What happened to the "paperless society"?

[fuzzybuddy]

Having computers was supposed to stop us from cutting down poor, little, defenseless trees to make paper. Remember the paperless society? I get a small annuity every month. You wouldn't believe the things I had to do to get them to not send a paper check but to deposit it into my bank account. I had to have an 8 page form notarized. So now, I get a letter telling me that on Aug, 10,2017, the money will be deposited. Then I get a letter after the 10th telling me that the money was deposited on the 10th. Then on Sept 1, I'll get a letter telling me of all the deposits made in August. I thought computers were supposed to free us from all this useless paper.

 

[Camper6]

Having computers was supposed to stop us from cutting down poor, little, defenseless trees to make paper. Remember the paperless society? I get a small annuity every month. You wouldn't believe the things I had to do to get them to not send a paper check but to deposit it into my bank account. I had to have an 8 page form notarized. So now, I get a letter telling me that on Aug, 10,2017, the money will be deposited. Then I get a letter after the 10th telling me that the money was deposited on the 10th. Then on Sept 1, I'll get a letter telling me of all the deposits made in August. I thought computers were supposed to free us from all this useless paper.

You are supposed to tell them to send the notification to your e mail instead of a letter.

I get an e mail telling me that my statement is ready for reading.

If you don't have e mail, then you will get a letter but don't feel bad, the paper can be recycled for toilet paper.

 

[tnthomas]

Nobody really cares about "saving the trees' these days. the forests are much better managed for long term sustainability.
The real issue for business' going paperless, is cost savings, not just for paper but for human staff, that you need to handle paper documents. I'm surprised they haven't nagged you for an e-mail and or text # for notifications.

 

[JaniceM]

Having computers was supposed to stop us from cutting down poor, little, defenseless trees to make paper. Remember the paperless society? I get a small annuity every month. You wouldn't believe the things I had to do to get them to not send a paper check but to deposit it into my bank account. I had to have an 8 page form notarized. So now, I get a letter telling me that on Aug, 10,2017, the money will be deposited. Then I get a letter after the 10th telling me that the money was deposited on the 10th. Then on Sept 1, I'll get a letter telling me of all the deposits made in August. I thought computers were supposed to free us from all this useless paper.

That does sound awfully extreme. Have you contacted them and asked them to do paperless options?

 

[Roadwarrior]

Medicare needs streamlining I have a supplemental policy (Vantage Plan) like most other Medicare recipients. I called them requesting online documents. Sorry the government requires that we give you a hard copy of all correspondence. Every year I know I've personally been involved in destroying at least one tree. The same documents are online. I toss all the mailed documents in the recycling bin. The e-copies are saved to my HD. I just replace them annually. Then in October I start getting the solicitations for renewing or purchasing whomsoever's plan (at least 5+ thick packets).

Are you a member of AARP? At least one smaller tree bites the dust with those weekly & bi-weekly advertisements. My membership expires every May, I start getting renewal requests in November, 1-2 times a month. They also fill up my email in box. All my other bills & statements are available online with a few clicks, done in 10 minutes.

 

[AprilT]

Medicare needs streamlining I have a supplemental policy (Vantage Plan) like most other Medicare recipients. I called them requesting online documents. Sorry the government requires that we give you a hard copy of all correspondence. Every year I know I've personally been involved in destroying at least one tree. The same documents are online. I toss all the mailed documents in the recycling bin. The e-copies are saved to my HD. I just replace them annually. Then in October I start getting the solicitations for renewing or purchasing whomsoever's plan (at least 5+ thick packets).

Are you a member of AARP? At least one smaller tree bites the dust with those weekly & bi-weekly advertisements. My membership expires every May, I start getting renewal requests in November, 1-2 times a month. They also fill up my email in box. All my other bills & statements are available online with a few clicks, done in 10 minutes.

Yep, this just makes me want to pull my hair out. I'm surprised the motor on my shredder hasn't worn out already, I'm using up electricity in what I'm saving in medical cost. Well maybe not so much that last bit.

 

[Roadwarrior]

Yep, this just makes me want to pull my hair out. I'm surprised the motor on my shredder hasn't worn out already, I'm using up electricity in what I'm saving in medical cost. Well maybe not so much that last bit.

I used to shred everything until I 'googled' my name, it wasn't hard to locate me. Name, address, age...etc, still no SS# or cell nr yet! I give all my mailings a quick look-see, if it has my birth date or SS # I rip that info out but everything else goes in the recycling saves on shredders. Too many eyes, I do watch my accounts for any irregularities or bogus charges.

 

[Don M.]

There's another consideration for going "paperless". If it weren't for all the junk mail, and advertisements, etc., the USPS would probably go out of business. So many people have gone paperless that the USPS is becoming increasingly stressed for revenue. First Class mail peaked in the year 2001, and has been in a rather steep decline, ever since...with the 2016 numbers down about 40% from the peak. The postal service has been closing smaller post offices and distribution centers for the past 2 or 3 years. If this trend were to continue, either the government would have to heavily subsidize mail delivery, or a person would have to go to one of the fewer post offices to get their mail, as hiring delivery personnel would become too expensive. OR...UPS would take over and charge 10 times as much to handle a letter, or birthday card.

 

[Roadwarrior]

Or we could just have Amazon make our mail deliveries, the government could 'force' everyone to open an Amazon Prime account, most everyone has one. They could have their fleet of drones make the mail drops at our front door. Once a week in those plastic bags that are choking the oceans, have the stores charge a deposit on them. If you don't want to save the bags take them to any street corner and hand them out to the former postal workers who will be homeless.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

In order not to get the letters from my annuity, I have to fill out another 8 page form and get that notarized, and sent to them. Sorry little tree, I'm not filling out that horrendous form and paying to get it notarized.
What amazes me is that they put the info into their computer, then print out a copy. But if the info isn't in their computer, they are lost. The printed copy is in some far away storage area. Wasting all that paper is the same as signing your name for using a credit card-like there's really someone in a back room comparing your signature for forgeries.

 

[HipGnosis]

Government programs need to go through all kinds of paperwork (no pun intended, but LOL) to do anything different like going paperless. Everything medical is severely hobbled by laws and rules like HIPA.

I insist on getting paper bills / statements. I have a stack of my bills to be paid next to my computer, sorted in order of due dates. I can't do that with Emails. I pay them online, and I write the date and amount paid on them - can't do that with emails either.

 

[Butterfly]

Why do you keep the paper bills with "paid" written on them? All you'd have to do is save the online confirmations to a file in your hard drive. You could also save the online bills to a file on your hard drive, and get rid of all that paper. I don't bother to save any of that, I can access the information online if I need it (I never have).

I used to be very anal about saving paid bills and everything, but about 15 years ago I let go of all that and the world hasn't imploded and I don't have to keep up with all that paper taking up room in my little office!