Pickles by Brian Crane for March 20, 2020

Actually, a third option is find another bank.

You tell ’em…..

My wife went all paperless as soon as she could. I have administered email systems, so I dragged my feet as long as I could. But when “they” started charging me $4.00 per month to send me a letter showing zero balance, I gave in. And sure ‘nuff, I’ve only gotten one email from that organization since I switched over. (Well, it’s only been 3 months, so maybe it’s okay).

I can’t get my insurance company to STOP sending paper reports. Always two extra pages of stuff in other languages and an explanation of my rights. All I need to know could fit on one page. I get this stuff weekly.

Reduction in Covid19 transmission

I am quite old fashioned here and continue to carry on the tradition of my ex-Postmaster Mom.I still have a paper bill sent for my Landline and Satellite TV and still go and mail them back a money order for each.The power bill a write a check for and mail it locally.I don’t trust anything online as the computer can crash at any time or it can get hacked by someone.

My favourite banking record keeping is a passbook. But it’s either not available or a service fee option.

I finally gave in on my electric bill!

I already do my bill paying online… way before Covid-19 came out.

Earl, that would fall under the second option.

At least with paperless billing there’s no giant stack of stuff to shred.

One day we won’t have a choice….I cringe at the thought of it….

I wonder if the bank knows (or cares) that they’re dealing with older people who may probably not be tech-savvy to handle doing things paperlessly?

The last nursing home I worked in had only ONE computer and it was for payroll. We had paper charts, paper medication records, paper EVERYTHING and it was wonderful. When a doctor changed a medication, we KNEW that it wouldn’t get lost in whatever hell computer “glitches” go to, we had immediate access to records and didn’t have to reboot. When new hires would complain that “it’s so old fashioned”, I’d tell them to be thankful.… paper can’t crash! Oh and we wrote in CURSIVE too!

Big on having copies of stuff. Having paper saves me the trouble of printing. ;-)

Our electric company NYSEG pushes this. If you opt to play they STILL bill you for bill preparation/mailing. There is no benefit to the consumer.

“That can be arranged …”

If those two paper addicts keep everything, their only child daughter will lose her job and her life taking months to sort through their stinking paper if they both develop serious health problems without having dealt with it.

Public service announcement: Paper is evil. Shred as much of it as possible then shred more.

Each of the streets to the left and right of the one I live on have the same numbers as my street. The names of the streets look and sound nothing alike. We have lived here 30 years. In that time, we have gotten a lot of mail for the other houses and I am positive they have gotten our mail as well. We once got a tax refund check that wasn’t ours and my daughter’s refund check was delayed for weeks because it was sent back to the IRS because it was delivered wrong. I no longer get my medications delivered by mail and I no longer get my tax refund sent by mail because of missing refund checks and meds. I used to deliver the misrouted mail on my walks. Now I just mark it DELIVERED TO THE WRONG ADDRESS and stick it back in the box.

To avoid the COVID-19 scare?

Earl echoes my attitude toward the subject.

Don’t tempt them.

This strip is spot-on! As far as saving trees is concerned, most wood used to make paper pulp is grown on plantations these days. I’ve seen them up here in the Pacific NW. They are typically grown in the vicinity of paper mills. After 10-20 years, they are harvested and replanted.

This oldster does all her banking on line: bill paying and so forth. Extremely convenient. . .a lot of you act like the computer and its related systems are going to go away. Don’t “bank” on it.

I ran in to a bit of a problem with the whole go paperless deal. when I had to provide my bank statments for our home loan. we discovered that I could only print up statments of my savings account. Because the bank set the whole account up under my wifes name. when she logged in, she was unable to add my user account to her account because it was not associcated with either of the bank accounts. Yet I could see our account just fine when I logged in. the people at the bank kept telling us it was impossible for that kind of situation to occur. until we actually showed them. SO! what was the banks solution? Close down all the accounts and open up a whole new bank account. (Roll eyes) new checks, new cards, service fees for closing down accounts. Service fees for opening accounts. WE ended our account with that bank and went to a credit union. no fees to open an account and we both have full control. they even provided 5 check books free of charge. NO MORE RED STAGE COACH COMPANY!!!!

Companies that print and mail monthly bills/statements can deduct the cost as a business expense. When I print copies at home from emailed bills/statements, I cannot deduct this expense. No, I am not giving up my paper.

While not knowing your bank/banker, that could probably be arranged, Earl.

I don’t like automatic deductions from my bank account to make monthly payments but it is a fact of life when it comes to subscriptions and internet services like Skype, newspapers, etc. My pension and any other monies I receive is direct deposited.

All our bills are sent electronically, but we pay the cable and utility bills in person – which is easy since you can pay them at many tiendas ( neighborhood stores) rather than having to go directly to the light, telephone/cable, or water company.

Nobody uses the mails to pay bills, here. For people who don’t have electronic billing, bills are hand-delivered to the homes by the company’s couriers, not the mailman.

I am 77. We are the silent generation. Sons and daughters of those that were of age to fight and work to end WWII and instilled us with a work ethic and not entitlement attitude.I worked with IBM from 1961 to 1993 (the happy days of IBM) and into supporting systems until retirement 7 years ago. So I am into technology. I pay almost all my bills through my credit card automatically (get points). Only problem is when visa issues me a new card with a new expiration date and security code. I have to then update all those accounts that use automatic billing to visa.

I’m 63. I got my first computer in ‘84 because I thought it would be a better way to keep track of my finances. I started paying some of my bills online around 2000. I got tired of my bills laying on some neighbor’s kitchen cabinet for a week or two before they put it back in the mail. Now I get all but my city utility bill online. It is easy to save them and they automatically get save by Carbonite away from my site. I pay the bills through my bank online. It takes a matter of minutes to pay them and I check my statements regularly. No problems to date. Come on people. We’re still young. Move into the 21st century.

The planet will be just fine, look how many trees are not being cut down to print newspapers!

My pet peeve addressed at last!!How can anybody shop online when they can’t SEE AND INSPECT what they’re buying?

I keep getting computer messages at my office to “get paid online”.The more you’re online the more some nosy stranger can find out t hings about you that are none of theirbusiness.And it’s set up so you can’t tell them to stop sending the messages.

Paper is tamper proof,the internet is not.

I always paid by mail. Then a mortgage payment got lost somewhere between mailing and the bank. With no proof I sent it I ended up paying a hefty late fee. I use my financial institutions bill payer now. I had late payment notices a couple of times, but when I report it to the bill pay service, the payment miraculously shows up.

I kept to paper for too long because I was making them do extra effort for me for that reason alone.

Panel two nailed it. But it saves more than postage and the cost of printing.. there are people involved as well that become redundant.. and no longer needed.

Time to buy ISP Crash Insurance. Our first time, all email was permanently lost; The second time email was sent a week late. Therefore, exercise and fresh air walking to and from the mailbox. Except for Water / Sewer Utility who just gave one choice, and will get calls till Late Payment Fees are removed. Seniors without personal computers be damned.

It occurs to me that all of the folks here who are complaining about online invasion of privacy or not trusting the internet are logged on to their computers and the internet in order to make that complaint.

I choose paper bill for my cable company. I don’t trust them. I want to see what all I’m being charged for.

I am 83 and haven’t written a check in many years. My bills are scheduled and paid by the bank. It makes no mistakes like humans do. I get reports of payments by category or payee each year. Try doing that by hand. Why should I emulate a robot – I value time and convenience.

This is similar to riding a horse so we can keep the farrier in business.

And when you opt to change later they charge you a fee for the paper statements. I cancelled my account with a bank over that practice.