THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 15, 1996 TAG: 9610150039
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WENDY GROSSMAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 43 lines
IT'S A SIGN of the coming of the millennium. The familiar ``19s,'' which for years has saved check writers the trouble of writing two digits when noting the date, are beginning to disappear.
New check patterns issued by Deluxe Printing, a Minnesota-based check printer, have blank date lines. Eventually, older patterns will be converted as well, says spokesman Stewart Alexander.
Pre-printed 19s have only been gracing checks since the '50s, Alexander says, so this is not a major change. But it needs to be done, he says.
``It's necessary - otherwise there'd be a lot of obsolete check inventory with people having to cross off the `19,' '' Alexander says.
``Many merchants and banks are reluctant to accept checks that have been altered in any way - a cross out or erasure - so we're just trying to eliminate that possibility.''
Calls to several Hampton Roads banks failed to turn up any checks with the bimillennial date line.
``All the reorders I've seen lately have had the `19' on there,'' says Jackie Bell a teller at Central Fidelity on Shore Drive in Virginia Beach. The bank orders from Deluxe.
This may not be the right time for to change the date line, she says.
``I don't know if it's close enough yet - not the way some people write checks. You order a box of 150 checks, and some people go through those in three months,'' Bell says. ``The year 2000's three years away.''
That's what Holland Check Printing, says. The Richmond-based company hasn't gotten rid of the ``19'' on its checks yet.
``Right now, we figure it's only 1996 - we still have a ways to go,'' says the superintendent of the Richmond plant. ``The average person is not going to order checks for five years.''
But a few people do, Deluxe's Alexander says.
And his check designs are ready to be ordered in bulk and written in this millennium or the next. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Some check-printing companied already are converting their date line
format. by CNB