An automated check encoding system (200) at a point-of-sale includes a
point-of-sale register (202) for determining a transaction amount, and an
input device (208) coupled to the point-of-sale register (202) for
receiving the transaction amount and determining a check amount in
response to receiving an input from a user. A check encoder (204) is
coupled to the point-of-sale register (202) and the input device (208) for
receiving the check amount and encoding the check amount in a
machine-readable format at a predetermined location (310) on a blank check
(210).
