Cleaning your check scanner properly and often are the key to keeping your finances in check and elongating the life of your scanner. Additionally, not tending to your scanner regularly can result in a poor customer service experience, and could severely impact the quality of your financial institution.

Failing to regularly clean your check scanner can result in failed deposit transactions, taking more time out of your day, as a bank teller, and the customer’s day. Adhering to a strict cleaning schedule can help eliminate this problem and expedite the customer’s overall experience. You are also able to focus on the customer, attending to their needs and providing them with your full attention.

The Importance of Cleaning your Check Scanner

An extensive study conducted over the course of three months found that check scanners that were not cleaned experienced nearly twice as many errors than the scanners that were cleaned. When check scanners are jammed, time is taken away from the customer and put into manually entering the data into the bank’s system. This same study proved that about fifteen minutes of each hour per day was dedicated to manually fixing a problem that should be able to be performed by your check scanner. This valuable time that could be spent customer-facing is potentially costing your financial institution money unnecessarily.

It’s no secret that there are tons of benefits that go along with cleaning your check scanner. Not only is it completely necessary, spending a few minutes on each scanner can save you money, manual labor, and ensure that you have returning customers that don’t feel frustrated with the lack of attention they’re receiving. And luckily, cleaning your check scanner does not have to be complicated, costly, or time-consuming.

How to Properly Clean your Scanner

Regularly tending to your check scanner is imperative. Routine cleaning should be performed roughly once a week, detailed cleaning around once a month, and exterior or disinfecting on an as needed basis. The teller associated with the scanner should be the one performing the cleaning, while the branch manager is typically the one in charge of maintaining the supplies. Below is the procedure for your regular check scanner cleaning:

Weekly Routine Cleaning

For this cleaning, you will need a Panini check scanner cleaning card, and Panini ink cleaning wipes, if your scanner has an endorser.

  1. Remove the ink cartridge.
  2. Using the Panini Ink Cleaning Wipes, wipe the bottom of the cartridge to clean      away dried ink. Set aside the cartridge.
  3. Place the cleaning card in the document feeder and slide the leading edge forward to the end of the feeder bay, keeping the bottom edge flat along the feeder floor.
  4. Run the cleaning card through the transport as you would a regular document.
  5. Run the cleaning card through the unit 3-6 times. Turn the card end for end and flip top to bottom for each pass. Discard the used cleaning card.
  6. Reinstall Ink cartridge.

Need a visual? Check out this video.

Monthly Detailed Cleaning

The required supplies for detailed, monthly cleaning are a Panini Check Scanner Cleaning Card, your Panini Ink Cleaning Wipes (If your scanners have an endorser), and a Panini Cleaning Swab. The full kit can be viewed and purchased here.

  1. Remove the inner and outer covers, then use canned air along the check feed path and remove any obvious paper debris.
  2. Remove ink cartridge.
  3. Using the Panini Ink Cleaning Wipes, wipe the bottom of the cartridge to clean away dried ink. Set aside the cartridge.
  4. Open the lens door. Take the swab and wipe both lenses with the swab in an up and down motion.
  5. Reassemble covers. However, do not reinsert the ink cartridge.
  6. Place the cleaning card in the document feeder and slide the leading edge forward to the end of the feeder bay, keeping the bottom edge flat along the feeder floor.
  7. Run the cleaning card through the transport as you would a regular document.
  8. Run the cleaning card through the unit 3-6 times. Turn the card end for end and flip top to bottom for each pass. Discard the used cleaning card.
  9. Reinstall Ink cartridge.

Disinfecting and Cleaning Exterior as Needed

The supplies required for this cleaning are DiSantech disinfecting wipes - an EPA registered, citric acid based germicidal designed to clean and disinfect in one easy step. Specially formulated using botanically derived ingredients, this ready to use formula is ideal for technology and safe to use on exterior surfaces, including touchscreens, keypads, acrylics, plastics, and your check scanner!

  1. Using a DiSantech disinfecting wipe, clean the entire external surface of the scanner and let air dry.