New U.S. Checks Can Be Folded, Spindled

The familiar stiff, green check that the federal government has been sending out for four decades to Social Security recipients, government employees and citizens who overpaid their income taxes is being phased out, the victim of today’s technology.

The old check--introduced in 1945, when punch cards were the last word in data processing--is to be replaced by a lightweight new model, colored in gradations of pastels and incorporating more than a dozen security devices designed by the Secret Service. Gone also will be the familiar admonition “DO NOT FOLD, SPINDLE OR MUTILATE.”

The new design was introduced Thursday, and the phase-out of the checks will begin next month. Californians will be among the last to receive payments in pastels.

By December, the government hopes to use the new checks for all Social Security payments. And beginning in February, 1986, the pastel checks will be used for all income tax refunds. A year later, all federal salary checks and payments to federal contractors also will be converted and the old green checks will be seen no more.