4 Problems With Checks & Why To Consider Electronic Payment Solutions

Ho Ho Ho!

As you bustle about in the final days here between now and Christmas, it’s common for most people to tick items off their burgeoning gift lists.  However, in stark contrast to this post, those paper documents are ok and don’t hamper process. Sure, it may be old fashioned to jot down the list of all your friends and family, but it’s also fast, reliable, and cheap.   If only the same could be said for the check writing and cutting process that most companies gyrate through all the time.

Here’s 4 major issues with cutting checks:

1. Time – Check printing is an arduous process that encumbers the time of your Accounts Payable staff. Invoice processing in and of itself (presentment to posting) is difficult enough, let along having to deal with an armada of devices and stocks necessary to cut checks. Then you have the time involved with getting those checks stuffed into envelopes and on their way. No wonder check runs are as fraught with scampering staff as holiday fun runs are with racers.
2. Cost – Sure, the obvious costs associated with printing checks boil down to three items: stock, toner, and postage. This all adds up and not insignificantly either.  With all things being equal, most companies would prefer to hang onto the cash that is routinely flushed down the drain while doing check runs.  In most companies the cost just to cut and mail a check is well within a $1-2 range…heck first class postage now is $.49, so there’s that. Costs are further amplified by having to support additional printers or MFDs, all of which can be reduced through electronic means.
3. Hassle – No one wants to be mired in inefficient processes, in fact many folks would prefer to streamline their operations and move to a better way, the problem is that many folks don’t have an awareness of what’s available to them to improve the process. Again, if you didn’t have to go through manual efforts to crank through a check run, most AP staff would be better served to focus on core items like handling customer billing disputes or pursuing more strategic objectives like securing early payment discounts. Bottom-line: in today’s day and age with all the nuanced solutions that exist, electronic payments can make the woes of having to prep and output manual check runs a thing of the past.
4. No cash benefit! – That’s right, when’s the last time any organization literally paid you for cutting a check? Oh, never…really, why am I not surprised?

So in summary, there’s a bevy of reasons why printing checks is a pain and there are some solid reasons (aka business advantages) for those who are pursuing electronic payment solutions.

For starters, you can retain the same level of payment control with your vendors, but with the upside of taking less time to execute payment, being more environmentally friendly, reducing the process hassles, and finally, the big one, providing a financial incentive for the business to do so in the form of cash rebates.  To learn more about that click here!

So, as you prep you’re nog of choice for the Yule tide blaze that is to consume your hearth in short order, sit back and ponder whether cutting checks is really getting it done for you in a positive way or whether 2015 might hold some Accounts Payable process improvements (electronic payment solutions) in your future that will make your life easier and organization stronger!

Merry Christmas!