Hate junk mail. Get the Red Dot!

[crs]

Sign me up for this one!

http://www.reddotcampaign.ca/

[Stn Brk]

A friend of mine who lives in a condo building stuck a little red dot over her mailbox after hearing from a neighbour that the dot signifies you don't want junk mail. The postie took the dot off. She phoned the office and asked why. Seems the post office has 'official' red dots that they use, but only after you make an 'official' request to lose the junk. So she made the request. A few days later, a red dot appeared over her box - and it was identical to the red dot that had been removed! Our tax dollars at work.

Personally, I love junk mail. I collect it all up and wait for someone - usually a shyster financial company - to send me a stamped and addressed envelope. I stuff all the junk mail into the envelope and drop it into the mailbox. Garbage in, garbage out.

[Mike Cleaver]

So that's what's keeping Canada Post's mail count up in the electronic age!
Can't think of the last time I mailed anything!
I do get packages of stuff I've ordered but I have to go pick it up at the local post office depot.
I only get delivered junk mail but fortunately, our building provides a nice big recycling bin next to the post boxes!

[Aaron]

I only get delivered junk mail but fortunately, our building provides a nice big recycling bin next to the post boxes!

In my 4 unit building, the front-door recycling bin contains 3 brand-new yellow-pages, including mine. (Speaking of inflated circulation numbers).

[Dan Sys]

Actually where I deliver mail (er, I mean junk) in the East End we do not observe red dots (we've never been told about them). All you have to do is put a "no junk mail" sign on your mailbox and that will stop the flow of crap.

ADG.....I know exactly what you mean about these new Yellow Pages that have appeared on the scene in recent weeks. I have a 24 suite building on my route where I counted 38 of those things sitting in the lobby.

[jon]

Can't think of the last time I mailed anything!

Yes, Mike, I mail a lot less than I used to. But I've found that at least half the financial institutions still require signed originals (i.e. - paper copies) of forms. And for certain large payments, typically insurance, it is easier to write up and mail a cheque than it is to try and pay by credit card. CAA car insurance requires me to phone them, wait for an agent, give them my credit card number and expiry date, and they'll back-date a request to charge my card on the day my insurance expires. About 5 years ago, I got so frustrated trying to make a payment through their Web site, that I ended up e-mailing them the information, which they accepted and processed, but never did again, given the major security risk that presents.

I had this same discussion "whatever happened to the paperless office?" back in 1990 with some friends who both worked in Computing at Dow Chemical in Fort Saskatchewan. My answer was: you cannot have a paperless office until you have and use electronic signatures. Most of he corporate/government world has more or less come to grips with that problem, but it has yet to go to the next step in technology that is needed for the consumer world. Office environments are in a "trusted network", which eliminates, or maybe better stated, is perceived to eliminate, the security issues that exist with electronic signatures, impersonations, etc.

All that said, I've found that I cannot live without easy access to a complete Fax capability. I no longer have a Fax machine now that I have a scanner. But I needed one previously because of the need to print out electronic forms and hand sign them, then Fax the result back to the person who needs it. I have found a few enlightened firms that accept PDF documents of those signed forms, rather than insisting on a Fax. At the other end of the scale, one firm I just started dealing with only accepts the paper original. Even the Fax is not good enough for them to even start processing the form!

[Mike Cleaver]

I've found pretty much ALL payments can be made on-line through my bank.
All you have to do is sign up for the service, which with my bank, is free.
The only check I write any more is for rent because the property management firm hasn't moved to electronic payments.
Everything else, insurance, RRSP contributions, account transfers is handled on line.
I buy things through the internet with Paypal and electronic money orders or with my credit card.
We recently replaced our old printer with an all in one, including fax, which we rarely use any more.
Any needed paper is scanned, saved and backed up.
It is possible to go almost paperless these days.
It just takes setting up systems and using them.

[jon]

You're right, of course, Mike. Paying on-line with your bank is possible for practically all bills. I undoubtedly get distracted by the fact that my credit card gives 2% cash back.

I've taken it to the next step with most of my bills, including my credit cards, by having them paid automatically out of my bank account.

And my bank account is actually the (now 6%) Line of Credit I originally got when I bought the house. I keep it as close to zero as possible, by either dumping any savings into, or taking money out of, a Qtrade investment account. And, yes, the Line of Credit account has cheques just like a normal chequing account.

Qtrade has nice Adobe PDF-based electronic forms for almost everything imaginable, has great customer service, processes forms quickly, but has two faults: (1) they are too cheap to provide the software that would allow you to save what you've entered into the PDF-based forms they provide; and (2) they only process forms on paper that they get into their hands. Which, of course, takes me back to mail. I almost used FedEx for something I needed in a hurry, but later discovered that they didn't offer what I needed.