get an email back saying “Xxx has been successfully deposit into xxx account” and a date. I like that because I know the cash has left my account and landed in The destination account. I’m sure someone could intercept it if they wanted to but so far we’ve been good. Honestly I’ve had more troubles with cheques being denied because the bank can’t read my terrible printing.

 

Anyway.. daycare isn’t forever and we should have enough saved to put a downpayment on a home in another 4 years. Thank you Toronto house prices. So long term there won’t be a need for multiple monthly e transfers.

[wallylynn]

And also not sure whether the current bank will allow me to order checks not through the company they use.

I never even considered that. I'll have to ask them. My current checks are the Deluxe brand. I like the checks. It's the register that spreads and bleeds. Too bad we can't mix and match with yours, right?

[inkstainedruth]

Yeah. The old bank (which got bought out by the new bank) used Deluxe, IIRC. OTOH, the new company kept a lot of the same personnel in the local branches. And, truthfully, they seem better about making sure check clear faster. A lot of times now, when I'm going through the statement and balancing my checkbook, nearly ALL checks have cleared -- even the phone bill (which always seemed to be a month behind every other bill). And because they're still probably considered "regional" I have been able to find branches in West Virginia as well as here in western PA (IIRC there might even be some in eastern Ohio). That made going out to the Ohio Pen Show really convenient some years (I left early and forgot to stop at the local branch drive through, but found one en route and used the ATM at that location, and was hitting antiques shops along the way on US 40 to see if I could find any goodies before getting to the Columbus area). So the crummy paper for the checks is an annoyance, but certainly not a deal breaker....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[sansenri]

 

 

Notes to yourself - who cares. Write a note to your boss in yellow ink and you might not be invited to the next pizza party.

Point is this just does not happen

A note to my boss?

Email

Or WhatsApp

No paper ever...

[FLZapped]

OK, back to ink. When I worked for Motorola, black ink was the requirement for engineering log books, otherwise we used pencil to do drawings, which were converted to blue-lines for our working copies.

I've been told to use blue ink on legal documents so they could tell the difference from the copies. You could sometimes get away with blue-black. However, the old copiers that used a green fluorescent lamp to make copies wouldn't pick up blue ink.

 

-Bruce

[BaronWulfraed]

Those were the days of true /photo/-copier technology -- projecting an image of the source document onto a sensitized surface which would then pick up the toner and transfer to the output paper.

 

Modern copiers are really digital scanners feeding digital printers. Using a magnifier might reveal digitization artifacts ("the jaggies") depending upon the resolution used for the scanning phase.

[txomsy]

If you use proper printing with antialiasing, even using a magnifier, it may fool you. And if you use inkjet ink on an absorbent paper where it may spread it may be nearly impossible. Plus, and oddly, I am getting many requests to sign documents on paper, manually, and then digitize the signed copy and submit it back as a PDF... go figure, once digitized how can you tell if the pixelization is from the original or the scanner? I know one may use AI to automate checking, but is it worth? Specially since now it is trivial to also digitally sign the PDF with your ID card, thus making the authentication of the physical signature needless. Actually, I just made a quick search and now, most hits I find refer to digital signing instead of paper/ink.

 

So, I still sign documents when requested, in the official colors, but then digitize them and also sign them electronically. Even if I am to submit the original in paper, this allows me to keep an authenticated copy of the document for my own records.

 

That last part is CRUCIAL. If you are concerned about work-appropriate ink, then the documents you fill in or sign must be important. If they are, you should always keep a copy for yourself, lest later be any problem.

 

BTW

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5918467/MI6-boss-Sir-John-Scarlett-still-signs-letters-in-green-ink.html