for what it may be worth.
When I had the Synthzone technics jam here in California and people from all over the world sent me checks, I took them to my retail bank and they came up with a similiar fee for out of country checks.
They sent me to a commercial bank that does not charge a fee for this. It happens to be Bank of America here in California. I had to open an account to get the checks cashed without a fee. The Bank of America would not cash the checks unless I had an account with them. I had a friend cash them for me that had an account with Bank of America.
Hope this info helps both this thread and those that are setting up the Technics Jam in Florida
BEBOP