Saturday, April 26, 2008
Three things we can easily do without
I open my personal mail about once a month, if that. Sorry guys, but almost nothing important comes in the mail any more, especially if you devote a few minutes to setting up your bills and other financial matters online.
The result is that the non-redundant communications in my mail are virtually all advertising. If it were not for one form or another of government process -- notices from the IRS, and those cute statements that tell me how much I have in my Social Security "account" -- the United States Postal Service would deliver only advertising to my door.
Stuff from the government and advertising. That is what the Postal Service delivers now. The answer is clear: Abolish it. Think of all the gasoline that we would not use not delivering all that junk mail.
Oh. There is one other thing in my huge pile of mail around this time of year: annual reports and proxy statements from companies and mutual funds of which I own shares. I pitch them all into the recycling bin -- after carefully extracting the reply envelope with the plastic window -- without reading them. When I want to learn something about a company I go to its web site. I do not know a single investor under the age of around 90 that reads these things on paper.
If we were serious about conservation, we would abolish printed annual reports and proxy statements. Fortunately for all of us who like big houses, fast cars, and consumer capitalism, we are not very serious about conservation. But if we were, printed annual reports should be the first things to go.
Finally, who goes into bank branches? I moved to New Jersey from Chicago in early 1994, and I still use my Chicago bank. It works just fine, and it would have been a hassle to change all the direct deposits and debits. I have set foot into a bank twice since 1994, once in Ridgewood and once in Princeton, each time with my wife to open a local joint checking account for petty household expenses. Bank branches are there to comfort people who do not understand how banking works; otherwise, there is no need for them. All of you people walking into bank branches: Stop. Let those assets be used for other things, and let the people who work there go do something more useful.
What other things can we easily do without?
17 Comments:
By 
Simon Kenton, at
Sat Apr 26, 09:26:00 AM:
"When I want to learn something about a company I go to its web site. I do not know a single investor under the age of around 90 that reads these things on paper."
I'm wondering what you use for a brokerage. At etrade you can set it up so all that stuff comes as a shower of electrons, same as banking, bills, etc. And then it no longer comes as paper.
Easily do without? Schools of Education.
By 
, at
Sat Apr 26, 10:01:00 AM:
I absolutely love the ticket kiosk at the movie theater. Put up more of this little guys and no more lines!
Obviously, you living in NJ, the gas monkey. I'm perfectly capable of filling my own tank.
By , at
Sat Apr 26, 10:04:00 AM:
heh. I thought i was the only one that looked at snail mail once a month. What other things could we easily do without? The lion's share of the Federal Government.
By , at
Sat Apr 26, 10:35:00 AM:
I still live in an apartment which means I need quarters for laundry. Getting them sometimes requires a visit to my local bank branch when the local supermarket is unwilling to trade a $10 bill for a roll. For that I still need some kind of bank branch, since ATMs only dispense $20 bills.
By , at
Sat Apr 26, 10:44:00 AM:
newspapers (on paper)
am and fm radio stations
90+% or the government bureacracy (through workflow software)
90+% of lawyers (through software)
By , at
Sat Apr 26, 10:56:00 AM:
Television. Barak and Hillary. Iran. Subway sandwich shops. The progressive income tax. Vegematics. Gefilte fish. Design Review Boards. Indigenous Peoples Day. Bad poetry passed off as music.
By , at
Sat Apr 26, 12:16:00 PM:
Anecdotal, but: 18 months ago I quit smoking. One, tho not the main, reason was to save the $40-50/week. Around July, I was wondering where was all my money, coz it certainly wasn't in my wallet.
So, I took up coin collecting. It's a harmless and perhaps beneficial hobby (investment). Plus, I enjoy now going to my mailbox after work, to see which silvery trinket shows up, along with the other junk.
Also, I still subscribe to some print magazines. Even if I had a Kindle, doubt I'd be dragging it into the can.
By Escort81, at
Sat Apr 26, 12:51:00 PM:
Remember what happened to Kramer on Seinfeld when he tried to quit the mail system --the Postmaster General came to NYC and made him re-up!
I don't think you'd be opposed to the mail being used for advertising if you were an executive in a company that was in retail goods or other consumer products. I agree that it is annoying, but we have to assume for the moment that the market works, and that the repsonse rates are high enough to justify the costs to the advertisers, and the USPS is pricing it in a way that is at least cash flow positive for them.
As Simon says above, proxyvote.com gets rid of all of the paper ballots.
By Banba, at
Sat Apr 26, 03:02:00 PM:
I so agree! It has been my personal mission to get rid of paper mail and advertising. Here are some web sites to help:
You can ask not to receive catalogs.
https://www.catalogchoice.org/
You can opt out of credit cards.
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/?rf=t
This cuts down on a lot!
I have more tips on my site. :)
By Assistant Village Idiot, at
Sat Apr 26, 07:33:00 PM:
We have our safety deposit box at the bank, but I'm sure we could make other arrangements.
I don't know how our letters from sponsored children overseas would get here, but that's only one or two a month, so adjustments could be made.
Mrs. AVI loves catalogs. Not I.
Pennies. Outlaw pennies. Even nickles.
These word verification letters are beyond deciphering.
By randian, at
Sun Apr 27, 01:46:00 AM:
If you believe the vendors, many of those paper statements are required by law. I went through this runaround with my IRA custodian, who told me that annual statements must delivered by US mail to your home address. Monthly statements can be electronic, but the annual statements must be paper. Fidelity has an annoying habit of sending me paper confirmations of wire transfers, which there is apparently no way to opt out of. If there's any truth to the claim that by law certain notices must be paper, the law must be changed.
By TigerHawk, at
Sun Apr 27, 06:57:00 AM:
Yes, randian, you are right on both the facts and what ought to be done.
By , at
Sun Apr 27, 08:04:00 AM:
"That is what the Postal Service delivers now. The answer is clear: Abolish it."
My mother sent me some old photos the other day. She tossed them in an envelope with a small note, slapped a few stamps on it and tossed it in the mailbox.
Using Tiger's plan, she would have had to:
A. Drive to the FedEx store
B. Buy the big mailing envelope
C. Spend $15 to have it shipped across country
D. Drive back home
So, with envelope, shipping, time and gas, she would have spent $25, rather than the $1 on the stamps and envelope.
________________________________
"Fortunately for all of us who like big houses, fast cars, and consumer capitalism, we are not very serious about conservation."
I own a Pontiac Firebird Formula with 400 horses under the hood. With a gas-guzzler like that, I'm obviously not very serious about conservation, right?
The thing is, I almost bought a Honda Passport. That's their small SUV. It has a tiny 6-banger in it. Obviously, that would be the better pick if one were serious about conservation, right?
According to the EPA, a 6-banger Honda Passport gets 17 MPG highway.
According to the EPA, my Firebird gets 23.
Bad aerodynamics equals bad gas mileage, not "fast".
__________________________________
"Finally, who goes into bank branches?"
If you were selling a used car to some guy, would you take a check? Doubtful. Would you be able to handle his Visa card? Doubtful. Chances are, you'd prefer lots of cold hard cash.
So, without bank outlets, where are people supposed to get lots of cold hard cash?
___________________________________
"What other things can we easily do without?"
Keith Olbermann?
By HeatherRadish, at
Sun Apr 27, 12:00:00 PM:
Abolishing the post office because you personally don't receive anything useful falls into "no one I know voted for Nixon" territory. I suppose I could send my niece and nephews e-mails instead of postcards when I travel, but they can't take e-mail to show-and-tell.
I could really do without people telling me how everything I do is wrong/wasteful/gives Gaia a fever/etc.
By randian, at
Sun Apr 27, 03:15:00 PM:
If the US postal service didn't exist, FedEx would offer first-class mail service for your mom. The only reason they don't is because the Postal Service has regulatory authority, and they use their regulations to hamper or eliminate the competition. Things like "you can't charge less than double what we charge" are hardly the result of fair regulation.
By , at
Mon Apr 28, 09:08:00 AM:
"all of us who like big houses, fast cars, and consumer capitalism, we are not very serious about conservation"
I don't know about that. There's a difference between excess and pure waste. The hard copy annual reports you mention fall into the latter category. Also, you might want to compare environmental conditions in "consumer capitalist" societies vs non "consumer capitalist". Consumer capitalism is what makes luxury goods like environmental protection possible.
"I still live in an apartment which means I need quarters for laundry"
That's easy to fix. I don't know how common or uncommon it is, but at my office you can use a credit card at the coke machine. I expect that trend to grow.
"Bank branches are there to comfort people who do not understand how banking works"
In a sense, perhaps. Local bank branches are there to establish a local presence which enhances their ability extract fees from people in the lower range of the credit score spectrum.
By , at
Tue Apr 29, 11:20:00 AM:
Three things we can do without 1.Liberals 2.Buricrats 3.The UN
